A$AP Rocky seesawed from dreamy to forceful while performing a pair of new songs on The Tonight Show on Wednesday.
The MC began his medley with "A$AP Forever," a collaboration with the veteran producer Moby that was released on Wednesday night. A$AP Rocky rapped casually over a drum-less loop while lying in bed. The camera gradually panned right to show that two men in lab coats and gas masks were observing the rapper from the other side of a window, as if he was in a science experiment.
The second half of the performance was more energetic, as A$AP Rocky sprang out of bed to rap a volatile new song called "Distorted." Over a scuzzy, bouncing bass line, the MC strung together boasts about his rapping prowess – "if I'm in your top ten, mine's better be the first name" – and digs at President Trump: "Our newest president an asshole/ I guess that's why I'm leaving turd stains."
A$AP Rocky has been at work on a new LP, the follow-up to 2015's At.Long.Last.A$AP. "My new album is really about testing new sounds," he told GQ in October. "People are scared to test new sounds, so they go with what's current 'cause it's the easy thing to do … I prefer to experiment, have my crowd grow with me and to reach new crowds."