A$AP Rocky
Rakim Mayers grew up in Harlem admiring the Diplomats before losing his father to prison and his brother to violence, experiences that fed into the hazy, genre-blending sound of Live.Love.A$AP (2011). He fused his native East Coast rap with the chopped-and-screwed drawl of Houston and full-throttle West Coast beats, then leveraged that eclecticism — plus a second career in high fashion — into becoming one of the 2010s' most influential rap tastemakers, mentoring a young Playboi Carti at his AWGE imprint.
Rocky has named Bone Thugs-n-Harmony among his formative influences, and their harmonized, melody-first approach to rapping is audible whenever Rocky abandons a tight bar structure for a looser, sung-rap cadence.
listen forCompare Bone Thugs' "Tha Crossroads" to Rocky's "L$D": both trade a traditional verse structure for a woozy, melodic drift where the vocal functions almost like another layer of the beat.
Rocky is on record saying he grew up admiring the Diplomats, and Cam'ron's pink-clad, ad-lib-heavy Harlem swagger is baked into Rocky's own sense of regional pride and offbeat, half-sung flexing.
listen forPlay Cam'ron's "Hey Ma" against Rocky's "Fashion Killa": both glide over a bouncy beat with a laid-back, half-sung swagger that treats melody and outfit-dropping as inseparable.
Rocky has named Three 6 Mafia among his key influences, and their dark, horror-tinged Memphis production is a clear ancestor of the menacing, bass-heavy tracks Rocky reaches for outside his cloud-rap register.
listen forSet Three 6 Mafia's "Tear da Club Up '97" beside Rocky's "Trilla": both lean into a murky, sinister low end and shouted ad-libs built for a dark room rather than radio.