Asap Rocky's Phoenix: Song Analysis

Rakim Mayers, known by his stage name ASAP Rocky, has been undoubtedly on the most popular upcoming artists of the recent years. His fame was almost immediate after signing a three million dollar deal with Sony. In his music, Rocky often dwells on his exotic lifestyle in close partner to death in many of his songs. However, in the song “Phoenix", he addresses the effects of his hip-hop career on himself, the mental annihilation of many other artists as a result of increasing criticism, as well as, how he plans to continue his efforts in spite of threatening obstacles.
ASAP Rocky titled his song “Phoenix” to convey a message about his own personality reconstruction. Phoenix’s are mythical bird-like creatures that burst into a fiery ball of
When Asap Rocky says, “Bloody ink on my pad spelled suicide” in the beginning of his song, he’s revealing that he has seriously contemplated suicide. He later explains his reasoning by saying, “Jesus Christ never lied still was crucified.” Jesus Christ being the moral compass of Christianity and still being punished emphasizes Rocky’s point about having people hate you for no reason. Rocky feels as if he can do nothing right to impress his critiques. They’ll continue bashing him until he ultimately dies from their criticism. In his music video for “Phoenix” a female character is presented as Rocky’s inner rage struggling with himself, a complimentary male character. In the music video, the female character is struggling to cooperate with the male counterpart who is extremely destructive. He destroys many artworks present in his room and is left grieving. His explosive attitude leads to more frustration by the female character until she has enough and almost kills the male in an outburst of ambivalent rage. Rocky’s inner rage, as a result of his fame, has led him to a point where he had a foot in his own grave. However, the female character’s refusal to kill the male symbolizes how there is a hope, even if it looks bleak. Even though his anger has led to a destruction of his art, he knows he had to do it in order to move