ASAP Rocky Wants to Be the Black James Bond

While he didn't score hit singles like Future or frame his album's socio-political bent like Kendrick Lamar, A$AP Rocky's At.Long.Last.A$AP was still an event album. The New York MC's sophomore set--and first since the passing of his longtime friend and mentor, A$AP Yams--has a litany of high-profile guests, up to and including Lil Wayne, Kanye West and Mos Def himself dusting off the yellow legal pad. Rocky has also been galavanting around with Rod Stewart and taking iLoveMakonnen's acid to fuel his orgies. In short, rock star behavior. But maybe he's aspiring to a new level of sophistication: In an interview with Esquire, Rocky said he'd be good as the next Agent 007. "We need a black James Bond," he told the magazine. "I’d get the job done and I’ll look better than any other Bond that has ever lived. All I need is a six-pack."

It wouldn't be the rapper's first time in front of the camera. Rocky currently stars in Dope, Rick Famuyiwa's coming-of-age tale that's been a runaway hit with critics and fans. Though there has never been a Black actor in the role of Bond, last year's Sony email hack revealed that Sony Pictures co-chair Amy Pascal had recommended Idris Elba be given the part. Most famous for his portrayal of Stringer Bell in HBO's The Wire, Elba expressed interest in being Bond, and received support from none other than Kanye West. However, by this spring, the 42-year-old actor had withdrawn his name from consideration.