A$AP Mob Interview with XXL

Inside Platinum Sound Recording Studios there’s roughly 30 music industry folks drinking Brooklyn Lagers and eating an assortment of deli meats and mini sandwiches. As a bevy of weed smoke fills up the air, A$AP Ant a.k.a YG Addie, J. Scott, A$AP Lou, Key!, A$AP Ferg and A$AP Rocky are seen relaxing on the couch as onlookers surround them. The scene is the definition of cozy; from tracksuit shorts to baggy T-shirts, A$AP Mob are chilling like they’re in their own living room. Rocky introduces what’s to come and begins to play the first fours songs of Cozy Tapes, Vol. 2: Too Cozy. While the project can be heard throughout the room, Rocky gets his Spike Jonze on, walking around the room filming the listeners with a handheld camcorder. There are smiles and shoulder rolls everywhere until the music pauses. The Mob want to wait for A$AP Nast to arrive.

Rap fans have been waiting for Cozy Tapes, Vol. 2 since it was teased just a few months after Cozy Tapes: Vol. 1 dropped last October. The time between the two installments is less that a year apart, making it cear that the Mob are sitting on a ton of new music. In a blink of an eye, Vol. 2 was already on consumers’ phones and laptops.

The second installment of the Cozy Tapes series includes features from everyone in the A$AP Mob and AWGE collective. A$AP Twelvyy, A$AP Ferg, A$AP Rocky, A$AP Ant, A$AP Nast and A$AP TyY are on the tape plus new affiliated members Playboi Carti, Key! and Smooky Margielaa—a charismatic 15-year-old rapper from the Bronx. Other guest appearances are Chief Keef, Lil Yachty, Gucci Mane, Schoolboy Q, Joey Bada$$ and Pro Era, Flatbush Zombies, Jaden Smith, Quavo, and Frank Ocean. Vol. 2, Too Cozy is a friends-only project.

Since the first installment of the Cozy Tapes, several Mob members have dropped their own projects including Twelvyy’s long-awaited 12 and Ferg’s Still Striving mixtape, a year after his second album, Always Strive and Prosper. Now that Vol. 2 is here, things are only going to get busier while other members patiently wait for their turn to drop their solo work.

During the Cozy Tapes, Vol. 2: Too Cozy listening session, XXL sat down with the members of the Mob to learn more about Smooky Margielaa, discuss who had the best verse on the Vol. 2, what projects are coming out next and the real definition of cozy.

Continue reading on XXL Magazine.