Twenty-three-year-old Harlem rapper A$AP Rocky is a baby-faced young adult who could pass for a teenager. But he's got the soul of a classicist. "Goldie," the first single from the rising star's forthcoming major-label debut (due in July), is his latest exercise in hip-hop basics: It's full of relentless boasts and insults, delivered with low-key wit and admirably little fuss. The beat, by red-hot producer Hit-Boy ("Ni**as in Paris"), is full of keyboard blips and spacey vocal chorales, and A$AP Rocky's rhymes fall in the sweet spot between sublime and ridiculous: "You could call me Billy Gates, got a crib in every state," he raps. "Man on the moon, got a condo out in space."

Listen to A$AP Rocky's "Goldie":

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• Photos: Random Notes

“Youth Knows No Pain”

“Like on 'Youth Knows No Pain' — we are the ones that should demonstrate, because we can take it,” Likke Li said. “We can pierce ourselves, take Ecstasy, dance all night and still go to work at our McDonald's jobs.” Despite the hedonistic sentiment in the song, the Swedish singer also admitted in hindsight her youth had repercussions. “I remember when I was 18-19 and feeling that I know it all,” Li said. “I always feel that I know it all. But that song is about realizing you don’t, and reflecting, ‘Boy, if I only knew what would follow.’”