Songfacts®:

• Over a tranquil production, A$AP Rocky laments about fame swallowing up his life at the expense of his relationships with the people he loves.
  
  Haven't checked on my niece in weeks
  Months past and months in between since me and my sister would speak
  Not a call or visit in weeks, lost, nothin' since the September last
  Seen her September '16, man it feels like
  
  Rocky goes on to reference the death of A$AP Mob affiliate A$AP Press, who passed away in March 2016.
  Rocky said "Purity" was inspired by "losing people." "Whether it be a family member, a companion, just a friend, business partners, anything," he explained to Complex.
• Frank Ocean rhymes the first verse in which he talks about his struggles to find peace of mind. He also linked up with Rocky on another Testing track, "Brotha Man."
• Rocky, Finatik N Zac, Dean Blunt, and Hector Delgado's production features a manipulated sample of Lauryn Hill's 2002 track "I Gotta Find Peace of Mind."
• Frank Ocean told GayLetter magazine that he largely improvised his verse. Ocean recalled that when he arrived at his recording session with A$AP Rocky, the rapper played him Lauryn Hill's sample chopped up and the open space he wanted him at. The singer generally works on his lyrics alone, so putting his verse together in front of others pushed him out of his comfort zone. He explained normally he would have headphones on "listening to the beat over and over," then he would piece all the words together in his head and "blurt out the verse."