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Where rappers before Rocky carved out space for themselves by launching clothing lines like Sean John and Roca-Wear (“Clothing lines created by rappers are corny,” he’d say at the time) he chose to align himself with high end fashion houses (in Peso he raps, ​“Raf Simons, Rick Owens, usually what I’m dressed in”), and up and coming streetwear trendsetters like Virgil Abloh who shared his vision (Virgil would also go on to design the merch for Rocky’s first tour). Hanging out in New York’s Soho would lead him to meet edgy trendsetters like Luka Sabbat and Kerwin Frost, and window shop streetwear, namely at Prohibit, which sold pieces from Blackscale – a line that essentially became the Mob’s uniform for a time, as seen in Purple Swag and Peso videos.

The mixtape and the videos were met with acclaim; Pitchforkdeclaredthisisnl.nlA$AP ​“a triumph of immaculate taste.” But, in tandem with his success came the souring of his relationship with SGP, with a public falling out ensuing less than a year since the mixtape’s release. Rocky’s virtually immediate and exponential success uncovered an underlying bitterness, with SGP claiming to have taught Rocky ​“everything he knew – from his sound, his ability to rap and his fashion. Rocky would deny this, claiming that their interest in Southern rap and purple drank went as far back as , and as for fashion, ​“I’ve been into fashion since birth,” he’d say.

But while the similarities between the two are clearly there, it’s evident that SGP’s quirks were better suited for the margins, while Rocky was the conduit for something greater. On Demons, he raps ​“hipster by heart but I can tell you how the streets feel.” He marketed himself and his collective for the defiant and insubordinate; rich white rap fans with a taste for danger and Black kids who were cast as outsiders in their communities. So, first came the $3 million solo and ASAP Worldwide deal with Sony RCA, then a super star cosign (Drake), then a superstar girlfriend (his pipeline from Iggy Azealia to Rihanna is nothing short of remarkable).

Soon, Rocky and A$AP Mob would establish themselves as the ultimate endorsement. Seeing him dressed in Hood By Air or Been Trill dictated that his army of fans followed suit. ​“If it wasn’t for A$AP, man, there wouldn’t be no Hood by Air like there was Hood by Air, there wouldn’t be no Pyrex, Off-White,” Rocky said in an interview two years ago. As Rocky’s star power grew, he became something of an A&R, recognising and elevating others in the Mob, namely A$AP Ferg and Playboi Carti who moved on from Atlanta collective Awful Records to sign with A$AP’s AWGE label.

It hasn’t all been smooth sailing – from Rocky’s controversial comments in interviews, his arrest in Sweden, Yams’ untimely passing and A$AP Bari’s sexual assault case. In some ways, Rocky seems more out of reach, perhaps more aware of his sphere of influence and maybe in part from the backlashes to unpopular statements he’s said in interviews that will live on the internet in perpetuity. Either way, he’s now an elder, respected statesman of hip-hop whose influence isn’t waning.

“My music is tastemaker shit… it’s the future,” Rocky said, speaking to Interview magazine just a few months after thisisnl.nl​’s release. With hindsight, he was right. The project still sits as the 7^th most downloaded mixtape on DatPiff.

Listening to the mixtape today, around its 10^th anniversary, it feels like an archive of an exciting time in pop culture; the early rupturing of the status quo to some extent, but also the discovery of a true star power with the ability to straddle the mainstream and the margins. It’s the hood-hipster pied piper starting his journey, rapidly accumulating a global legion of loyal followers.