ASAP Rocky has released his new album Testing. The project features appearances from Frank Ocean, Ms. Lauryn Hill, FKA twigs, Kid Cudi, Dev Hynes, Skepta, Playboi Carti, French Montana, and more. It’s executive produced by A$AP Rocky and co-executive produced by Hector Delgado, Juicy J, Chace Johnson, and AWGE. Listen below. Frank Ocean appears on two songs: “Brotha Man” (with French Montana) and “Purity.” The latter samples Lauryn Hill’s “I Gotta Find Peace of Mind.”
Puff Daddy, Juicy J, Snoop Dogg, and BlocBoy JB are all credited as having contributed supporting vocals on various songs. MGMT’s Andrew VanWyngarden is listed as composer, lyricist, and keyboardist on the FKA twigs-featuring “Fukk Sleep.”
ASAP Rocky spoke about Testing with Zane Lowe on his Beats 1 show today. Rocky revealed that he had been collaborating with certain artists that didn’t make the album. “I was working a lot with Lana Del Rey for the past two years,” he said, alluding to his two features on Lust for Life.” He continued, “I worked a lot with Tame Impala and MGMT, so it was just like, the people I finally wanted to work with... These are the people I grew up with, these are the people I admire.” Watch the interview clip below.
Earlier this week, Rocky revealed the official album artwork at the end of a 90-minute performance art piece staged in New York City. Testing follows 2015’s At.Long.Last.A$AP. Rocky also contributed to the ASAP Mob projects Cozy Tapes Vol. 1: Friends- and Cozy Tapes Vol. 2: Too Cozy.
Ms. Lauryn Hill is playing this year’s Pitchfork Music Festival, which takes place from July 20-22 at Chicago’s Union Park. Tickets are available now.
This article was originally published on Thursday, May 24 at 6:21 p.m. EST. It was last updated on May 25 at 1:09 a.m. EST.
The countdown is over. ASAP Rocky’s long-awaited third studio album has officially arrived.
Flacko announced the project—eventually titled TESTING—in September 2017, when he told fans it was scheduled to drop before the year’s end. In a recent interview with Open Late host Peter Rosenberg, Rocky said his perfectionism is what caused the nearly six-month delay.
“One little thing, one little mishap, one little imperfection could throw off a whole cycle,” he said. “I would prefer to put out music to change people’s mood or uplift or get a feeling or a reaction, opposed to just making music to stay relevant for the sake of popularity.”
Hours before TESTING hit streaming services, the Harlem rapper unveiled the project’s full tracklist, which confirmed features by Frank Ocean, Skepta, Kid Cudi, French Montana, Lauryn Hill, Playboi Carti, and more. Rocky spoke about the batch of big-name collaborations with Beats 1 host Zane Lowe.
TESTING’s rollout was far from traditional. Within the past several months, Rocky has teased the project in obscure ways, using everything from crash dummy imagery to a “lab rat” performance art piece at Sotheby’s. It was clear ASAP Mob’s de facto leader had something unique in store.
“I’ve discovered sounds that I’ve never heard before, so I’m trying to manifest all of that into my new stuff,” Rocky said in his recent Complex cover story. “Do you ever hear people when they describe that LSD experience and they tell you about colors that they never seen before? That’s what I’m trying to describe. It’s like the manifestation of drugs ... without being so vocal about it.”
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You can listen to TESTING now on Apple Music/iTunes or via Spotify below. The album marks Rocky’s first full-length solo project since 2015’s At. Long. Last. ASAP.
Ahead of the impending release of A$AP Rocky’s hugely-anticipated new album, Testing, his third, we’ve gathered everything you need to know to get even more excited about the project’s drop.
The hype surrounding A$AP Rocky’s Testing has been building up for years now, we’ve all been anxiously awaiting his third album, especially with his recent Instagram album teaser drops, preceeded by SoundCloud song drops in January.
How will A$AP Rocky follow up his highly successful sophomore album, At. Long. Last. A$AP, released nearly three years ago in 2015? Aside from DRAM, who is A$AP Rocky rumored to have linked up with on his new album? When will it actually drop?
Release Date: Many speculated that Testing would be released Friday, May 25, as the rapper recently posted a photo to Instagram with the caption “525”. Indeed, the album dropped on May 25.
525 A post shared by PRETTY FLACKO (@asaprocky) on May 21, 2018 at 3:12pm PDT
Album Artwork: A$AP Rocky finally revealed the album’s official artwork on Instagram with the caption “ALL DONE”, which you can peep below.
ALL DONE A post shared by PRETTY FLACKO (@asaprocky) on May 20, 2018 at 8:29pm PDT
Tracklist: Users of the subreddit hiphopheads have discovered that Testing‘s tracklist is revealed when using the album’s accompanying app. The guest features are not only stacked but highly eclectic; everyone from FKA twigs to Puff Daddy is on board. The tracklist is as follows:
1. “Distorted Records” [prod Nez & Rio]
2. “A$AP Forever” (ft. Kid Cudi & T.I.) [prod Hector Delgado)
3. “Tony Tone” (ft. Puff Daddy)
3. “Fukk Sleep” (ft. FKA Twigs)
4. “Praise the Lord (Da Shine)” (ft. Skepta)
5. “Drops” (ft. Kodak Black)
6. “Buck Shots”
7. “Guns N Butter” (ft. Juicy J)
8. “Brotha Man” (ft. French Montana, Frank Ocean, Snoop Dogg) [prod. Khaled of Members Only]
9. “OG Beeper” (ft. BlocBoy JB)
10. “The Kids Turned Out Fine”
11. “Hun43rd” (ft. Dev Hynes)
12. “Changes”
13. “Black Tux, White Collar”
14. “Purity” (ft. Frank Ocean)
Editor’s notes
Rocky says it is “an amazing fucking album.”
The Harlem rapper appeared on the inaugural episode of Complex‘s Open Late with Peter Rosenberg to discuss the project.
“I’m experimenting in a more calculated way,” Rocky began. “I’m trying to make sure that I take precaution to where I’m not just drawing out of the lines all crazy, mixing my colors. I’m still trying to give you a beautiful canvas, but something different. I want to take a different approach, and I want to challenge the viewer who is tired of hearing the same old shit. You know, this shit is a cliché at this point.”
The A$AP Mob frontman then went on to add, “This is going to be an amazing fucking album and I’m going to hopefully change a bunch of people’s lives again. Hopefully people will make better music and influence me to make even better music.”
We may have already heard some of the songs on the album.
Back in January, Pretty Flacko cheekily teased some tracks he was working on, rapid-fire style. Although their inclusion on Testing has not yet been confirmed, it’s safe to say A$AP Rocky is definitely heading in an “experimental” direction, as he mentioned in his recent GQ cover story.
In addition to the DRAM-featuring “Five Star,” which previously leaked as “Wok,” Rocky shared “Money Bags Freestyle” and “Above,” which you can listen to below.
His new album is all about “testing new sounds.”
As Rocky told GQ in an interview back in October, “People are scared to test new sounds, so they go with what’s current ’cause it’s the easy thing to do. The top 100 songs sound a certain way. People cater more to that because it’s a bigger demographic behind that, or it’s a guaranteed demographic behind that. I prefer to experiment and have my crowd grow with me and to reach new crowds. I don’t just rap—I actually make music. That’s why it takes time.”
Stay tuned for more info ahead of Testing’s release. Now read everything you need to know about Post Malone’s upcoming album ‘Beerbongs & Bentleys’ right here.
Photography: Kevin Winter / Getty Images
Words by Bianca Giulione Associate Music Editor A “multi-hyphenate” Cancer Sun, Aquarius Rising, Virgo Moon, whom loves matcha.
Looks like A$AP Rocky is excited to watch Solo this weekend. Hours before the suspected release of Flacko's new album, Testing, he shared the tracklist and production credits in the form of a Star Wars-style crawling scroll today (May 24).
The video, shared on Rocky's social media, reveals that the 15-track project includes features from Kid Cudi, Moby, FKA Twigs, Skepta, Kodak Black, Playboi Carti, Spooky Margielaa, French Montana, Dev Hynes, and Frank Ocean, who appears on two songs. The final track also features Lauryn Hill, although it's presumably just a respectful nod to the track's sampling of her song, "I Gotta Find Peace of Mind."
Rocky's longtime collaborator Hector Delgado handles much of the production, with additional contributions from Skepta, Clams Casino, Dean Blunt and Dev Hynes, among others. The esteemed Juicy J earns an executive producer credit.
On Sunday, the A$AP Rocky leader teased the project in a performance art piece featuring Rocky trapped inside a glass box, and further toyed with fans' minds with a cryptic Instagram post on Monday that featured the caption, "525," leading many to believe the project will drop on May 25. The album follows the Harlem rapper's 2015 album At. Long. Last. ASAP. as his third studio full-length.
Earlier this year, Rocky released the songs "Five Stars," "Above" and "Money Bags Freestyle (Dean Blunt Meditation)," none of which made the final cut. You can view the tracklist and production credits for A$AP Rocky's Testing below.
A$AP Rocky Testing Tracklist
1. "Distorted Records" (Produced by Hector Delgado, A$AP Rocky, Mario Loving and Nesbitt Wesonga)
2. "ASAP Forever" featuring Kid Cudi and Moby (Produced by Hector Delgado and A$AP Rocky)
3. "Tony Tone" (Produced by FnZ, Hector Delgado and A$AP Rocky, Supporting Vocals by Puff Daddy)
4. "Fukk Sleep" featuring FKA Twigs
5. "Praise The Lord (Da Shine)" featuring Skepta (Produced by Skepta)
6. "Calldrop" featuring Kodak Black (Produced by Boys Noize, Supporting Vocals by Dean Blunt)
7. "Buckshots" featuring Playboi Carti and Spooky Margielaa (Produced by Kelvin Krash, Supporting Vocals by Kelvin Krash)
8. "Gunz N Butta" (Produced by Hector Delgado, A$AP Rocky, Mario Loving and Nesbitt Wesonga, Additional Production by Boys Noize, Supporting Vocals by Juicy J)
9. "Brotha Man" featuring French Montana and Frank Ocean (Produced by Rico Love and D-Town The Great, Supporting Vocals by Snoop Dogg)
10. "OG Beeper" (Produced by Hector Delgado, A$AP Rocky, Mario Loving and Nesbitt Wesonga, Additional Production by Boys Noize, Supporting Vocals by BlocBoy JB)
11. "Kid$ Turned Out Fine" (Produced by CharlieMumbles and Estiee, Additional Production by Hector Delgado and A$AP Rocky)
12. "Hun43rd" featuring Dev Hynes (Produced by Devonte Hynes)
13. "Changing" (Produced by Jim Jonsin, FnZ, Hector Delgado and Flacko, Additional Production by Jerry "tizhimself" Powell and Khalil)
14. "Black Tux" (Produced by Clams Casino and Tank God, Additional Production by Hector Delgado, Flacko and Krash)
15. "Purity" featuring Frank Ocean and Lauryn Hill (Produced by Dean Blunt, FnZ, Hector Delgado and A$AP Rocky)
