THE STORY OF NEW YORK hip-hop’s 1990s championship years is in many ways the story of rapper-executive dream teams, pairings that shaped the sound of the city and, after that, the world. The Notorious B.I.G. and Puff Daddy, Jay-Z and Damon Dash, Ja Rule and Irv Gotti — all of these partnerships made the behind-the-scenes swami as crucial a hip-hop figure as the rappers they helped mold.

For ASAP Rocky, the Harlem rapper whose debut album, “Long.Live.ASAP” (Polo Grounds/RCA), just made its debut at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart, that partner is ASAP Yams, his longtime friend, collaborator and co-owner of the ASAP Worldwide label.

 Continue reading on the New York Times.