A$AP Rocky's 25 Favorite Albums

Pretty Flacko talks about the music that moves him, from Bone Thugs to Dipset to Nirvana.

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Image via Complex Original
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Intro

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MJ

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Michael Jackson, BAD (1987)

Label: Epic
A$AP Rocky: "It came out around the time I was born. I was fucking with Mike. Everybody grew up on Mike. I don't care who you are."

Nirvana

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Nirvana, Nevermind (1991)

Label: DGC
A$AP Rocky: "That shit was trill as fuck. Kurt Cobain was the shit, nigga."

Hendrix

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Jimi Hendrix, Ultimate Experience (1992)

Label: MCA
A$AP Rocky: "I like Jimi Hendrix. I know that sounds cliché. I like 'All Along The Watchtower,' 'Hey Joe,' 'Purple Haze,' 'Voodoo Child,' everything. That nigga's the shit."

Snoop

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Snoop Dogg, Doggystyle (1993)

Label: Death Row
A$AP Rocky: "This let me know how to roll down the street smoking indo. You know what this did for us. I was a little nigga. I wanted to be Bow Wow, with the braids and shit. That's what it was like for all of us."

Wu

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Wu-Tang Clan, Enter The Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers (1993)

Label: Loud
A$AP Rocky: "Listening to all that shit makes you just want to say, 'Fuck being glamorous. If these bitches don't want to fuck, fuck them. They can suck my dick.' That's that shit that makes you say, 'I'm about to sip a 40, get a blunt, and call it a night. Hang out with my niggas.' That's what that's about."

Bone Thugs

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Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, E. 1999 Eternal (1995)

Label: Ruthless/Relativity
A$AP Rocky: "That shit got me through my childhood. [When people compare me to Bone Thugs], it's a good comparison, because I was very influenced by them. Those guys are legends in my eyes. I think those are the only guys I might meet and cry."

UGK

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UGK, Ridin' Dirty (1996)

Label: Jive
A$AP Rocky: "Most of their beginning shit is what I fuck with. I like that real underground early shit. They were keeping it trill around that time. That's like me putting out a second album. Motherfuckers were just keeping it true to themselves and shit. Pimp C, Bun B. They're the reason we're on that trill shit."

Rakim

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Rakim, The 18th Letter (1997)

Label: Universal/MCA
A$AP Rocky: "That was the first album I ever bought. I was about eight or nine years old. That shit made me really feel like rapping."

Big Pun

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Big Pun, Capital Punishment (1998)

Label: Loud
A$AP Rocky: "I can't forget about Big Punisher. This album made my life in the '90s."

DMX1

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DMX, It's Dark And Hell Is Hot (1998)

Label: Ruff Ryders/Def Jam
A$AP Rocky: "I was just moving to Pennsylvania and leaving Harlem at that time, so I was pretty homesick. DMX kept that New York feeling for me. I could vibe out to that and relate to that."

DMX2

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DMX, Flesh Of My Flesh, Blood Of My Blood (1998)

Label: Ruff Ryders/Def Jam
A$AP Rocky: "I was thugging. I wanted to be a Blood. I was a bad-ass liittle nigga, and I was fucking with that shit. Him and Drag-On was flaming up."

Jay-Z

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Jay-Z, Vol 3... Life And Times Of S. Carter (1999)

Label: Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam
A$AP Rocky: "Jay-Z is one of those cats where a lot of his shit is timeless. I remember when 'Big Pimpin'' was out. That's when I was a Pimp C lover, no homo. That's when Roc-A-Fella had it. That's when shit was live."

Beanie

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Beanie Sigel, The Truth (2000)

Label: Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam
A$AP Rocky: "Beans is a motherfucking beast. He's a monster. He's scary. It doesn't get no triller than Beans. Niggas be freaking on him, like they forgot."

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Cam'ron, S.D.E. (2000)

Label: Epic
A$AP Rocky: "I was fucking with 'Let Me Know.' This whole shit was fire."

Outkast

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Outkast, Stankonia (2000)

Label: LaFace/Arista
A$AP Rocky: "Outkast is a fucking major influence on me. That had 'So Fresh, So Clean,' 'B.O.B.,' 'Mrs. Jackson,' all that shit on it. Those were all hits. They all influenced hip-hop in a major way. Andre was fucking swagging out. He showed the world that it was cool to be different, and you can be like, “Fuck what the world thinks.” Nobody ever got at him for that and they never will. He's the fucking man, that's why."

Three 6

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Three 6 Mafia, When The Smoke Clears: Sixty 6, Sixty 1 (2000)

Label: Loud
A$AP Rocky: "'Sippin' On Some Syrup' was on that. I was fucking with that when I was about 11. I was getting into that on the regular. I was fucking with “Two Way Freak” around that time, too."

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Cam'ron, Come Home With Me (2002)

Label: Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam
A$AP Rocky: "I feel like this was the stamp [that's the reason] this man is now known to be a legend."

Coldplay

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Coldplay, A Rush Of Blood To The Head (2002)

Label: Capitol
A$AP Rocky: "'The Scientist' was the shit, man. 'Nobody said it was easy,' that shit was too trill. Personally, sometimes you want some different shit, and that's what appealed to me. I can't describe it or explain it. That shit just really appealed to a nigga."

Fifty

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50 Cent, Get Rich Or Die Tryin' (2003)

Label: G-Unit/Shady/Aftermath/Interscope
A$AP Rocky: "His shit influenced everybody, because he came out and he was proclaimed the greatest rapper at the time. Everybody was 50 Cent happy and shit, and I think he did a lot. He lived up to his name at that time. He was putting out endless classic shit. Shout out to Fif. That album was the soundtrack to the hood at that time."

Diplomats

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The Diplomats, Diplomatic Immunity (2003)

Label: Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam
A$AP Rocky: "Diplomatic Immunity taught me how to let my nuts hang and fuck bitches. You couldn't tell me I wasn't the shit, because I was from Harlem. They made Harlem look good, like I'm doing for Harlem right now. That's all that was."

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Cam'ron, Purple Haze (2004)

Label: Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam
A$AP Rocky: "Purple Haze was just Cam showing off and letting his nuts hang, no homo."

Kanye

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Kanye West, Late Registration (2005)

Label: Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam
A$AP Rocky: "When College Dropout dropped, I was fucking with 'Ye, but I wasn't one of those big-ass Kanye fans. By the time Late Registration came out, I was a big-ass Kanye fan. I was a fucking Kanye fanatic. After that, everybody started riding the bandwagon. I'm one of those complicated OCD motherfuckers, where I can't be doing everything that everyone else is doing. I didn't want no parts of it."

Cold War Kids

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Cold War Kids, Robbers & Cowards (2006)

Label: Downtown/V2
A$AP Rocky: "I like 'Hospital Beds' and 'Hang Me Up To Dry.' It was so different, the beats and the symphonies and harmonies that they chose. I'm a guy who's pretty big on that, so hearing that was pretty awesome."

RHCP

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Red Hot Chili Peppers, Stadium Arcadium (2006)

Label: Warner Bros.
A$AP Rocky: "That had 'Dani California' on it. I liked it because it was rock and it was something different for me."

NERD

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N.E.R.D, Seeing Sounds (2008)

Label: Star Trak/Interscope
A$AP Rocky: "Fucking epic."

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