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A$AP Rocky: Love Sex Dreams/LSD and Locked Up Overseas · DISGRACELAND

0:00
Speaker 1: Disgrace Land as a production of double Elvis.
0:14
Speaker 2: The stories about hip hop star Asap Rocky are insane.
0:18
Speaker 2: He utilized LSD as a means of therapy. He was
0:22
Speaker 2: jailed at an early age for dealing drugs, arrested for
0:25
Speaker 2: assaulting photographers, and loudly proclaimed the psychedelic virtues of the
0:29
Speaker 2: purple drink.
0:31
Speaker 1: Born in Harlem and.
0:32
Speaker 2: Raised in its drug and crimes durned streets on the
0:34
Speaker 2: reverberations of raps golden era, Asap Rocky seems the picture
0:38
Speaker 2: perfect hip hop star, one part take no shit tough guy,
0:42
Speaker 2: the other part trippy, pretty boy poet. But Asap Rocky
0:46
Speaker 2: never fit the mold he broke it. His music has
0:50
Speaker 2: as much in common with his namesake, the groundbreaking mc
0:53
Speaker 2: rack Kim as it does the psychedelic songsmiths of the sixties, Lennin,
0:58
Speaker 2: Barrett and Zimmermann among them, and his renegade contrarian nature
1:01
Speaker 2: is more like mister Zimmerman's aka Bob Dylan than it
1:04
Speaker 2: is the dusted SoundCloud rappers. Asap Rocky shares a generation
1:08
Speaker 2: with Asap has even collaborated with Bob Dylan's grandson Pablo,
1:13
Speaker 2: and is forever in awe of and in debt to
1:16
Speaker 2: another Pablo Jesus himself, Kanye West. And like Kanye West,
1:21
Speaker 2: Asap Rocky makes great music, and that music I played
1:25
Speaker 2: you at the top of the show. That wasn't great music.
1:28
Speaker 2: That was a preset loop from my mellotron called Desolate
1:31
Speaker 2: Harpsichord MK two. I played you that loop because I
1:36
Speaker 2: can't afford the rights to Old Town Road by Little
1:38
Speaker 2: Na Sex. And why would I play you that specific
1:42
Speaker 2: slice of Gucci Hick Cheese?
1:43
Speaker 1: Could I afford it?
1:45
Speaker 2: Because that was the number one song in America on
1:49
Speaker 2: July third, twenty nineteen, and that was the day Asap
1:53
Speaker 2: Rocky was jailed in Sweden, an event that would kick
1:56
Speaker 2: off an international incident and bring none other than the
1:59
Speaker 2: President of the United States to the defense of the desolate,
2:02
Speaker 2: tripped out hip hop star. On this episode Gucci Hick Cheese, Desolation,
2:08
Speaker 2: Purple Swag, Desap Rocky.
2:11
Speaker 1: I'm Jake Brennan in this this disgrace slat.
2:29
Speaker 3: All news all the time. This is ten to ten wins.
2:34
Speaker 3: You give us twenty two minutes, We'll give you the world.
2:37
Speaker 4: Good morning, forty three degrees on Tuesday morning, seven am.
2:40
Speaker 4: I'm James hardy and here's what's happening. New York real
2:43
Speaker 4: estate tycoon Donald Trump announced today he.
2:45
Speaker 5: Will host him star in a new reality television series
2:48
Speaker 5: called The Apprentice, earlier on NBC on Thursday nights, as
2:51
Speaker 5: being billed as must TV Baseball legend Rose has admitted
2:55
Speaker 5: to beam on dates.
3:02
Speaker 2: Rakim Meers had that stupid Morse code melody in his
3:05
Speaker 2: head from the news station pumping out of the guards radio.
3:09
Speaker 2: He heard it every morning. The radio was loud, as
3:11
Speaker 2: fucked and twice as annoying. Who wanted to listen to
3:15
Speaker 2: people talk on the radio. He would never understand that,
3:17
Speaker 2: why not just listen to music? But on his long
3:20
Speaker 2: list of problems, the radio was way down on the list.
3:24
Speaker 2: The blood wasn't much of a problem either. It would
3:27
Speaker 2: flow down the prison shower drain, no problem, And the
3:30
Speaker 2: showers weren't really a problem either. And here the guards
3:33
Speaker 2: would never see Rokkim squared off with the bigger earlier dude.
3:38
Speaker 2: It was his first prison fight. He knew it was coming,
3:40
Speaker 2: it was unavoidable. He and the bigger inmates stepped onto
3:44
Speaker 2: the row of tiles beneath the prison showerheads, where their
3:47
Speaker 2: blood would eventually rain down and drain out where the
3:50
Speaker 2: guards wouldn't see. The one on one brawl had been
3:53
Speaker 2: negotiated by Rakim's only friend in Riker's Casanova, a robber
3:58
Speaker 2: and check scammer from flat Bush who rocked.
4:00
Speaker 1: Him and met in the bullpen on his first night.
4:03
Speaker 2: Right now, Casanova was surrounded by eight of this burly
4:06
Speaker 2: lug's closest prison buddies.
4:08
Speaker 1: Casanova nodded to rock him, you got this. Rocky.
4:12
Speaker 2: Rocky was Rockkim's nickname, fitting for what was about to
4:15
Speaker 2: go down Riker's Island two thousand and four, the JUVI Unit,
4:21
Speaker 2: the one the screws called animal Control.
4:25
Speaker 1: Rock Kim Rocky.
4:26
Speaker 2: Myers was a scrawny sixteen year old, a pretty boy
4:29
Speaker 2: product of Harlem who had dabbled in the drug game
4:31
Speaker 2: for years and in the past year graduated his slinging
4:34
Speaker 2: crack in the Bronx. His dad was in jail for dealing,
4:38
Speaker 2: his brother was gunned down in the streets when Rocky
4:40
Speaker 2: was just thirteen, and now, as would seem his grim destiny,
4:45
Speaker 2: Rocky was on the island himself, at least for a
4:48
Speaker 2: couple of weeks while his grandmother waited for his bail.
4:50
Speaker 2: Bond to be processed, and the charges were bullshit drug charges,
4:55
Speaker 2: but nothing that could stick. He'd be out quick, so
4:58
Speaker 2: all he really needed to do was keep his head down.
5:01
Speaker 1: But that first night in the bullpen was tough.
5:03
Speaker 2: He was starving, and if he was being honest, scared,
5:07
Speaker 2: you'd have to be a complete psychopath not to be
5:10
Speaker 2: whether you were in animal control, GenPop, or any of
5:13
Speaker 2: the other God forsaken the unit in Rikers. Rikers was Rikers,
5:17
Speaker 2: a unique jail experience, like visiting an old ballpark. The
5:21
Speaker 2: quirk in the Island's case was that everyone in the
5:23
Speaker 2: joint was either a waiting trial or serving a year
5:26
Speaker 2: or less on their sentence, without any nickel and dime
5:29
Speaker 2: terms or life sentence. Old timers around to invest in
5:32
Speaker 2: the place, consolidate power, and insist on long term stability.
5:36
Speaker 2: The constant churn of new inmates meant constant fighting, constant brawling,
5:40
Speaker 2: a perpetual law of the jungle. But Rocky had plans
5:45
Speaker 2: beyond Rikers. He'd been rapping since he was nine. Had
5:48
Speaker 2: been named after the legendary mc rakim, who had pioneered
5:52
Speaker 2: the style of the laid back, laconic flow full of
5:55
Speaker 2: internal rhymes and runs along with his partner DJ Eric
5:58
Speaker 2: b breaking the bill Board Top ten chart with their
6:01
Speaker 2: debut and becoming one of the most influential acts of
6:04
Speaker 2: the Golden Age of rap. Rokkim gave him his name,
6:07
Speaker 2: Ricky gave him his style. Ricky was his brother, and
6:11
Speaker 2: after he died, Rocky adopted his French braid hairstyle and
6:14
Speaker 2: took his wrapping even more seriously. So, even alone here
6:18
Speaker 2: in animal control, he knew he had one thing that
6:21
Speaker 2: most of the other dudes and rikers didn't have. Vision,
6:25
Speaker 2: and in his peripheral vision back on that first night
6:28
Speaker 2: in the pen, Rocky noticed Casanova. He was sprawled out
6:32
Speaker 2: in a prison jumpsuit sporting a pair of Nike Air
6:35
Speaker 2: Maxes in the middle of Rikers like he didn't have
6:37
Speaker 2: a care in the world, and the fashion conscious Rocky
6:40
Speaker 2: was impressed. Yo, how they let you keep your shoes?
6:44
Speaker 2: Casanova laughed. He wasn't much older than the stick figure kid,
6:47
Speaker 2: but this was his third time through. He knew how
6:50
Speaker 2: things worked, how to get things. He was on some
6:52
Speaker 2: real shaw shaped redemption shit, and he pulled a red
6:55
Speaker 2: and took Rocky under his wing, and Casanova laid it
6:58
Speaker 2: on Rocky one. Don't tell anyone you're getting bailed out soon.
7:02
Speaker 2: That'll make them want to fuck with you even more
7:04
Speaker 2: than they already do. Rule number two. When at lunch
7:07
Speaker 2: in the mess hall, don't sit on the iron bench.
7:10
Speaker 2: The iron bench is for facts. That's why it's called
7:12
Speaker 2: riding the iron dick. It means you're a pussy, someone
7:14
Speaker 2: who can be fucked with. Just stand up and eat
7:16
Speaker 2: your food while you're practicing your ability to not make
7:19
Speaker 2: eye contact. Avoiding eye contact and thus any contact hopefully
7:24
Speaker 2: was part of the deal. In prison, prison sex was
7:26
Speaker 2: a real threat as fresh meat. New prisoners were constantly
7:30
Speaker 2: being sized up by the hard timers looking for vulnerable
7:33
Speaker 2: prisoners to rape or to quote unquote turn out or worse,
7:36
Speaker 2: to punk out, meaning they'd pimp them out to other
7:39
Speaker 2: prisoners for a price. Sexual slavery was a real threat,
7:43
Speaker 2: which brought Castanova to Rule number three. Don't borrow shit.
7:47
Speaker 2: Stay away from the prison loan sharks. Whatever contraband you
7:50
Speaker 2: think you need, it ain't worth it. Before you know it.
7:53
Speaker 2: That coffee you borrowed, you can't pay it back, and
7:55
Speaker 2: then you can't pay back the interest, and then you
7:57
Speaker 2: can't sit right for a week because you get turned
7:59
Speaker 2: out to pay back your debt, and then you end
8:01
Speaker 2: up fucking out your ass for the rest of the.
8:03
Speaker 1: Time you're in here. Casanova went on rule number four.
8:07
Speaker 2: Don't sit in the chairs by the TV either, not
8:09
Speaker 2: unless you want to get whooped by some serious motherfuckers.
8:12
Speaker 2: The TV is the closest thing in here to puss.
8:14
Speaker 2: Shit is on lock make a play for it. You
8:16
Speaker 2: better be able to back it up. Fucking with the
8:18
Speaker 2: television controlling it means you're the top dog and you
8:21
Speaker 2: might look bad in all, but you ain't no alpha,
8:23
Speaker 2: not yet anyway. But you ain't gonna be in here
8:25
Speaker 2: long enough to grow into no big bad wolf. So
8:27
Speaker 2: just forget about the fucking TV altogether. And last, but
8:30
Speaker 2: certainly far from fucking least, it's rule number five. When
8:34
Speaker 2: it comes to getting clean, get in and out of
8:35
Speaker 2: the showers as fast as you can without incident, not
8:38
Speaker 2: unless you want to become somebody's bitch. See rules number two,
8:41
Speaker 2: A and three. But when it came to the showers,
8:44
Speaker 2: Rocky didn't listen. It was a matter of pride. The
8:47
Speaker 2: soap when it thumped the back of his skull, sent
8:50
Speaker 2: him into an instinctive fury. He turned around and mouthed
8:53
Speaker 2: off to the big Dude, chucking the soap around the
8:55
Speaker 2: shower like Mike Vick. Before Rocky knew it, Big Dude
8:58
Speaker 2: and nine of his Big Dude buddies were in so
9:00
Speaker 2: him in the shower. One way or another. Rocky knew
9:03
Speaker 2: he was about to be fucked. Luckily, Casanova was nearby
9:07
Speaker 2: and stepped in, thrusting his arm in between Rocky and
9:10
Speaker 2: the approaching mob. Yo step back, make it a fair fight,
9:13
Speaker 2: fair fight, let him prove himself, and after a long
9:16
Speaker 2: tense pause, Big Dude accepted the challenge and called off
9:19
Speaker 2: his crew Mono Imano, who was no matter to Big Dude.
9:22
Speaker 2: Rocky was going down regardless. The fight began. Rocky and
9:27
Speaker 2: a big Dude lunged at each other. Flesh met flesh
9:30
Speaker 2: with a hollow slap, and their bare feet sliding on
9:33
Speaker 2: the wet tile, went from squeal to screech as they
9:35
Speaker 2: wrestled each other from a firm grip and Big Dude
9:38
Speaker 2: shifted his weight dragged them together over against the wall,
9:41
Speaker 2: jabbing Rocky's left flank with one of the industrial shower knobs.
9:44
Speaker 1: The ancient metal rattled in his fixture.
9:47
Speaker 2: Rocky winced, but used the pressure of the wall to
9:49
Speaker 2: twist out of the hold and regroup.
9:51
Speaker 1: And Big Dude was big, but Rocky was fast.
9:54
Speaker 2: Before his opponent could zero in on him again, Rocky
9:56
Speaker 2: bounced back at him with a lunch and like a
9:59
Speaker 2: large goofy cart tune character, the Big Dude's feet left
10:02
Speaker 2: the wet floor in a clean arc. His head toppled
10:05
Speaker 2: to the tile with a flat crack. Ooze ran out
10:08
Speaker 2: from the crowd, and now with every blow of the
10:10
Speaker 2: blood sport, Rocky straddled the prone form of his enemy
10:13
Speaker 2: and started wailing on his sides. Avoid the face, he thought,
10:16
Speaker 2: bruised the body. The jumpsuit when he puts it on.
10:19
Speaker 2: We'll hide them, just like the drains will take care
10:21
Speaker 2: of the blood. Nobody's business. But there's on the shower floor,
10:24
Speaker 2: not the screws, not the wardens. Rocky was going to
10:27
Speaker 2: make his rep right here, right now, and not just
10:29
Speaker 2: for winning, but for how he fought with style, discretion,
10:33
Speaker 2: and then with a heave, the Big Dude unexpectedly rolled
10:36
Speaker 2: them both over.
10:37
Speaker 1: Rocky now was underneath him.
10:38
Speaker 2: He raised a fist, and Rocky prepared to see the
10:40
Speaker 2: light just then as the Big Dude pulled back his fist,
10:43
Speaker 2: he wabbled and lost his balance. Rocky pounced began wailing
10:47
Speaker 2: on his opponent again. The crowd roared and Rocky's opponent
10:50
Speaker 2: collapsed to his feet, flopped onto the floor with a
10:52
Speaker 2: few fat, wet slaps, and Rocky stood firm on his
10:55
Speaker 2: feet and the Big Dude's friends moved into the fighting lane,
10:59
Speaker 2: crowding the shower.
11:00
Speaker 1: Rocky got on edge again.
11:02
Speaker 2: He suddenly wondered if Big Dude's boys weren't going to
11:05
Speaker 2: uphold the rules the fair fight and jump them to
11:07
Speaker 2: make a point that, despite what they decreed upon, that
11:10
Speaker 2: here in the pen, there were no rules. But then
11:13
Speaker 2: several of them patted him on the back while the
11:15
Speaker 2: others helped up their friend, and the sense of relief
11:18
Speaker 2: washed over Rocky. The sudden acceptance was disoriented. Rocky felt
11:23
Speaker 2: a huge slap on the back from Casanova and stumbled
11:26
Speaker 2: forward a bit Rikers Island, New York, New York. If
11:30
Speaker 2: he can make it in here, he can make it anywhere.
11:52
Speaker 2: Smoke from the blunt filled the air in thick curls
11:54
Speaker 2: at the hole the Sheikh Manhattan Arc Gallery, where asap
11:58
Speaker 2: Rocky was celebrating the release of his first full length record,
12:01
Speaker 2: twenty thirteen's Long Live Asap. He had come a long
12:05
Speaker 2: way from Riker's Island in nine short years. The room,
12:09
Speaker 2: pure white, was full of buzz and chatter, clinking drinks,
12:13
Speaker 2: soho bobo street fashion on display everywhere, hedge fund bros
12:17
Speaker 2: and five thousand dollars suits and post economic dot com
12:20
Speaker 2: dudes in ten thousand dollars denim and torn T shirt ensembles,
12:24
Speaker 2: high fashion sneakers all around, big blunts, big bank accounts,
12:28
Speaker 2: big beats. In the back of the room was the
12:31
Speaker 2: Asap Mob, the Harlem based arts collective whose members included
12:35
Speaker 2: asap Fer, asap Nast, asap Ant and others, with asap
12:39
Speaker 2: Rocky and asap.
12:40
Speaker 1: Yams as the group's unofficial leaders.
12:43
Speaker 2: And the whole mob was washing to a DJ remixing
12:46
Speaker 2: Rocky signature tracks, while from across the gallery, a reporter
12:50
Speaker 2: from The Village Voice absorbed the scene and jotted down notes.
12:54
Speaker 2: This wouldn't be the first glowing profile of Rocky. Rocky
12:57
Speaker 2: had been trailed in AWE by a New York Times
12:59
Speaker 2: report or two years earlier, to commemorate the release of
13:02
Speaker 2: his debut EP Live Love Asap, which had blown up
13:06
Speaker 2: the New York rap scene on the back of a
13:07
Speaker 2: surgical strike media campaign. It was Asap BMS who had
13:11
Speaker 2: built the high traffic hip hop Tumblr page and then
13:14
Speaker 2: seated Rocky's first two singles, Purple Swag and Peso on
13:18
Speaker 2: the page, mixed in with the tribute videos to classic rappers.
13:22
Speaker 2: Both tracks were hits videos soon followed. The rollout was
13:25
Speaker 2: executed perfectly, and so the offers from the major labels
13:29
Speaker 2: rolled in. Rocky had gone from slinging drugs to rapping
13:33
Speaker 2: full time to record deal in six months flat. Even
13:37
Speaker 2: The Times, the old gray lady of the establishment that
13:40
Speaker 2: it was, praised him as an iconoclast and innovator, a
13:43
Speaker 2: visionary blending regional styles from across America to craft a
13:47
Speaker 2: new sound, and Rocky's taste as a listener was omnivorous.
13:52
Speaker 2: Johnny Cash, the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and Pink Floyd all
13:55
Speaker 2: mixed in with the grates of hip hop past and present.
13:58
Speaker 2: And though ASAP's glowed happened on Tumblr, his post genre
14:02
Speaker 2: ideals and social media origins were really the starting gun,
14:06
Speaker 2: heralding the SoundCloud rap errow to come. The Times described
14:10
Speaker 2: his music as Heavily Narcotic in twenty eleven, and by
14:13
Speaker 2: the time of the full length album and the smoke
14:15
Speaker 2: filled Party at the Hole in twenty thirteen, it was
14:19
Speaker 2: truer than ever. The album, ASAP, Rocky's debut album, debuted
14:23
Speaker 2: at number one on the Billboard two hundred charts. It
14:26
Speaker 2: was a dizzying ride for Rocky, but dizzy was something
14:29
Speaker 2: he was used to. The woozy, psychedelic effect of ASAP's
14:33
Speaker 2: beats sank into the bodies of his listeners the same
14:35
Speaker 2: way the thick blanket of blunt smoke sank around everybody
14:38
Speaker 2: in the room that night. And although Rocky wasn't a
14:43
Speaker 2: drug dealer himself anymore, drugs, especially psychedelics, remained central to
14:48
Speaker 2: his artistic process. He considered them fuel for his vision, mushrooms, LSD,
14:54
Speaker 2: ecstasy and lots and lots of weed. The brash news
14:58
Speaker 2: star happily told The Times that his crew had been
15:01
Speaker 2: ahead of the curve in the late odds when they
15:03
Speaker 2: started sipping lean aka purple drink aka Codey and cough
15:07
Speaker 2: sirup mixed with vodka and sprite. Drugs were only part
15:11
Speaker 2: of the equation. Pussy was just as important. The third
15:14
Speaker 2: track on the album was entitled PMW All I Really
15:18
Speaker 2: Need the PMW of course stood for pussy money Weed.
15:22
Speaker 2: For Asap Rocky, it was an ethos, a lifestyle, one
15:25
Speaker 2: that didn't let up between the critically and commercially successful albums.
15:29
Speaker 2: In fact, when he wasn't making music, life was even
15:31
Speaker 2: more off the leash. Pussy, money, and weed were all
15:34
Speaker 2: in plentiful supply, but like anything else, too much of
15:38
Speaker 2: a good thing gets boring. And on that day in
15:43
Speaker 2: July twenty twelve, with no work to be done at
15:46
Speaker 2: the studio and no more balling to do in the bedroom,
15:48
Speaker 2: and having had his fill of smoke before lunch, Asap
15:52
Speaker 2: decided he needed some new threats, so he hit the
15:55
Speaker 2: Manhattan streets to go shopping. Out on the street, he
16:00
Speaker 2: was hustling to the sounds of the city rich as
16:03
Speaker 2: fucked by Lil Wayne blaring from a car with a
16:05
Speaker 2: sound system so base heavy the Rocky felt it at
16:08
Speaker 2: his feet. A guy in a Yankees cat buying a
16:10
Speaker 2: post from a newsstand vendor in a Mets cap, both
16:13
Speaker 2: men agreeing their teams for shit this year and oh yeah,
16:16
Speaker 2: fuck the Red Sox, and their exchange ended the car
16:19
Speaker 2: drove off, and just as Rocky passed the newsstand, the
16:22
Speaker 2: stained old radio over the shoulder of the vendor hissed
16:25
Speaker 2: him from across the sidewalk, and then those familiar and
16:29
Speaker 2: annoying twitching beeps.
16:32
Speaker 1: We'll be right back after this word, word word.
16:38
Speaker 3: All news, all the time is ten ten waivers, and
16:43
Speaker 3: he'll give us twenty two minutes.
16:45
Speaker 1: We'll give you the word.
16:46
Speaker 4: That afternoon, seventy four degrees partly sunny skies at eleven
16:49
Speaker 4: am years are happening New York. Donald Trump today again,
16:52
Speaker 4: I'm a president Barakuo, but I'm a five million dollars
16:54
Speaker 4: to a charity of his choice for focussing his breath
16:56
Speaker 4: certificate to Major League Baseball held its eighty fourth All
16:59
Speaker 4: Star Game at City fielding Queens the American meahout out
17:02
Speaker 4: to the national music across the lawn, to the same
17:06
Speaker 4: sex marriage.
17:11
Speaker 2: July in Manhattan, sticky hot, and the rotting smell of
17:15
Speaker 2: garbage in the air everywhere, even in the nice parts
17:17
Speaker 2: of Manhattan. The smell was just part of the deal.
17:21
Speaker 2: Rocky was high on the purple tripping, slow walking fast,
17:24
Speaker 2: at least he thought so. Anyway, he had swag one
17:27
Speaker 2: way or the other, but the garbage smell was throwing
17:30
Speaker 2: off his vibe, and as he bopped from shop to
17:33
Speaker 2: boutique to custom Taylor, he kept finding the random people
17:36
Speaker 2: on the street, more and more menacing their eyes like
17:39
Speaker 2: black portals into the unknown. Some real Jacob's laddershit and
17:43
Speaker 2: he was seriously creaked out.
17:45
Speaker 1: He coached himself, a little chill, chill, it's just some.
17:49
Speaker 2: Paranoia, but he was asap rocky now and some of
17:53
Speaker 2: these people really were staring at him. As he stepped
17:56
Speaker 2: into the next door, his paranoia flattened him. Who the
17:59
Speaker 2: fuck worthy these people and why wouldn't they stop staring?
18:02
Speaker 2: He knew he was good looking, but damn level out,
18:05
Speaker 2: he told himself. He went for his supply in his pocket,
18:08
Speaker 2: just a little something for the edge, and as he
18:11
Speaker 2: pulled it out, though he couldn't even tell what he
18:13
Speaker 2: was holding a bottle of purple packed bowl, a tab
18:16
Speaker 2: of acid. He literally couldn't see what was in his hand.
18:19
Speaker 2: His vision was scrambled. He took a deep breath, swallowed,
18:23
Speaker 2: looked up and saw the big dude in the store
18:25
Speaker 2: staring at him. He was holding a bar of artis
18:27
Speaker 2: amos scented soap made by a coven of.
18:29
Speaker 1: Witches in Brooklyn.
18:30
Speaker 2: He was big, vacant looking, but he immediately reminded Rocky
18:34
Speaker 2: of the big dude from the showers.
18:35
Speaker 1: Back at Riker's fucking creep. Fuck this not again?
18:40
Speaker 2: The fuck are you looking at now? Rocky barked at him.
18:43
Speaker 2: Big dude grinned. Rocky swore he saw it, then he
18:45
Speaker 2: saw him step to him. No joke, Yes, it happened.
18:48
Speaker 2: Something happened. Shit, what the fuck was happening? Rocky didn't think.
18:52
Speaker 2: He relied on muscle memory. What worked in the showers
18:55
Speaker 2: would work on the streets or in the boutiques. He
18:58
Speaker 2: grabbed the security guard, big dude, and pitched him into
19:01
Speaker 2: a rack of thousand dollars blazers, sending the metal hangars
19:04
Speaker 2: rattling with the sound of a million tiny psychedelic suns.
19:07
Speaker 2: Whatever the fuck that sounded like, but it was all
19:09
Speaker 2: Rocky could hear. The big dude said nothing, stop peeping
19:13
Speaker 2: my shit. Rocky shouted, and again the big dude said nothing,
19:17
Speaker 2: just collected himself and began to rise up. Rocky was
19:20
Speaker 2: through with him, in his word, was staring bullshit. He
19:23
Speaker 2: shifted his warped vision out the window onto the street.
19:26
Speaker 2: Now there was a crew of big dudes, must have
19:28
Speaker 2: been around seven or eight, and they had cameras out
19:30
Speaker 2: recording the damaged Rocky had just done shit. Every bad
19:36
Speaker 2: paranoid drugged out, fused, and Rocky's nervous system ignited all
19:40
Speaker 2: at once. He raged out of the store, straight up
19:42
Speaker 2: to the too closest amateur paparazzi and they saw mania
19:46
Speaker 2: and his eyes backed off to run, but it was
19:47
Speaker 2: too late. Rocky was too fast. He wrestled the cameras
19:51
Speaker 2: from them, tried smashing one against his knee, tossed the
19:53
Speaker 2: other to the ground, stomped on it. No visible evidence,
19:57
Speaker 2: believe nothing the screws could see. Let the purple blood
19:59
Speaker 2: flow down the drain, and finally, as adrenaline dipped and
20:02
Speaker 2: he took a beat. What the fuck demanded one of
20:05
Speaker 2: the photographers, And then the comdown hit him all at
20:08
Speaker 2: once like a wave.
20:10
Speaker 1: What the hell did he just do?
20:12
Speaker 2: Attempted grand larceny, assault robbery, so said the arresting officers. Anyway,
20:19
Speaker 2: Rocky copped a plea for the larceny charge in exchange
20:21
Speaker 2: for the assault robbery charges being dropped, and the Big
20:25
Speaker 2: Dude sued Rocky on his own for assault, a cash
20:27
Speaker 2: grab that played out in court for over a year.
20:30
Speaker 2: Rocky claimed self defense and countersued, and the tangle of
20:33
Speaker 2: claims dragged on. But by the time they dropped the matter,
20:36
Speaker 2: it came to a go away settlement. They did so quietly.
20:39
Speaker 2: It made no more ways for Rocky's career. Eventually, just
20:43
Speaker 2: like a bad trip, it all melted away. Asap Rocky
20:48
Speaker 2: wasn't in the hole anymore. He was at the whole
20:51
Speaker 2: celebrating his album, his number one album, Life Was Good.
21:19
Speaker 2: Rocky was hungry. He needed some real fuel before a
21:22
Speaker 2: show that night, so he and his crew, a few
21:25
Speaker 2: members of ASAP Mob and several enormous bodyguards, decided to
21:28
Speaker 2: check out max Hamburger's, a sort of bougie Swedish.
21:32
Speaker 1: Version of McDonald's.
21:34
Speaker 2: The crew made their way through the foreign streets, staying
21:37
Speaker 2: close together but still throwing off their desired vibe of intimidation.
21:41
Speaker 2: It's in fucking vincible and they were strangers in a
21:44
Speaker 2: strange land here in Stockholm on an international tour.
21:48
Speaker 1: It was July twenty nineteen.
21:50
Speaker 2: Asap Rocky had come a long way from the album
21:53
Speaker 2: release party at the whole in the past six years
21:56
Speaker 2: after his debut album debuted at number one, his second
21:59
Speaker 2: full length record, at Long Last Asap, did the same
22:02
Speaker 2: thing in twenty fifteen, and then his third album, Testing
22:06
Speaker 2: debuted at number four, making it three top five album
22:09
Speaker 2: drops in a row. Pretty impressive, but it was bittersweet.
22:14
Speaker 2: A few months before the release of It Long Last Asap,
22:17
Speaker 2: Rocky's producing partner and fellow leader of the Asap Mob,
22:20
Speaker 2: Asap Yams, had been found unconscious in his Brooklyn apartment,
22:25
Speaker 2: felled by a combination of opiates, benzos and sleep apnea.
22:29
Speaker 2: Dead for Rocky and the rest of the Asap Mob,
22:32
Speaker 2: it was the end of an era, and there have
22:34
Speaker 2: been other rough times too. Had trouble meeting, a few
22:37
Speaker 2: runs at Sobriety, Pierre trouble due to various alleged desktops,
22:42
Speaker 2: a brawl in Times Square that led to the canceling
22:44
Speaker 2: of his first appearance on The Tonight Show, and another
22:47
Speaker 2: brawl at a festival where he allegedly slapped a woman.
22:50
Speaker 2: The Asap denied it and the woman never showed in court.
22:53
Speaker 2: And of course there was girl trouble, a bummer end
22:56
Speaker 2: to his relationship with Iggy Azalea, flings with Rhianna and
23:00
Speaker 2: Kylie Jenner in Turns with Love and hip hop star
23:03
Speaker 2: Tyhirie Jones and Victoria's secret model Chanelle Laman all sorts
23:07
Speaker 2: of trouble, and as is the case with most pop stars,
23:11
Speaker 2: there was the inevitable and ridiculous media trouble too. In
23:14
Speaker 2: twenty fifteen, Rocky visited Oxford University in London. It was
23:18
Speaker 2: asked if rap artists had a responsibility to speak out
23:21
Speaker 2: about racial justice issues after the Ferguson riots and rise
23:25
Speaker 2: of Black Lives Matter. Rocky replied no, elaborating that he
23:29
Speaker 2: didn't want to rap disingenuously about protests he hadn't participated in,
23:34
Speaker 2: and that in his experience, black on black violence was
23:37
Speaker 2: more common than police violence. Asap specifically said at a
23:41
Speaker 2: time in twenty fourteen when sixty people were shot over
23:45
Speaker 2: one July weekend, quote, why are we exploiting the beef
23:48
Speaker 2: between the urban community and the police force when sixty
23:51
Speaker 2: people got shot on Friday and Saturday in Chicago and
23:54
Speaker 2: black on black crime? So one cop shoots a black person,
23:58
Speaker 2: that kind of shit is inevitable. Not to glorify it,
24:01
Speaker 2: but that's nothing new Let's talk about the black on
24:03
Speaker 2: black crime. If you're not going to talk about the
24:05
Speaker 2: main topic, then don't talk about it at all. When
24:09
Speaker 2: asked for a follow up by a reporter from the
24:11
Speaker 2: Time Out in New York, Rocky replied, who am I
24:14
Speaker 2: Al Sharpton. I live in fucking soho in Beverly Hills.
24:17
Speaker 2: I can't relate. I go back to Harlem. It's not
24:19
Speaker 2: the same. It's a sad story. In a begrudging apology
24:23
Speaker 2: interview with Charlemagne the God Asap finished his thoughts on
24:26
Speaker 2: the subject, The overall message for me, the most I
24:30
Speaker 2: could really do is just like encourage everybody.
24:32
Speaker 3: Man.
24:32
Speaker 2: We really got to get together, show love, spread love.
24:36
Speaker 2: Especially with someone like that guy Trump in office. That's
24:39
Speaker 2: a catastrophe and that's really getting serious. This was the
24:43
Speaker 2: summer of twenty sixteen.
24:45
Speaker 1: Donald J.
24:45
Speaker 2: Trump, new York real estate mogul, reality talk show host,
24:49
Speaker 2: part time Barack Obama troll, the Birther in chief, was
24:53
Speaker 2: now somehow the Republican candidate for commander in chief. Rocky
24:57
Speaker 2: spoke as if you were already in office. All the
25:00
Speaker 2: LSD had made him clairvoyant, but half of America was
25:03
Speaker 2: already freaking the fuck out, particularly the half the controlled
25:07
Speaker 2: most of the mainstream media, and public pressure on artists
25:10
Speaker 2: to speak out about politics was at an all time high,
25:14
Speaker 2: especially in the black community. There was an implied obligation
25:17
Speaker 2: being signaled to any cultural influencer, regardless of skin color.
25:21
Speaker 2: You're either with us or with him, and asap, Rocky
25:24
Speaker 2: was not immune. But it was not a bag you
25:27
Speaker 2: wanted to carry, and not because of any political ideology,
25:29
Speaker 2: not because he believed with Trump or believed in his agenda,
25:32
Speaker 2: but just because for some people politics it ain't their thing.
25:36
Speaker 2: It's a cesspool of snakes who are in it for
25:38
Speaker 2: the money, to influence, the power, and the ego, four
25:41
Speaker 2: things Rocky already had plenty of. Once you realize the
25:45
Speaker 2: politicians in the media are only in it for themselves,
25:47
Speaker 2: then what's the point. You're either playing the game or
25:50
Speaker 2: being played by the game. He just soon avoided all.
25:54
Speaker 2: After Rocky wrapped the pressatory, he got back to what
25:57
Speaker 2: most every young male hip hop star wants to get into. Pussy,
26:01
Speaker 2: money and weed, or put more esoterically in his trippy
26:04
Speaker 2: track LSD Love Sex Dreams. The lows were one thing,
26:10
Speaker 2: but the highs were surreal magical. In that same year,
26:14
Speaker 2: twenty sixteen, an upstart rapper came up on the New
26:17
Speaker 2: York radio scene with a single titled Don't Run, and
26:20
Speaker 2: that rapper was Casanova Asaps old guardian angel from Rikers.
26:25
Speaker 2: It was beyond belief, but they were reunited as friends
26:28
Speaker 2: and successful rappers randomly a decade later, after Casanova had
26:32
Speaker 2: finished his seven year stint inside and discovered upon his
26:35
Speaker 2: release that the first timer he had once taken under
26:38
Speaker 2: his wing was now the world famous Asap Rocky Damn.
26:43
Speaker 2: Of course, his now worldwide fame came with its own
26:46
Speaker 2: set of hassles, fans, bad fans, weirdos. Since the assault
26:51
Speaker 2: that led to the larceny charges in twenty twelve. Sure,
26:54
Speaker 2: Rocky and his entourage had their various minor scuffles at
26:57
Speaker 2: festivals and on tour, but nothing.
26:59
Speaker 1: Out of the ordinary.
27:00
Speaker 2: These things happened in supernova hip hop star circles, and
27:04
Speaker 2: the security cameras at Stockholm's max Hamburgers were about to
27:08
Speaker 2: show us exactly how. On the street outside Asap Mob
27:12
Speaker 2: had been followed by an agitated teenage dude, thin with
27:16
Speaker 2: an arm tattoo middle Eastern complexion. He kept hovering, complaining
27:20
Speaker 2: to them, demanding some kind of payback, something about breaking
27:24
Speaker 2: his headphones. Who the fuck was this guy? Had they
27:27
Speaker 2: bumped them leaving the burger joined or something? Why wouldn't
27:30
Speaker 2: he shut the hell up? Rocky flashed back to the
27:32
Speaker 2: potique in Manhattan, and Rocky flashed back to the showers
27:35
Speaker 2: at Rikers, New York. Paranoia, zombies creeping cross continental headphones.
27:42
Speaker 2: Broke my headphones, yelled the guy, insisting in taking another
27:46
Speaker 2: run at the mob from his position hovering at the
27:48
Speaker 2: corner of the block. Jesus Man, fucking chill. The bad
27:52
Speaker 2: vibes kept vibing. A couple members of the entourage, including
27:55
Speaker 2: a couple of the girls with them, took out their
27:57
Speaker 2: phones to document what was going on.
28:00
Speaker 1: Keep the story straight, the theory.
28:02
Speaker 2: The closed circuit TV camera in the corner of the
28:04
Speaker 2: burger joint caught the first move.
28:06
Speaker 1: Fucked this herb.
28:08
Speaker 2: Rocky's bodyguard grabbed him and hurled him down the street,
28:10
Speaker 2: and the dude tumbled violently on the pavement. Rocky and
28:14
Speaker 2: his crew bounced out of view of the burger shop cameras, and.
28:17
Speaker 1: The kid followed.
28:18
Speaker 2: He wouldn't let up, block after block, persistent annoying little
28:21
Speaker 2: fucker that he was my headphones, this my headphones.
28:24
Speaker 1: That, blah blah blah blah.
28:26
Speaker 2: The Rocky and his boys ignored him, but kept their
28:28
Speaker 2: phones out recording.
28:31
Speaker 1: This did not sit well with the kid. Now it
28:33
Speaker 1: was his turn to be annoyed agitated.
28:36
Speaker 2: He snapped broke out in a full on sprint at
28:38
Speaker 2: one of Rocky's bodyguards, who grabbed him and flicked him
28:40
Speaker 2: away like he was swatting a fly. And the kid
28:43
Speaker 2: got up pissed and flung his headphones at Rocky. Rocky
28:46
Speaker 2: flashed back at the big dude Mike vick wannabe, flinging
28:49
Speaker 2: the soap and the showers at Riker's. Rocky played it cool.
28:52
Speaker 2: Rocky's bodyguard did not. He pounced, grabbed the kid and
28:55
Speaker 2: flung him down the street away from his protected pop
28:58
Speaker 2: star charge, and the iPhone cameras kept rolling. This was
29:01
Speaker 2: the American star ASAP, Rocky and this big ass American
29:05
Speaker 2: crew kicking the shit out of some annoyed European fan.
29:07
Speaker 2: Halfway down the block, one of the cameras caught one
29:10
Speaker 2: of ASAP's crew saying, Yo, we're gonna have to fuck this,
29:14
Speaker 2: but he trailed off The cameras couldn't catch everything, but
29:17
Speaker 2: that didn't stop Rocky's crew and whoever else might have
29:20
Speaker 2: been lucky enough to be on the street that night
29:22
Speaker 2: to start uploading their videos of what was going down
29:24
Speaker 2: right away. For those close to Rocky, the live streams
29:28
Speaker 2: and uploads were a preemptive declaration of self defense. For others,
29:32
Speaker 2: it was a chance to blow up their social platforms.
29:35
Speaker 2: Rocky jumped on Instagram live and began streaming. He knew
29:38
Speaker 2: just what to say. Look just for the cameras. We
29:41
Speaker 2: don't want no problems with these boys. They keep following us,
29:45
Speaker 2: and the kid kept after them. ASAP's mob tried talking
29:49
Speaker 2: him down, asking a couple of young local women to
29:51
Speaker 2: help translate their desire to be left alone, to get
29:54
Speaker 2: it through this kid's thick skull that they wanted no trouble,
29:57
Speaker 2: but the bad vibes kept coming. Four blocks of being stocked,
30:01
Speaker 2: they were done trying with this kid, annoying fuck that
30:04
Speaker 2: he was, and they were now on a quiet street
30:06
Speaker 2: and they had given enough warnings, no more fucking around. The
30:10
Speaker 2: kid approached again, ASAP's bodyguard lifted him up by the
30:13
Speaker 2: seams of his T shirt like cheap luggage and launched
30:16
Speaker 2: him off of the sidewalk and into the road, and
30:18
Speaker 2: the kid landed by the curb with a crunch. Rocky
30:21
Speaker 2: and his crew swarmed. They pummeled him with kicks, fists, stops,
30:25
Speaker 2: grinding the annoying fan into the broken glass and dirt
30:28
Speaker 2: on the street, hit after hit after hit, kick after
30:32
Speaker 2: kick after kick, and then it ended. And for a
30:35
Speaker 2: minute there Rocky thought that would be it. Dude stepped, dude,
30:39
Speaker 2: get beat down, end a story. But of course TMZ
30:43
Speaker 2: did not see it that way, and they had a
30:45
Speaker 2: salt footage, probably offered up by an entourage hanger on
30:48
Speaker 2: for a nice payday, and released to the public the
30:51
Speaker 2: very same day. Then the kid pressed charges, and by
30:55
Speaker 2: showtime the next night there was a warrn out for
30:57
Speaker 2: asap Rocky's arrest. Voluntarily headed to the police station to
31:02
Speaker 2: clear up what he thought was a misunderstanding of who
31:04
Speaker 2: assaulted who first. He was arrested immediately and thrown in
31:08
Speaker 2: jail without bail. The bad vibe, the dread in the
31:13
Speaker 2: pit of his stomach was overwhelming. Now what the fuck
31:16
Speaker 2: had happened? How would he ended up here in Stockholm
31:19
Speaker 2: in jail? The ironic answer was that he damned himself
31:22
Speaker 2: by proclaiming his innocence. His Instagram videos edited by Rocky
31:27
Speaker 2: and crew to framed their part of the incident his
31:29
Speaker 2: self defense, and posted later the same day. Authorities ruled
31:33
Speaker 2: the edit was equivalent to tampering with evidence, decided Rocky
31:36
Speaker 2: was a flight risk, and decided to keep him locked
31:38
Speaker 2: up until the trial was complete. Just like that, rock
31:42
Speaker 2: Kim Myers was incarcerated again, reduced to his sixteen year
31:46
Speaker 2: old patty criminal self. Only this time it wasn't Riker's,
31:50
Speaker 2: which was at least a kind of hell he knew.
31:53
Speaker 2: This time. It was half a world away, and now
31:55
Speaker 2: the world knew him. He was caged alone in a
31:58
Speaker 2: strange land on confusing charges, at the center of a
32:01
Speaker 2: media firestorm in a straight up international incident.
32:07
Speaker 1: Is ten ten wayams.
32:08
Speaker 3: He'll give us twenty two minutes, We'll give you the world.
32:11
Speaker 4: Good morning, eighty two degrees clear skies, nine am. Here's
32:14
Speaker 4: what's happening. New York rapper Asap Brockie has been arrested
32:17
Speaker 4: in Sweden on charges of assault. After We'll be right
32:21
Speaker 4: back after this word word word.
32:44
Speaker 2: The way the Reverend Al Sharpton told him he was
32:47
Speaker 2: the quiet one of the bunch, and that was saying
32:49
Speaker 2: something given that the one time James brown bag boy
32:53
Speaker 2: turned FBI snitch turned outsider activists turned cushy Manhattan elite
32:58
Speaker 2: media pundon. It was one of the biggest bloviating windbags
33:01
Speaker 2: in America's long history of big bloviating windbags. But Sharpton
33:06
Speaker 2: was sitting in a helicopter between none other than the
33:08
Speaker 2: two Dons, Don King and Donald Trump, and all three
33:13
Speaker 2: of them had mastered the art of using their big
33:15
Speaker 2: mouths to stir media cyclones that no doubt would have
33:18
Speaker 2: made P. T. Barnum jealous, But no matter the revenuew it,
33:22
Speaker 2: the two dons were bigger blowhards, and even himself, Don
33:26
Speaker 2: and the Donald were yelling over each other, blowing out
33:29
Speaker 2: the headphones they all wore in order to hear over
33:31
Speaker 2: the noise of the helicopter wrots churning.
33:34
Speaker 1: The air all around them.
33:35
Speaker 2: The headphone system made yelling completely useless, but the revenue
33:39
Speaker 2: explaining that to these two was unnecessary listening in the
33:44
Speaker 2: best of conditions wasn't one of either strong suits. Besides,
33:48
Speaker 2: it was only a short trip from Manhattan to Jersey.
33:51
Speaker 2: Soon enough they'd be touching down for the fight in
33:53
Speaker 2: Atmantic City. The Donald had been courting Don King for
33:57
Speaker 2: a while, hoping to get more black fighters to book
33:59
Speaker 2: it Trump Casino, specifically Hot Ticket White Tyson. It was
34:04
Speaker 2: Don who had insisted that Donald make peace with Al
34:07
Speaker 2: Sharpton as part of their collaboration in order to build
34:10
Speaker 2: ties with the black community. Sharpton, for his part, would
34:14
Speaker 2: later go on record to say that Donald Trump was
34:16
Speaker 2: basically the white Don King. So if dummying up for
34:20
Speaker 2: a quick ride meant donations to his causes and to
34:23
Speaker 2: pull out all the staffs night Ringside inclusive of this
34:26
Speaker 2: here trip on a Worli burder, well, that was just
34:28
Speaker 2: good business.
34:30
Speaker 1: Sure the rev could sit.
34:31
Speaker 2: Quiet between the white and black versions of the same carnibarker,
34:34
Speaker 2: no problem. Sharpton would go right ahead and let Don King,
34:38
Speaker 2: the legendary black boxing promoter who was a young loan shark,
34:41
Speaker 2: stomp demand to death on Cedar Avenue in Cleveland, trade
34:45
Speaker 2: fight predictions with Donald Trump, the pugnacious white real estate
34:48
Speaker 2: mogul with a history of civil rights violations and his
34:51
Speaker 2: rental properties. Al loved telling the story. The irony was
34:55
Speaker 2: too rich especially considering who Donald Trump, that was the
35:00
Speaker 2: forty fifth president of the United States, who, while running
35:03
Speaker 2: for office, claimed he could shoot someone in the middle
35:06
Speaker 2: of Fifth Avenue and get away with it. Motherfucker said
35:09
Speaker 2: this in public and then won the election.
35:12
Speaker 1: Donald J. Trump, don fucking king gangsters to their core.
35:21
Speaker 2: ASAP's mother, Renee, stepped into Al Sharpton's office along with
35:25
Speaker 2: the mothers of the two other ASAP entourage members who
35:28
Speaker 2: had been detained in Sweden. They had come to ask
35:31
Speaker 2: for his help in getting their sons free, but after
35:34
Speaker 2: Rocky's rejection of any responsibility to speak out on social
35:38
Speaker 2: justice issues in years passed, the irony wafting through the
35:41
Speaker 2: room was not lost on any of them. Al Sharpton
35:45
Speaker 2: knew the score, and so did Renee and the other mothers,
35:48
Speaker 2: but Sharpton ignored the irony. The opportunity for publicity was
35:52
Speaker 2: too good. Aligning himself publicly with one of the biggest
35:55
Speaker 2: hip hop stars on the planet was a no brainer.
35:58
Speaker 2: So Reverend Al sharp and released a statement demanding ASAP
36:02
Speaker 2: Rocky's release and proposing that he himself should get to
36:05
Speaker 2: visit Rocky as his minister. Yeah, that's the ticket, Sharpton
36:09
Speaker 2: then took it a step further and called on the
36:11
Speaker 2: US Congress to pressure the State Department to act. But
36:16
Speaker 2: despite his best intentions, Al Sharpton was once again cut
36:19
Speaker 2: down to size by an even bigger voice, a familiar voice,
36:24
Speaker 2: Donald J. Trump's voice, the President of the United States,
36:29
Speaker 2: one of the most polarizing and contradictory figures in the
36:32
Speaker 2: history of the world, a guy who toggled between state
36:35
Speaker 2: dinners in the mud of modern day digital media with
36:37
Speaker 2: nonsensical Grandpa Simpson, Twitter rants. A dude who could charm you,
36:42
Speaker 2: offend you, make a pass at you, insult you. A
36:44
Speaker 2: dude who could steal from you, provide for you, cut
36:47
Speaker 2: you off, cut your taxes, grab your pussy, call you
36:49
Speaker 2: a pussy, bring back Cole, blow off Davos, A dude
36:52
Speaker 2: who would bate you into an argument over race and
36:54
Speaker 2: then sign a prison reform bill while you weren't looking.
36:57
Speaker 2: This dude had decided to enter into the frame to
37:00
Speaker 2: help free Asap Rocky. Of course, he did because Kim
37:04
Speaker 2: Kardashian and her husband Kanye West, who claimed to be
37:09
Speaker 2: Trump's illegitimate son, who also claimed to be Jesus, which
37:12
Speaker 2: would make Trump yahweh. Because the two of them, Kim
37:16
Speaker 2: and Kanye reached out to the President, using the only
37:19
Speaker 2: leverage besides money that Trump respected celebrity to press him
37:23
Speaker 2: to help get Asap Rocky out of that Swedish jail
37:26
Speaker 2: cell and back home. Trump didn't need to be asked twice.
37:30
Speaker 2: He discarded his black hat, donned his red Kate I
37:33
Speaker 2: mean read tie, and sprang into action using his favorite
37:36
Speaker 2: weapon of choice, Twitter, and the tweets shot off in
37:39
Speaker 2: two hundred and eighty character rounds. Just spoke to Kanye
37:42
Speaker 2: West about his friend Asap Rocky's incarceration.
37:46
Speaker 1: I will be.
37:46
Speaker 2: Calling the very talented Prime Minister of Sweden to see
37:49
Speaker 2: what we can do about helping asaf Rocky. So many
37:52
Speaker 2: people would like to see this quickly resolved.
37:55
Speaker 1: End tweet.
37:56
Speaker 2: And a few days later, after the very talented Prime
37:58
Speaker 2: Minister of Sweden did not react the way the President
38:01
Speaker 2: wanted it, and while Asap remained locked up, Trump fired again,
38:05
Speaker 2: very disappointed in Prime Minister Stefan Lovin for being unable
38:09
Speaker 2: to act. Sweden has let our African American community down
38:13
Speaker 2: in the United States. I watched the tapes of Asap
38:16
Speaker 2: Rocky and he was being followed and harassed by troublemakers.
38:19
Speaker 1: Treat Americans fairly. Hashtag free Rocky and.
38:22
Speaker 2: Tweet, and later that day another shot with another tactic leverage,
38:27
Speaker 2: give Asap Rocky his freedom. We do so much for Sweden,
38:31
Speaker 2: but it doesn't seem to work the other way around.
38:33
Speaker 2: Sweden should focus on its real crime problem. Hashtag free
38:36
Speaker 2: Rocky and tweet. Twitter of course, blew up, as did
38:41
Speaker 2: the rest of the media. Don King shrugged and tuned
38:44
Speaker 2: in a Fox al Sharpton called it, but not from
38:50
Speaker 2: behind his desk as a commentator on MSNBC, but back
38:53
Speaker 2: in that helicopter before Asap Rocky was even born. Sure,
38:57
Speaker 2: the rev can wrangle the media circus better than Moe,
39:00
Speaker 2: But when it came to ring leading the media, Donald
39:03
Speaker 2: Trump was on some other trip completely and across the globe.
39:06
Speaker 2: Asap Rocky was tripping the fear fantastic alone in his cell,
39:13
Speaker 2: and the emptiness, the headspace, the unknown, loneliness fucking with them,
39:18
Speaker 2: absolute LSD flashbacks, tracers painting the blackness of the cell,
39:23
Speaker 2: purple thirst, deserted, desolate, words shooting off at him from
39:27
Speaker 2: the firing squad in his head, a mixed squadron of
39:30
Speaker 2: dream police and acid memory militia. Rocky tried blocking it out,
39:35
Speaker 2: focusing on his own words. Shots fired again, fucked that
39:40
Speaker 2: hippie rap, and the battle was on asap. Shot back
39:44
Speaker 2: the memory militia loaded, cocked fired, alone in his cell,
39:50
Speaker 2: cut off from the world, but knowing that the world
39:52
Speaker 2: was watching, knowing that the fucking President of the United
39:55
Speaker 2: States was trying to engineer his released. The bigness of
39:59
Speaker 2: it all felt as though he was about to break up.
40:03
Speaker 2: The Yogis say that an extended meditation retreats, you should
40:06
Speaker 2: prepare for a breakdown around day three or four, when
40:10
Speaker 2: the mind finally quiets to the point of having a
40:12
Speaker 2: true confrontation with self, ugly memories, hallucinations, repressed traumas you
40:18
Speaker 2: face everything that you're running from in your own mind
40:21
Speaker 2: every day in one violent but healing purge. Only Rocky
40:32
Speaker 2: wasn't in a pacoda in the Eastland Institute finding his truth.
40:36
Speaker 2: He was in a Swedish jail, being funneled through a
40:38
Speaker 2: confusing legal system over ridiculous charges. His mind a scrambled,
40:43
Speaker 2: desolated mess. His Eastern European and Russian tour dates were canceled.
40:47
Speaker 2: The cluster fucked up more fucked by the day and
40:50
Speaker 2: the chaos came at him from all sides.
40:52
Speaker 1: Or was the world going crazy? Or was he?
40:55
Speaker 2: In the weeks since Rocky's arrest in Sweden, petitions.
40:58
Speaker 1: And hashtags have been launched.
41:00
Speaker 2: Many of Rocky's music and entertainment industry friends threatened to
41:04
Speaker 2: boycott Sweden for upcoming shows if Rocky wasn't released and
41:07
Speaker 2: the tweets from the President had shaken loose to state Department.
41:11
Speaker 2: Full Core pressed that the good Reverend Al could only
41:13
Speaker 2: dream of attachs from the embassy visiting Rocky in jail,
41:17
Speaker 2: official statements of a swift and independent process from the
41:20
Speaker 2: Swedish Foreign Minister, and more eyeballs trained on Rocky than
41:24
Speaker 2: ever before. Somehow, even in his cage solitude, he could
41:28
Speaker 2: feel them. He could sense the Category five media shit storm.
41:32
Speaker 2: It churned the air all around him like a psychic tornado,
41:36
Speaker 2: threatening to lift him off of his feet, impress him
41:38
Speaker 2: against the jailhouse wall, like the big Dude slamming him
41:41
Speaker 2: into the showers. Back at Rinkers now fifteen years ago,
41:44
Speaker 2: in what seemed like another life. The sheer madness of
41:48
Speaker 2: the situation tripped him out beyond any psychedelic he had
41:51
Speaker 2: ever used, millions upon millions of eyes and ears more
41:55
Speaker 2: than ever before focused on him, learning of him for
41:58
Speaker 2: the first time, not as an innovated musician, but as
42:01
Speaker 2: a fuck up in a cell.
42:02
Speaker 1: Who needed Donald Fucking Trump to.
42:04
Speaker 2: Bail his ass out, and the walls of the cell
42:07
Speaker 2: pulsed the deep beat, emanating tripped out rays from a
42:10
Speaker 2: shameful purple sun.
42:12
Speaker 1: His confusion.
42:13
Speaker 2: Naked under the fluorescent lights, a rainbow of shadows veiling
42:16
Speaker 2: his sight, glittering against the base, bouncing from the walls,
42:20
Speaker 2: Rocky was trapped and the trippy suspense thriller of his
42:22
Speaker 2: own life.
42:23
Speaker 1: Would he be released or would he rot in jail?
42:26
Speaker 2: And then a month after he'd been thrown into a
42:29
Speaker 2: Swedish prison, he was freed, just like that, Just like
42:35
Speaker 2: that feeling you have when the ride is over, when
42:37
Speaker 2: the high the lsd leaves your body, when the lights
42:40
Speaker 2: turn off, when the blowhord in your brain stops barking
42:44
Speaker 2: at you, when the big dude takes his foot off
42:46
Speaker 2: your neck, and when the tracers clear out of your vision,
42:49
Speaker 2: and when the air starts to taste like freedom again.
42:53
Speaker 2: In the end, Rock kim Meyer is Akaasap Rocky was
42:56
Speaker 2: found guilty of the assault on the kid with the headphones,
42:59
Speaker 2: but set only to the time already served in a
43:02
Speaker 2: small fine, and the Swedes insisted the chaos and the
43:05
Speaker 2: press had no sway on the court. But I mean,
43:07
Speaker 2: come on, Trump, Kim, Kanye, the rev the State Department,
43:12
Speaker 2: the entirety of the ship storm had to have had
43:14
Speaker 2: some effect on Sweden's decision to free Asap Rocky, and
43:18
Speaker 2: Rocky was grateful. He said so publicly. It was time
43:22
Speaker 2: to get the fuck back home, back home to what mattered. Pussy, money, weed,
43:26
Speaker 2: or put differently, love, sex, dreams, all were possible in America.
43:31
Speaker 2: ASAP Rocky was humbled, But King Dawn, the White don
43:35
Speaker 2: King of the White House West Wing, the Emperor, wearing
43:38
Speaker 2: no clothes, or at least only wearing his pants around
43:41
Speaker 2: his ankles while seated on his throne, was pretty fucking
43:44
Speaker 2: far from humble. With pride, he loaded his favorite weapon
43:48
Speaker 2: once again and fired off the following tween. ASAP Rocky
43:53
Speaker 2: released from prison and on his way home to the
43:55
Speaker 2: United States from Sweden. It was a Rocky week, get home,
43:59
Speaker 2: Asa Asap. What a world, what a disgrace. I'm Jake
44:05
Speaker 2: Brennan in this Disgraceland. Disgraceland was created by Yours Truly
44:23
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44:26
Speaker 2: this episode can be found on the show notes page
44:29
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44:33
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45:11
Speaker 1: Rock a Roller. He's a bad down man.