The mixtape was promoted with two singles, "Peso" and "Purple Swag", which garnered ASAP Rocky mainstream attention and led to his first record deal.

[1] He released a music video for his song "Purple Swag" in July, garnering Internet buzz and attention from record labels, despite negative feedback from his native hip hop scene in New York.

[2] He and Polo Grounds president Bryan Leach, also a Harlem native, subsequently spent time talking about music and lifestyles.

[2] In August 2011, ASAP Rocky followed with "Peso", which first appeared on Internet blogs and eventually received radio airplay on New York City's Hot 97.

[6] ASAP Rocky met him after he remixed Casino's song "Numb", which was later recorded as "Demons" for the mixtape, and they both tried to contact one another as respective fans.

[7] In August, he rented a pied-à-terre in Midtown Manhattan and housed members of ASAP Mob during Hurricane Irene's landfall in New York City.

As New York classicists were holding their ground, the rest of hip-hop looked on, amused, and kept working, taking in outside influences and building their own sounds ... LiveLoveASAP would be comprehensible in all of those places.

[2][8][9] He grew up listening to Southern hip hop artists such as Geto Boys, UGK, Swishahouse, Mike Jones, Paul Wall, and Slim Thug.

[14] Clams Casino's moody, atmospheric production is characterized by fragmented, downbeat vocal samples, basic drum tracks, and ambient, hypnotic synths.

"[1] Alvin Aqua Blanco of HipHopDX writes that the music's grooves "generally stay on the DJ Screw side of the BPMs".

[12][20] The mixtape's subject matter of moral decay incorporates controversial thematic elements of mainstream hip hop, including misogyny, glorified male promiscuity, and excessive drug use.

[6] Music writers note the mixtape's perspective as that of a self-assured youth concerned with simple pleasures and "keeping it trill (true and real)".

[18] Calling it a "guilty pleasure" for hip hop purists, AllMusic's Andre Barnes characterizes the mixtape's subject matter as "the antithesis of conscious rap" and his lyricism as "sedate charisma and mannerisms leaning toward UGK-inspired bravado", adding that it displaces "the intricate lyrical concepts that evoke intense listening and the undeniable slang definitive of traditional East Coast rap music".

[16][21] Jon Caramanica writes that the subject matter, including "straight-talking boasts" and "heavy intake of drugs and women", is revealed by his "bursts of short phrases, rhymed in their entirety.

[1][19] August Brown of the Los Angeles Times writes that "his reserved, steely delivery owes equal debts to Houston's syrup daze and Dipset's uptown intensity".

[11] His videos depicted a glamorous and dissolute lifestyle led by him and his crew, with images of excess and fashion, including gold fronts, liquor containers, and designer clothing.

[36] The rereleased edition featured the new song "Sandman", produced by Kelvin Krash and Rocky's longtime collaborator Clams Casino, although "Kissin' Pink and "Out of This World" were omitted.

"[21] AllMusic's Andre Barnes wrote of the mixtape's appeal to hip hop purists and listeners, "For the saints, Live Love ASAP is nothing short of a guilty pleasure ...

[41] McGowan viewed that, although his "Wayne-ian pattern" is not as "fluid" nor "dotted with exuberant metaphors", his sensibilities make up for technical shortcomings: [ASAP Rocky] enunciates powerfully from within the pocket of the beat, always sounds like he's rapping in facts, and knows how to turn a phrase.

He understands the infectious way a line like "My all gold grill give 'er cold chills / say she got that coke feel 'cause I'm so trill" can pinball around a listener's ear.

[41]BBC Music's Ele Beattie advised listeners, "If you've come looking for tight flows and witty wordplay, Rocky ain't your man.

He added that, "by enlisting some of the Internet's most forward-thinking young producers ... [Rocky]'s crafted the year's most stylish mix-tape, a melting pot of nearly every major underground rap trend of the last 16 months, all pitched to the intoxicating slow crawl of Houston screw music.

"[18] Although he noted a "lack of so-called substance", David Amidon of PopMatters viewed that the mixtape's release helped materialize "the positive influence of the internet on the next generation of hip-hop".

[43] Gorilla vs. Bear ranked the mixtape number five and stated, "Sometimes good instincts, an effortless flow, off-the-charts charisma, and just sounding a lot cooler than everyone else goes a long way.

"[44] In ranking it number nine, Complex commended ASAP Rocky's "defined sound and unique aesthetic", calling him "electric and precise on the microphone" and writing that the mixtape's beats "bang so hard they bring Houston to Harlem.

"[24] Los Angeles Times staff writer August Brown ranked the mixtape number two on her top albums list and wrote that it "cemented" his reputation, while citing Clams Casino's beats as "some of the year's most imaginative, evocative hip-hop productions.

"[23] Jonah Weiner of Slate ranked it number five on his list and, although he cited him as part of "hip-hop's abiding misogynist" in 2011, saying that he and his contemporaries "trash so many other genre orthodoxies.