The story of A$AP Rocky We tell the tales of his music, drugs, and sex orgies

We wanted to put a focus on one of the biggest rappers of our time, A$AP Rocky. We’ll run down some of the lesser-known facts about the Harlem star, whose past was very different from his current superstar status.

Born Rakim Mayers, on October 3rd, 1988, he was named after one half of the hip-hop duo Eric B & Rakim, with his older sister getting the first half as Erika B. His older brother Ricky Mayers was his first rap inspiration and Rakim started already at the tender age of 9 years old to hone his rap craft.

The early years of A$AP’s life were rife with turmoil. At 12 years old his father was incarcerated for drug charges and the following year his brother Ricky was murdered in Harlem, forcing the family to subsequently move around homeless shelters and Rocky ended up selling crack cocaine on the streets at the age of 15. In 2004 Rocky was arrested and spent two weeks in the infamous Rikers Island penitentiary for drug dealing. Whilst in prison, Rocky by chance shared a cell with future rapper Casanova, which along with the death of his brother fuelled him to take his rap talent more seriously. Inspired by larger rap constellation like Wu-Tang Clan, Rocky in 2007 joined the A$AP Mob, which was more a collective of creative talents, than a pure rap outfit, consisting of rappers, producers, music video directors, fashion designers, and bikers who shared similar interests in music, fashion, style, and art.

The A$AP acronym has many, slightly hazily defined meanings, from Always Strive And Prosper; Assassinating Snitches and Police, and even the multi-purpose - Acronym Symbolizing Any Purpose. In the beginning, Rocky worked with three of A$AP Mob’s producers in particular to develop the spacey, cloud rap sound that has come to define his music. Clams Casino, A$AP Ty Beats and SpaceGhostPurpp. He self-released two singles in 2011, "Peso" and "Purple Swag” which both became instant street hits. Peso was also particularly interesting as Rocky name dropped fashion designers like Rick Owens and Raf Simons, which were more refined, in-the-know, type designers than what had previously been a part of hip-hop rhetoric. Signing the same year with the Sony/RCA subdivision of Polo Grounds Music for $3 million, the deal was also special in that it incorporated, not only his own solo projects, but those of the whole A$AP Mob collective, under their own record label A$AP Worldwide. The same year Rocky’s father passed away, just before the start of his meteoric rise to fame. His father was a big influence on him fashion-wise being the spark that guided his oftentimes brave fashion decisions, telling him to:

“always feel comfortable with whatever decision you make because you chose to do it. Just because something doesn’t fit doesn’t mean it’s not right.”

Last year Rocky dropped his third album “Testing” which included the stand out collab hit with Skepta “Praise the lord” which was evidently recorded whilst the duo was on LSD together. The story of A$AP’s life has always been entwined with the tales of his many women. Recently stating he had to purchase a $100'000 bed to cope with the pressure of his multitude of orgies, a practice that dated all the way back to the seventh grade, where in a recent interview he recanted how during his middle school years, the events transpired. 

“The first time was in this apartment building. We took the elevator to the roof, and everybody put their coats on the ground. There were like five girls and 10 guys, and we all just took turns. And hopefully you didn’t have a little dick because they’re going to tease you! At that time, I wasn’t the biggest guy, but come on, cut me some slack, I was in the seventh grade! Fucking bullies!”