The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

For the last five or so years, hip-hop has been in a state of transition. While rap royals Jay Z and Kanye are sat along fashion runways and frolicking with Kardashians, old gaurds Dre and Snoop are undergoing steroid-induced makeovers, adopting new animals to their names and jumping on the David Guetta bandwagon. It's like a weird hip-hop mid-life crisis.

Outside of the circus, ‘nerd-rapper’, A$AP Rocky, has been carving out a niche of his own – one that has already set the hip-hop net over a much wider audience.

This is a young man who, during his early teens, was exposed to the worst of it. With an incarcerated father and an older brother slain, the Harlem native – born Rakim Mayers – was named after one half of legendary rap twosome, Eric B. & Rakim. A perfect recipe for a long, prosperous rap career, no?

With tongue firmly planted in cheek, A$AP Rocky’s debut LP, LONG.LIVE.A$AP, sources an eclectic range of influences – some of which are still very contemporary. And herein lays the biggest problem. Tracks like ‘PMW (All I Really Need)’ and ‘Fashion Killa’ are very much rooted in the southern brand of hip-hop that the likes of Lil Wayne have exhausted in recent times. It’s too distinctive of a sound to digest as a sincere stimulus for an artist who, after huge critical acclaim for 2011 mix tape, Live. Love. A$AP, hasn’t quite hit the heights set out for him.

But for every derivative on this album, there’s a gem. Title-track and album opener, ‘Long Live A$AP’, and single, ‘Goldie’, flaunt A$AP Rocky’s best and most endearing attributes. The songs are broody and unhurried, but maintain an underlying playfulness and mischief.

‘F**kin’ Problems’, featuring Drake, 2 Chainz and Kendrick Lamar, translates a similar musical disposition but through a grander, more dramatic sound, while Santigold’s appearance on ‘Hell’ adds a much needed effeminacy to what is a testosterone-fuelled album.

This is the type of record that you want to love. But there’s something elementary missing. Had it not been for a year of hype,  LONG.LIVE.A$AP might have struggled to make an immediate impact on what is becoming a gimmicked market. There are no immediate, standout hits and nothing to sideswipe you from leftfield.

For over a year, we’d been told that A$AP Rocky is a complex, absorbing artist with a unique world view. This album simply doesn’t show that. But at twenty four, he’s already proven to be a real student of hip-hop and in this day and age, that’s worth something.