This was a prolific summer for hip hop. A$AP Rocky, Tyler The Creator, and Vince Staples all ushered in releases that fared exceptionally well – A$AP’s At.Long.Last.A$AP in May, Tyler’s Cherry Bomb in April, Vince’s Summertime ’06 in June.
All three are playing the Matthew Knight Arena on Thursday, Nov. 12.
A$AP Rocky is the highest-profile member of the Harlem collective A$AP Mob. His album At.Long.Last.A$AP came out in May with an A-list lineup of guests (M.I.A., Future, Schoolboy Q, Kanye West, Rod Stewart, Lil Wayne, Mos Def) and producers (Kanye West, Danger Mouse, Mark Ronson).
Listen to “L$D (Love.Sex.Dreams)” off At.Long.Last.A$AP below

Tyler, the Creator is formerly of the hip hop collective Odd Future, which also bred stars like Earl Sweatshirt and Frank Ocean.
His first two albums borrowed from an invented alter ego that dictated Tyler’s brutal, depressive and often ultraviolent impulses. In late August, Tyler was declared banned from the United Kingdom on the grounds of “posing a threat to the public order.” This decree was linked to an Australian feminist group that said lyrics from his 2009 debut Bastard were basis enough to keep him out of the country.
Odd Future was also banned from New Zealand in 2014 after officials said they posed a threat to public order because the group has “incited violence” at past performances, according to the Guardian.
Listen to “SMUCKERS” off Cherry Bomb below.


Contrary to what the title might imply, Vince Staples’ Summertime ’06 immediately knocks the notion of an easy-going summer album.
Instead, what Staples delivers is a wistful, nostalgic take on his formative years, the title referring to a pivotal summer at the age of 13. Now 22, the rapper has developed into a big-hearted lyricist who strikes a rough juxtaposition between the bougie SoCal lifestyle and his time growing up in Long Beach.
“Summer of 2006, the beginning of the end of everything I thought I knew,” he wrote on Instagram. “Youth was stolen from my city that summer and I’m left alone to tell the story. This might not make sense but that’s because none of it does, we’re stuck. Love tore us apart.”
KWVA DJ Nathan Stevens wrote on the album: “Outside of the trap-flavored ‘Norf Norf’ or the Future-biting ‘Señorita,’ there’s nothing on Summertime that could play nice with Kid Cudi or Chris Brown—soft shit like that would probably catch fire in the presence of Staples’ rhymes.”
Listen to “Señorita” below.

A$AP Rocky, Tyler the Creator, and Vince Staples will take over Matthew Knight Arena at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 12. Tickets are $35.50 to $49.50 and can be purchased at http://www.matthewknightarena.com/event/177/aap-rocky.