One of the things that initially drew me to pick this song was the title. The 1 train is especially notorious as one of the least reliable lines of the MTA, which why it was chosen as the tile of this song. Additionally, the 1 train runs through Harlem, the neighborhood A$AP Rocky and the rest of the A$AP Mob hail from. One part of the name that I found funny when I first thought about was that a song is often called a “track,” which brings the potential for very many puns. Another aspect of the song that drew me in was the number of features. These vary from names I had known from beforehand, such as Kendrick Lamar and Yelawolf, to artists who were completely new to me, such as Danny Brown and Big KRIT. At the time of the release of this song on January 15, 2013, these rappers were all up and coming artists and all of them have made it big in their own ways since appearing on this track.

A$AP Rocky is a Harlemite through and through; he brings New York wherever he goes. The hip-hop collective A$AP Mob was formed in 2006 and has about 15 members. Not many have made themselves household names besides Playboi Carti, A$AP Ferg, and A$AP Rocky. The group pays homage extensively to their Harlem origin throughout their own singles as well as when the group comes together for a track or album. Kendrick Lamar is a rapper from Compton who rose to fame in 2012 with the aid of his mysterious connection to Dr. Dre, which lead to A$AP Rocky including Kendrick on this track. Joey Bada$$ started off by uploading a video of himself rapping on YouTube in 2010 at the age of 15, which caught the attention of Big KRIT’s manager. The two then joined the growing feature list simultaneously. Yelawolf is a rapper from Alabama who found it hard at the time to distinguish himself from other white rappers, especially Eminem. A$AP Rocky let him on to the project and let him rap about his struggles. Danny Brown is a Detroit rapper who rose to fame in 2011 with his provocative album XXX. A$AP Rocky was so entranced by him that he ended up producing one of Danny Brown’s later music videos and did a series on Noisey called Back and Forth. This connection led to Danny Brown’s feature on this track. Last but not least, Action Bronson released his debut album in 2011, which caught A$AP Rocky’s eye and added to the density of the feature list of this song.

The song deals with issues that have plagued New York City and especially Harlem for generations and continue to be a problem even now: poverty, violent crime, drugs, etc. Each verse is laced with the experiences that the artist who is rapping at the time has gone through himself in some way or another.

A$AP Rocky starts with the lines “Feeling like a vigilante or a missionary/ Tell my A$AP killers get they pistol ready/ Send ’em to the cemetery with obituaries/ Don’t be scared, nigga, is you ready?”, the last line of which invites the audience to the scene of Harlem and the stories the artists are about to spin. The mention of drugs and killing refers to the violent nature of Harlem. Indeed, Harlem is considered by some to be the brutal and destructive underbelly of New York City. A$AP Rocky then goes on for a few verses on how his problems have arisen as he found fame and stardom. He then spits “Drug slang in the drug game with the hustling/ (I know one thing) Anything is better than that 1 Train” In the first of these two lines, A$AP Rocky highlights the fact that being part of the City and part of Harlem involves knowing drug slang, as it is an essential part of understanding the language of the City. If someone never brushes up with drugs or people who use drugs in their time in Harlem, they haven’t really been to Harlem at all. The second line is the first and only mention of the titular 1 Train. The 1 train serves as a symbol here for poverty and A$AP Rocky is saying that he will do anything to escape poverty, even if it means he has to “let his gun bang” (a previous line within A$AP Rocky’s verse) or sell drugs as the rest of A$AP Rocky’s verse here illustrates.

Kendrick Lamar picks up A$AP Rocky’s flow as well as the motifs he employs. Kendrick mentions different types of guns and the hatred and the violence that rule places like the hood. At one point, Kendrick changes the flow of the song by using a signature voice change. He almost sounds like he is drunk and crying when he says “I carry traits of a traumatized soldier/ Don’t look in my face, I might snap, I might choke ya” which is a revelation of the kinds of things people in Kendrick’s situation have to face in terms of trauma induced by places of hatred and violence.

Joey Bada$$ then takes the song in the next logical direction. He says that he “Don’t sell rocks, seen the spectrum through the prisms/ Somehow bypassed all the bias and the -isms/ The violence and the killin’, so given/ They seen my pigment and thought that was the ig’nance” and then later on “And I swear it hurt me soul/ I try to prevail, but when I preach it only hurt htye sales/ Like you’re only gon’ end up either dead or in jail/ But you my nigga, wish you the best for real.” In this verse, Joey Bada$$ tells the story of his friends and how they sell drugs and indulge in the violent nature of the hood. He attempts to want them not to fall into such a trap because they’ll either up dead or in jail but regardless of what they choose, Joey wishes them the best.

Yelawolf then takes this song into a wildly different direction. In his verse, Yelawolf explains that he cannot be compared to any other white rapper and that he is different. There is somewhat of a jab at Eminem here too with the specific words “trailer park”, which is commonly associated with Eminem, in connection to the rappers that are below Yelawolf. All in all, Yelawolf takes this opportunity to expound a flair of braggadocio and separate himself from his competition.

Danny Brown chooses to focus his verse on drugs and their effects on him. He says of himself that he is a “Novice, regardless, heartless and awkward/ Cryin’ tears of vodka prima donna at the concert/ Adonis smokin’ chronic, ’bout to vomit gin and tonic/ Just bein’ honest, tell me, isn’t that ironic?” In this, he compares himself first to a prima donna, which is to say that he is a diva at a concert. He then calls himself Adonis, a reference to a Greek tragedy involving an inordinately beautiful man who is much too obsessed with himself. Calling himself a diva and an Adonis thus sets him up as a person who is only interested in himself and the moment. This explains the carefree use of drugs and alcohol that he describes here. What he describes is indeed very typical of the selfish and self-absorbed druggie of Harlem.

Next up is Action Bronson. After some obligatory lines devoted to weed and women, Action Bronson spits “Cuffed to my wrist I got the briefcase/ The gavel slam, I’m a free man, try not to eat ham”, which indicates his own troubles. He was caught and incarcerated for a time and after he does his time, Action Bronson promises that he will never “eat ham”. Ham is pork, which is made from pigs. Pig is a common derogatory term for a policeman. Thus, Action Bronson is saying that he is trying to refrain from disobeying the law and police officers, the defiance of which is another common factor that makes up Harlem.

Lastly, Big K.R.I.T ends the song. Big K.R.I.T’s verse is considered the best by people like A$AP Rocky and Joey Bada$$. Big K.R.I.T is not from the city at all. He’s from the South and his verse in this song will not let you forget that. He refers constantly and consistently to things like his “Dixie rebel past.” He makes up for his lack of urban meaning within the lyrics by introducing himself and the others in this song with the usual bragging nature that some rappers find natural. He then wraps up with the last line being “I’m more like Miya Bailey on you rap motherfuckers, a true artist” This brings the song full circle. Every artist on this track shares a theme from their experiences. Coming up from hustling, paranoia, legal battles, partying, and shooting guns are all stops on the fame train. The art is what unites them all though so it is befitting that the verse and the track end on a rare brag – Big K.R.I.T calling himself a true artist.