Ashview Heights Legend marks the end of an era; one in which brought joy, one in which brought fear, but ultimately, one in which brought embracement. In a musical landscape that has catered towards the conventional, a landscape that gradually has lost and continues to lose it's sense of heart, SpaceGhostPurrp has always been the diamond in the rough. Carrying with him one of the most innovative and abrasive discographies in not just the hip-hop sphere, but in musical history.

A compilation that bleeds and embraces being the outsider. It relishes and romanticizes being the antagonist, and by doing so, it fleshes out these intricate vignettes that showcase the unhinged mind of SGP. SGP's intent was never to be substantial; but rather, to merely be the trap encapsulation of black expressionism. He is blunt, he is simplistic, he is real, but he is anything but formulaic. Every song throughout the 29 track run-through has personality; charismatic within its variations in flow and sound. Although made cohesive within the homage it pays to the Florida scene, each song is derivative off of various phases and sounds SGP tackled throughout his career. With a sense of pace and rhythm that is distinct to him, SGP creates drum and 808 patterns with kicks that are absolutely infectious; all of which clash with a wide range of ominous soundscapes to create the hellish atmosphere that he's always been able to depict throughout his music.

Ashview is SpaceGhostPurrps victory lap. The sonic experience that fully portrays his roots, conveying the realisms of his upbringing within the imperfect, claustrophobic, outsider mentality. Its cultivations like these that bring a sense of distaste to the listener, knowing that (trap) is heavily misconstrued as an impotent stagnant sub-genre which brings about nothing to the art form known as hip-hop. Hip-hop has always innovated, each of it's phases were considered to do so within their respective time periods. To subject the genre to cater towards a specific musical output is an objectvist mindset that in hindsight, aims to make the genre a stagnant, impotent one.

Not only is this SpaceGhostPurrps magnum opus, it is also one of the greatest projects ever made. One in which, as with the majority of Purrp's experimental output, will go overlooked and get buried within the realm of underground hip-hop, but preserved within as well as respected by its followers. And maybe, that's the way it should be.
10/10

In 2010, after slaughtering his public image all but irreparably (which he would end up doing between 2016 through, well, currently still happening lol), and being a few years passed what many considered his "prime", Kanye West dropped what many consider to be his opus, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. With that album, West had reached a new pinnacle of his artistic acclaim, and had ascended as one of the most revered artists of all time. West, possibly the best rapper/producer of his era, had reached the peak of his talents thus far, and hate him or love him, you had to respect his work.

To a way less linear, slightly less coherent (but arguably just as masterful), way more wacked out, and on a amazingly smaller scale of visibility, SGP, arguably the best rapper/producer of his era, may have pulled this off with "Miami Carol City Legend (Da Nigga Dat Invented Todays Rap Music)". Like West, Purrp really did invent his whole era. Substitute the chipmunk soul samples with chopped & screwed video game soundscapes, orchestral beat design with densely layered synthesizer work, and an emphasis on more emotionally vulnerable and less gangsta lyrics with lyrics that just straight up don't really exist to be interpreted but are basically just window dressing for the beats, and Purrp is basically the Ye of the current generation of rappers and producers. Similar to West, Purrp is also way more revered for his producing than his rapping, and isn't really that good of a rapper (Ye's pen is a little better but his solo writing isn't necessarily anything special. His co-writers do a lot of heavy lifting). And, Purrp's two first full length releases were absolute craters in the rap game. Really his first five were.

After around 2014, Purrp's career really started going in strange directions. His public image too. Between beefing with eleven year old rappers, to fingering himself on livestream, to burning every industry bridge feasible aside from whoever got him a slot at Rolling Loud, to dissing dead people on wax, to racist and loser rants, Purrp's life and music was in disarray. A lot of this, like West, may have been due in to mental health problems and Purrp's open unwillingness to take medicine he was prescribed and/or receive proper treatment to begin with. In his real life, Purrp admitted to losing many of his friends, potentially being homeless, and having a tumultuous dating life in these years.

Like the tumult of his day to day life, his musical output also became increasingly erratic. His social media and music pages online were consistently being either banned or deleted, and his musical uploads the same. The quality of these releases began to vary drastically too. Some were damn near prime-level, some were pretty terrible. None of them really cohered into a formal piece of music that collectively felt as purposeful as his 2010-2014 output by general consensus. Yet somehow, through it all, maybe as he witnessed his legacy and the imprint he had made on hip hop despite his erratic lifestyle and career trajectory, Purrp seemed to pull it together to let people know, as blatantly as the title says, that no matter how you feel about the guy, he is that guy who invented today's rap music. He also shows us on here thatt this is why he did.

This album to me immediately recalls the 1990-1995 Memphis Rap scene, the most delusional of chopped & screwed textures, Madlib's "Quasimoto" experiments, a clinical execution and exposition of cloud rap production and trap production alike, and nods to a variety of electronic music genres ranging from nightcore to trance music to trip hop. It's like a deconstruction of all of the styles of music Purrp pulls from in their most obviously and least polished ways, but is arranged in such a way that can only be described as a master at work. The sound of this tape is honestly visionary, and it is really goddamn cohesive from the top down. In about an hour's runtime, the tape doesn't really sag in quality, and moreover just continuously stuns me with how new and genius this stuff sounds. in all my years of listening to rap, consuming it by the truckload at every chance I got, I've never really heard anything like this, and that would be about the third or fourth time Purrp's catalog has done that for me. Not only is this tape a reinvention of Purrp's artistry once again, but it's breaking totally new ground for various styles of hip hop once again, and may end up inventing a few styles in its wake. Put it this way, despite burning every bridge possible and having no real formal online presence as a public figure or an artist, Purrp's still getting people's attention with this tape at a grassroots level, and people still give a f***. That's how incredible this guy is as an artist, and how groundbreaking he's been and, when he focuses, still is.

I doubt Purrp is ever going to recapture on all fronts his prime again. I think he's just blackballed himself in too many important places and isn't consistent and formally visible enough to stage it anymore. If he figured out a way into the game though, and just didn't get banned from social media and put more of his s*** on either soundcloud or any major streaming platform(s), the quality is still there. This s*** is just bonkers dude. Revolutionary at a sonic level, and is yet another new sound that Purrp has cultivated. Glad to see that the spark of this dude, almost 10 YEARS on (holy f*** I'm getting old and time is flying by), is still very much there, and he's still not out of ideas. Thanks for this man.

What a cornball
You wrote all that

what a man, absolute monster producer, the production deoths are insane with how prolific he is

“SGP, arguably the best rapper/producer of his era”

Dude isn’t even better than Ugly Mane and you can honestly contend Clams had more impact than he did. I’d think of him of a way more talented Pierre in terms of impact (beats wise). Had a good 3 year stint where his sound was good pure s***

Charles hamilton >> spaceghostburrp

Get the hell out of this thread.

lmaooo

Tape is a whole ass trip. I'll read the writeup later

Asap rocky got rihanna pregnant.

ashview heights is basically like a compilation of his greatest hits but slightly sped up and pitched up i actually f*** with the overall sound of it