On Sunday, late A$AP Mob founder Steven Rodriguez, aka A$AP Yams, was celebrated with a quiet memorial service at New York's famous Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel, an Upper East Side funeral home that has in the past hosted similar such sendoffs for celebrities like Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Ed Koch, Judy Garland, John Lennon, Heath Ledger, Aaliyah, Notorious B.I.G., and most recently, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joan Rivers.
The public portion of the memorial, which had been announced on Twitter earlier in the weekend, was a quiet and solemn affair—a hundred or so guests gathered, most of whom appeared to be friends and close acquaintances, based on the number of tight embraces Yams' mother received throughout the morning. Most wore formal wear, though some younger guests donned FUBU jackets, black bandanas, and Coogi. (Rocky and the more visible members of the A$AP crew were not in attendance; a private service was held afterwards for friends and family.)
One wall of the understated chapel was lined with flower arrangements, including a large white rose heart that was inscribed with "YAMS." A variety of A$AP Mob gear from over the years, including a grey A$AP hoodie and a Yankees-style grey-pinstripe Yamborghini Records jersey, hung in a nook on the other side of the room. The black lacquered casket was adorned by a bloom of dark red roses, and framed by a Tumblr art-inspired, purple-tinged picture of Yams riding a white unicorn on the left and an oversized Coogi sweater that hung to the right. A slideshow of photos from Yams' life—a child-aged Yams dressed as a pumpkin for Halloween, a RIAA plaque of A$AP Rocky's Long.Live.ASAP—looped on a small screen behind.
Guests were each given a laminated card featuring a photo of Yams taken for his 2013 New York Times profile on one side, and an epitaph borrowed from his legendary Twitter account, which was held in as high regard as the Bible by so many, on the other:
