Some of your favorite rappers may have vocal skills that you didn’t even know about. Consider Harlem’s fashion-forward figurehead, A$AP Rocky, one of them. The braided-up rapper visited Triple J’s Like A Version stage on Sept. 27 to bring fans a very different side of him with his rendition of Otis Redding‘s “(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay.”
Joined by a live band made up of a pianist, guitarist, saxophonist, and drummer, the 29-year-old rapper sang alone, trying his hand at a classic soul and R&B tune from the late 1960’s. Rocky swayed back and forth, bringing his hip-hop swag to this country-inspired soul classic.
During his performance, the A$AP Mob member gives a shoutout to his hometown Harlem, when he flips the lyrics to the original, saying, “I left my home in Harlem/Headed to the ‘Frisco Bay,“ as he tries to make this cover uniquely his own.
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@asaprocky and @skeptagram Praise the Lord in the #LikeAVersion studio 🔥
To fans’ surprise, the rapper born Rakim Mayers brought his A-game to the Austrailian performance. He even whistled through the outro, sticking to the original structure of the song. Along with performing a song by the legendary Otis Redding, Rocky also performed his most recent release, “Praise The Lord (Da Shine)” with Skepta.
Watch A$AP Rocky do his karaoke best version of “Dock On The Bay” up top.
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