Don't Be Dumb
A$AP Rocky flexes his newfound maturity after a lengthy absence
The most cutting diss from the Kendrick Lamar-Drake battle wasn't one that was lobbed between the two of them. It was this stray jab from Drake’s "Family Matters" that still lingers like a bruise to the sternum:
“I ain't even know you rapped still 'cause they only talkin' 'bout your 'fit again
Probably gotta have a kid again 'fore you think of droppin' any shit again
Even when you do drop, they gon' say you should've modeled 'cause it's mid again”
These bars haunted every move that A$AP Rocky made in the months that followed. Parroted by internet-poisoned OVO fanboys in online comment sections, it's actually some decent music criticism. The procession of non-album Rocky singles in recent years did indeed have "mid again" echoing through my mind more than once. As the protracted delay for Don’t Be Dumb continued with no end in sight, the knock on Rocky became "Cool outfit, where's the album?"
Arriving eight years after his last record Testing at the end of a jerky, halting rollout, Don’t Be Dumb finds Rocky successfully speaking to his present moment. He’s a father of three who is in a relationship with one of the most famous women on the planet. He’s a movie star with significant parts in two major 2025 films: If I Had Legs I’d Kick You and Highest 2 Lowest. He was convicted of an assault charge in Sweden that put him in prison for a month and he beat a gun charge in Los Angeles that was lobbed at him by a former A$AP member. Lots of material for him to work with and thankfully, he leaned into it.
A$AP Rocky is a Tumblr baby, a millennial who came up during a time when mashing together disparate ideas was a revolutionary act, when rapping about Raf Simons and Rick Owens was actually novel. It’s hard to remember how radical Rocky’s insouciant take on screwed-up cloud rap was for an emcee coming from Harlem in the early 2010s.
Rocky’s experimental edge was initially met with outright derision from New York hip-hop’s old guard. Ironically, he’s now seen as the flag-bearer for the Big Apple’s centrality in the contemporary rap conversation. Like Tyler, the Creator on the west coast, he was on the vanguard of a new wave of rappers who were inspired by the internet to pull from a wider spectrum of influences than the generations that proceeded them.
This magpie impulse is perfectly aligned with Rocky’s fragmented, free associative rap style, which is clearly built on freestyling. His verses are routinely stylish, pleasing to the ear yet often unsubstantial. I’m happy to see self-reflection, maturity and personal growth cropping up on this record because it wasn’t necessarily a given that he would go there at all.
Rocky is an undeniably strong curator, probably his greatest skill. His use of references, both external and meta, has a Pinterest board quality. For instance, the Dan Streit-directed video for "HELICOPTER" is a digital cornucopia rife with imagery that will be no doubt resonate with the culture: the Stop Snitching hoodie, the New Jack City dope spot, the Killa Cam-pink convertible, the swinging white T-shirts from Petey Pablo's "Raise Up."
But this assemblage of signifiers adds up to nothing tangible, all reference with no payoff. Rocky's music has usually left me wanting more for this same reason. There's a sense that, if you were to take away everything aesthetic, there might be nothing left beneath the artifice. Rocky fights against this perception throughout the album, calling himself a “grown man on [his] wholesome shit” and acknowledging that he now “see[s] life through a new lens.”
Rocky’s flows are incredibly fresh here, finding him hitting some pockets that are truly unique. It’s thrilling when he locks into something new. The beats are predictably state of the art (peep the orchestral flourishes on “STOP SNITCHING”) but I’m particularly enamoured with the vocal production, which sets a new standard for hip-hop going into the next decade. I keep coming back to the disembodied voice barking “readymade” (no doubt a Marcel Duchamp reference from the only rapper to cite German Expressionism during his New York Times Popcast interview) on “STOLE YA FLOW.”
Based on the album’s combative skits, external pressure and scrutiny from the outside world have clearly rankled Rocky during his long absence. On Don't Be Dumb, Rocky is rapping like he has something to prove. In his appearances at Rolling Loud over the years, Rocky has come off like an OG trying to hang in there as the new generation grows increasingly more nihilistic and strange.
In the time between albums, his one-time protege Playboi Carti has supplanted him as the ringleader of the carnival. As energetic as tracks like “STOLE YA FLOW” and "AIR FORCE (BLACK DEMARCO)" are, they stop short of tapping into the palpable sense of danger that I feel emanating from Carti’s MUSIC era offerings such as “EVIL J0RDAN” and “WAKE UP F1LTHY.” One recalls the meme that highlighted Rocky’s pained expression when he somehow ended up in the mosh pit during his performance at Rolling Loud New York 2022. A$AP Rocky’s chaos is always controlled.
His forays into rock are not particularly gripping. A$AP’s hipster side has always felt a bit surface level. "AIR FORCE (BLACK DEMARCO)" is a flawed, imprecise interpretation of Mac DeMarco's slacker crooning. He calls a song "PUNK ROCKY" and it's just garden variety indie rock with soft edges. You can picture him asking for some King Krule vibes in the studio. As much as he would like us all to think of him as a boundary-defying genre buster, his pure rapping ability has always been the most compelling thing about him.
Other than Drake (who receives his comeuppance on “STOLE YA FLOW”), Don't Be Dumb feels as if Rocky is truly throwing down the gauntlet against the artist who most obviously Xeroxed his sound and image to world-conquering effect: Travis Scott. Ironically, Rocky’s Houston homages on "STOP SNITCHING" and “FISH N STEAK (WHAT IT IS)” feel more authentic than anything Texas-born Travis has done of late. Don’t Be Dumb seems designed to position Rocky as the real Event Album artist between the two of them, at which it comfortably succeeds.
Top Tracks: STOP SNITCHING, STOLE YA FLOW, HELICOPTER, DON’T BE DUMB / TRIP BABY
Listen to Don’t Be Dumb by A$AP Rocky
I stopped by CBC Commotion to chat with Radheyan Simonpillai about the Rocky album on Monday morning, you can watch that below:
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I think the most impressive thing is how the confrontational songs are the most fun.
Agreed the indie rock experiments don't really come off, I think that's why they're hidden in the middle of the tracklist
Thoughtful and articulate write-up, per the usual -- 'preciate cha.