XXX might just represent the most polished and fully formed manifestation of street-meets-art rap so far.
More than anything, Live Love A$AP, his first full release, seems like an attempt to prove that Rocky is more than just a pretty face, and it’s largely successful.
Nostalgia, Ultra is more a mixtape than an album, and with this comes a level of natural inconsistency – though the fact that you can imagine Def Jam pulling many of its more lasting moments certainly vindicates Ocean’s decision to self-release it.
Containing enough irony, humour and hyperactive, intuitive compositional development to infuriate academics and bewilder many, Far Side Virtual is a modern masterpiece in both an artistic and musical sense.
This is a record that’s as ice cold as it is sad; for those who find Drake too much to stomach it might be off-putting, but for fans of the Canadian, it might just mark the arrival of a brand new obsession.