Looking Back : A$AP Yams’ Legacy
I don’t know if you were like me as a teenager, growing up following their tumblr and closely watching A$AP but the late great Yams aka Steve Rodriguez really inspired a lot of things. On social media, interviews, and writing he was more then a person. He was a figurehead for the youth. The leader of A$AP Mob. His goth bitch tweets are still viraling on twitter, the artists he helped put on are still making moves. He was never a rapper or performer, but his part in A$AP mob was bigger then all that. When he was only in the 10th grade, the same grade I officially quit high school to pursue better things he got an internship via Karen Civil to Dipset. Yams even attended community college, but spent his student loan money on gold teeth. A$AP Mob was originally formed in 2007 a year before Yams’ met Rocky. It originally consisted of just Yams’ himself, Bari and Illz. Yams’ charming online tumblr personality is what really boosted Rocky into mainstream media. Obviously he can’t be credited for all of Rocky’s success, but to say he didn’t play a big part in his success would be ignorant. Rocky, Ferg, Lotto, Nast, and the rest of the crew. You all know them better if I say A$AP before their name. But what truly is A$AP? It all started as a collective group straight out of Harlem, that just wanted to get out of the trap life they were so used to and confined to. Although Yams may no longer be around to bask in the legacy he helped form, he will never be forgotten for what he did to rap culture, and that is why the @RapHQco twitter avatar (pictured below) has been and will continue to be, the man, the myth, the legend. A$AP YAMS. Dig in your pockets and pay homage. Below photo is designed Nick Valerio.
“The deaths of BIG & Pac gave birth too many random (and sometimes unnecessary) collaborations between East Coast & West Coast artist. There’s a bunch of big titty bitches at a pool party meanwhile Canibus is talking about murdering people and burying their bodies on another planet.” – A$AP YAMS
“Don’t judge a rap by it’s lyricism or any of that, judge it by how much game you gettin’ from it. That’s what really makes a rap good or bad in my opinion.” – A$AP YAMS
