“A$AP Forever” by A$AP Rocky (ft. Moby)

“A$AP Forever” commences with ASAP Rocky shouting out “gang”, an expression that, besides the chorus, is also featured prominently in the intro. And the logical explanation would be that he’s acknowledging his clique the A$AP Mob, whom he also references in the intro and at the beginning of the first verse. 

But outside of that, the intro and chorus most consistently deal with the topic of Rocky’s fame.  And in that regard he makes two statements. First is that he hasn’t gotten lost in the game, as many people may think. And secondly, he’s not cool with strangers trying to get too close to him all because he’s a celebrity.

Then, the sole verse of the song also handles a couple of different topics. For starters, ASAP sorta elaborates on his interactions ‘with his b–ch’, i.e. girlfriend. However, the bulk of the passage is dedicated to what was alluded to above, i.e. ASAP Rocky’s roots. 

So for instance, he notes that there are ‘cases he’s still trying to beat from a long ago’. In other words, to this day the rapper is going to court for incidents that happened some time in the past. (And to note, this was before ASAP’s infamous 2019 incarceration in Sweden.) He also expresses appreciation for Latino culture. This is understandable considering that he spent a part of his living in New York City. 

But before closing the passage out, Rocky goes back to the subject of women. This time he presents himself as being akin to a global womanizer. However, the very last line of the verse has the rapper ‘praying to God that he doesn’t overdose’. 

And as explained by ASAP he meant that expression quite literally since, on top of favoring intoxicants himself, a couple of people close to the rapper, including former bandmate ASAP Yams, lost their lives due to drug abuse.

Discernible Part of “A$AP Forever”

Meanwhile from a listening perspective, the pre-chorus is perhaps the most easily-discernible part of this song. And for the most part, Rocky uses it to shoutout his clique, presenting them as robbers in the process. He also claims to have “put New York on the map”. In our eyes, this may be the most braggadocious statement of this entire piece. 

However, in his own words, ASAP Rocky has elaborated that at the time he came out, i.e. the late-aughts, no hip-hop artist from NY was hitting, which is sorta true. So in that regard, what he is claiming is that he made New York relevant on the hip-hop scene once again.

ASAP Rocky, who is also well known in fashion circles, then proceeds to give a shoutout to high-end bag brand known as Goyard. And within his Goyard backpack is some “boof”, i.e. weed. And the final line of the pre-chorus has the vocalist making a claim omnipresent throughout rap music these days, that he “f–ked your boo on her back” – well, maybe not your boo literally but somebody’s girlfriend.

What “A$AP Forever” is all about

So conclusively, this is a braggadocious rap by ASAP Rocky. He seems to have implied that upon first hearing the instrumental to “ASAP Forever”, he “thought about victory… glory or empire”, as implied by the title. And such is the feeling he tried to capture therein, not only of his own dominion but also that of the A$AP Mob.

Moby and “Porcelain”

This instrumental to this track, as produced by ASAP Rocky and Hector Delgado, relies heavily on the sample of a song Moby dropped back in 1999 entitled Porcelain.

Moby is a resilient electronic musician who was born in New York City. With a career dating back to 1989, he has released 19 studio albums as of 2021. And the aforementioned Porcelain is from the fifth of those efforts, 1999’s Play.

Moby is not a musician whose name you hear every day. But as implied above, he does have loyal fans. However, as far as the rap community goes, what he has been best known for, as acknowledged by ASAP Rocky, is getting into a back-and-forth with Eminem around the turn of the century. This was when Slim Shady was in his prime, so accordingly Marshall used the opportunity to not only diss Moby in song but also on video.

Facts about “A$AP Forever”

Moby co-wrote Porcelain with Ernest Gold. But only the former is given writing credit on “A$AP Forever”. And the other co-writers are ASAP Rocky, Hector Delgado and Khloe Anna. The latter is the female vocalist featured on the bridge and outro.

ASAP Rocky has referred to Porcelain as one of the most commercially successful songs of the 1990s. It was also apparently his idea to feature Moby’s vocals in the outro.

You may have noticed that we didn’t delve into the outro Khloe Anna and Moby’s outro, even though it is perhaps the coolest part of “A$AP Forever”. And that’s because whereas the lyrics contained therein sound pretty deep, for the most part they don’t seem to make much logical sense.  

However, what is understandable is the very end of the passage, where the vocalist is telling something important to the addressee. And what the vocalist is saying is that he “never meant to hurt” or “to lie” to this person. That being said, there’s no clear indication of how this assertion ties in to the rest of the song. And to note said lyrics were not derived, at least not directly, from Porcelain.

Music video director Dexter Navy handled said responsibility for this track.

Release and Success of “A$AP Forever”

“A$AP Forever” was officially released as a standalone single on 5 April 2018. It was first teased under the working title “Gang” about half a year prior. And to note, it is the remix of this song featuring Kid Cudi and T.I. that is featured on ASAP Rocky’s 2018 album Testing.

“A$AP Forever” went on to chart in a handful of countries. In addition to that, it achieved platinum certification in the United States.