Take a spin around the Harlem-born rapper’s neighborhood on his sunny and nostalgic new single (and don’t worry, Peace is OK).
A$AP Rocky's "R.I.P Peace" arrives as another piece of Harlem nostalgia served to global audiences, but the real question is whether African diasporic artists like Rocky are creating space for actual African voices in hip-hop's expanding universe, or simply mining familiar territory while the continent's own rap scenes, from Lagos to Johannesburg, continue fighting for the same mainstream recognition. The sunny retrospection feels almost quaint when South African amapiano and Afrobeats are actively reshaping what global hip-hop sounds like, not just referencing what it used to be.
A$AP Rocky's "R.I.P Peace" arrives as another piece of Harlem nostalgia served to global audiences, but the real question is whether African diasporic artists like Rocky are creating space for actual African voices in hip-hop's expanding universe, or simply mining familiar territory while the continent's own rap scenes, from Lagos to Johannesburg, continue fighting for the same mainstream recognition. The sunny retrospection feels almost quaint when South African amapiano and Afrobeats are actively reshaping what global hip-hop sounds like, not just referencing what it used to be.
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