10 Producers That A$AP Rocky Should Work With ASAP

When we took it upon ourselves to run through remixes of A$AP Rocky's catalog, a thought occurred to us: he might need to expand on the electronic producers he's utilizing. He already had a huge single with Skrillex in "Wild for the Night," had a track with Gesaffelstein on the Divergent soundtrack, and has a currently-unreleased instrumental project with Baauer lying on some hard drive somewhere. Why not explore more of the electronic realm?

Well, rap heads might be saying "why bother?!" It's simple: there were a lot of producers who latched onto that middle-of-the-road sound that he helped push a few years back. Tracks like "Peso," and practically anything he worked on with Clams Casino, helped open a lane for producers who weren't making straight-forward EDM, but were adding more herbs and spices than your standard hip-hop instrumental. There's an entire lane for leftfield material out there, and a number of producers have picked up on it. Many of them have openly acknowledged love for Rocky's work, or have taken cues from the experimentation on the rap side into their more instrumental work.

That said, Rocky will probably always be in need of beats, and while he's working on his own original material (no samples!), it'd be much easier for him to cherry-pick beats from a CD or .zip he's sent. Let's play armchair A&R and run through some producers who should a) start compiling tracks for Rocky or b) should be getting DMs from Rocky on some "let's work together" shit.

Rocky and Ryan appear to share the same mentality when it comes to what they like. They may be seen as one thing (rapper and hipster, respectively), but they are also products of this mashup culture, one that has influences coming in from all sides. Whether it's fashion or trap (or whatever else is out there), they soak it in and create something unique. If these two were to get in the studio together, they're guaranteed to a) hit it off and b) push each other to create something that pushes the boundaries for each of these producers. Or just cultivate something that is all kinds of quirky and turnt.

It feels like Flosstradamus' aim in 2014 has been to showcase the multitude of sides to their production. While they've knocked out "gospel trap" remixes of Raury, and turned things all the way down on "Rebound," they might be best known for balls-to-the-wall trap bangers like "TTU (Too Turnt Up)," which is an anthem for those who are, um, all about that turn up. It also finds them working alongside Waka Flocka, who's been on his EDM shit as of yet. A track like this could end up working perfect for Rocky—he's already down to cross-pollenate his audiences, and might end up getting more EDM festival gigs.

RL Grime hooking up with Rocky shouldn't be hard; Rocky's already collaborated with Baauer on an instrumental project. RL Grime rolls with both Baauer and Hemsworth, as well as those WeDidIt boys, and we imagine they've spent time lounging to Rocky's material. He could easily craft something that knocks hard but also maintains a unique quality that will set it apart from your normal booming rap tracks.

No one thought Rocky and Skrillex would work, but there's something about Rocky's flavor that made "Wild for the Night" a jam. He knew how to attack the beat, and we have a feeling if he linked up with Skrillex's OWSLA signee Kill The Noise (who recently produced "Shell Shocked" from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles OST for Juicy J, Wiz Khalifa, and Ty Dolla $ign), they could come together with something that is super hard but not overbearing.

Moody Good's another OWSLA affiliate that might be able to add another dimension to Rocky's catalog. A track like "Musicbx," which lets a music box melody twist and turn around shuffling drums and intergalactic bass drops (along with vocals from Eryn Allen Kane) is almost ITCHING for a focused 16 from Rocky. While Rocky isn't known as the most lyrical rhymer out there, we have a feeling they could come up with a wicked concept and really churn out something special.

Hudson Mohawke needs no introduction. His hands were all over Kanye West's 2013 opus Yeezus, and his unreleased catalog features collaborations with Action Bronson, Bodega Bamz, and others (including tracks he's produced for Drake that never made it anywhere). Rocky and HudMo collaborating could sound similar to "MadeInChynna," where Hudson just turns on a hypnotic thumper for Rocky to rep for his set to. Pretty simple, very effective.

The UK-based producer already has beats snapped up via Cash Money, and recently leaked a single he made with Childish Gambino. He started out in the UK grime scene (and had one of the last great grime hits with his "Wooo Riddim"), but knows how to make those 808-heavy trap beats knock. Sure, they may not stray too far from what Rocky could be receiving, but they might also come with easy collabs with a Young Thug or someone. Could end up being something to rock in the club.

Strictly for those smoked out, leftfield rumblers. P. Morris is truly coming into his own, and has not only remixed Katy B, but has produced a tune for Kelela and Le1f. He's clearly on that wave, and if Rocky wanted to dip back into those melancholy bangers that Clams Casino was lacing him, Morris might be the dude to call.

Mr. Carmack has beats for days... or years. We have a feeling Carmack and Rocky could make an entire album together if they wanted to. The beautiful thing is, Carmack can craft some of the most desctructively low-end friendly beats, or turn things up with cuts that have crazy pop appeal. The Hawaiian beatmaker seems to know no bounds, and will snap your neck with some of the instrmentals he has on deck.

We've already heard what happens when Gesaffelstein and Rocky got together, and loved how AGLORY flipped "In Distress." We also know that the Bromance collective is made up of French producers who make banging techno with a deep love for hip-hop. While the end result might be crazy, we have a feeling that some end-of-the-world apocalyptic shit could be brewed up if Rocky got his hands on some sinister Elidja material.