It’s a Monday night in Los Angeles, Calif. A$AP Rocky, The-Dream and several models are by his side and they’re celebrating with drinks in hand. King Push is leaning on a classic 1967 Mercedes Benz 250SE convertible. He toasts to life with Rocky and they smile as more confetti drops. The Clipse MC has a lot of reasons to celebrate. He was recently named the president of Kanye West’s G.O.O.D. Music and he’s got two projects coming soon: Darkest Before Dawn this month and King Push slated for April.
While the confetti can symbolize all of that, it’s also a video prop for the rapper’s latest single, “M.P.A.” “’M.P.A.’ is a song that sort of describes my perspective on life and the three vices that I feel like sway people in the world today and sway people in the life, especially in the street life,” Push told MTV News, before clarifying the title’s acronym stands for “Money. P—y. Alcohol.” A$AP Rocky was an important guest for Push here for a few reasons. “Rocky brings the melody,” Push explained. “I knew it would just be perfect for him. His perspective is a young perspective. It’s melodic. It’s of the time. It’s right now. I needed it and he came through for me.
“Sometimes, song wise, it’s super rap and there are more components to a song than just rhymes,” Push added. “I feel like I got the rhymes part handled, but I needed Rocky to come through for me on the melodic bridges and so on and so forth.” The Darkest Before Dawn track also spoke to the A$AP Mob star. “It’s like my song ‘PMW (All I Need)’ [off 2013’s LONG.LIVE.A$AP]. It’s all the same kind of content,” Rocky explained. “It’s just talking about most of us rappers’ vices. So, I could relate to it.”
While Rocky enjoys the track, he doesn’t exactly remember every part of its creation. “To be honest with you, I was on acid,” Rocky said. “He just came in the studio. I don’t remember if I initiated it. I don’t remember, bro. He just came to visit me in London and I was trippin’ balls. I don’t remember how it happened precisely.” What he does recall is hearing something special in the song’s production, something that took him back. “I remember thinking, ‘This feels like that G.O.O.D. Music good music,’” Rocky said. “It was nostalgic. It was like listening to some old Kanye beats. I’m a fan of a lot of his early work so I feel like that was manifested into this track.”
The video, directed by Shomi Patwary, is inspired by Pusha T’s lyrics, but it’s also meant to be a joyous occasion. Remember that confetti? “It’s a celebration of the fact that Pusha’s been in this business for so long,” Patwary explained. “This video breaks the fourth wall so it’s a music video that’s showing you the filming of a music video and Pusha makes it effortless. He’s talking from experience about girls he’s seen in the industry evolve, about him as an artist evolving. It’s just a general commentary on the things he’s seen.” “M.P.A.” — which also features The-Dream — is just a taste of what we can expect from Darkest Before Dawn. Rocky’s heard most of the project and already has a favorite cut, “Santeria.”
“Even though I was trippin’ when I heard it, it sounded amazing,” Rocky said. “Basically, it was about a close loved one of his who got murdered, if I’m not mistaken. It had everything to do with the current affairs with politics and police brutality. So, he kind of touched on all those subjects in one. It’s really just overall pain about losing someone. Obviously I could relate to that this year with [A$AP] Yams, so I liked that one the most.” Darkest Before Dawn has been called a prequel to King Push, but don’t expect the G.O.O.D. prez to take it easy with this release just because it’s a precursor to April’s LP. In fact, he’s already making bold statements about it. “I’m just really excited about both [projects],” he said. “But we’re in Darkest Before Dawn right now and I just know that ain’t nothing this side of the year messin’ with my album.” Darkest Before Dawn is set to drop Dec. 18.