Most rap careers don’t last eight years.
So for a rapper to go eight years without releasing an album communicates something both hopeful and frustrating about A$AP Rocky, one of the rap stars to truly break out in the early 2010s Tumblr-era gold rush.
And yet, over the last few years, it seems the rapper has become known for everything—fashion, movies, his relationship with Rihanna—except releasing music.
Well that has changed. ASAP Rocky has finally released his fourth official album, Don’t Be Dumb, an album that has been talked about, in some shape or form, since 2021 and that had been delayed so long it hit meme status.
The project runs 17 tracks and nearly an hour, making it a sprawling, sometimes messy collection of ideas from a millennial who is pushing 40, and still seems to be figuring out what he wants creatively. That tension runs throughout the album. The cover art, designed by millennial fave Tim Burton, features various Rocky alter egos. (Burton collaborator Danny Elfman earns a production credit on the very un–Danny Elfman–sounding “Stole Ya Flow.”)
Musically, the album experiments—with features ranging from Gorillaz to Jon Batiste to will.i.am—while also leaning on collaborations with old friends. It nods to the highs and lows of the past few years—from starting a family with Rih to standing trial over the shooting of a former friend. Still, the album remains mostly light on its feet, with the Rocky most leaving the heavy stuff alone to talk his shit. Which raises the big question: after the long wait and all the ups and downs, is this the A$AP Rocky album we wanted at this moment?
We consider that—and more—below. Here are our takeaways from A$AP Rocky’s Don’t Be Dumb.
This isn’t the Don’t Be Dumb we were promised
A$AP Rocky has been talking about this album for years, doling out bits of information along the way. Given all that buildup, it’s surprising how much of Don’t Be Dumb feels freshly divorced from what we thought it would be.
For starters, most of the songs released prior to the album—including “HIGHJACK,” “Tailor Swif,” and “Ruby Rosary”—don’t appear here at all. Rocky also previously mentioned producers like Pharrell and Madlib, neither of whom are present on the final tracklist.
The producer Rocky hyped the most, however, was Metro Boomin. In 2022, he told GQ, “This next album needs to be just called Flacko Boomin, you hear me?” He added, “Most artists wanna make [collabs] just because they’re hot. For us, it’s like, that’s really my nigga.”
Metro isn’t featured on a single track. It makes sense that an album simmering for this long would end up with a different finish—but still, it’s hard not to wonder what Flacko Boomin might have sounded like. —Dimas Sanfiorenzo
Yes, the Drake diss here is one of the album highlights
We’re approaching two years since the start of the Drake and Kendrick Lamar beef, and the ripple effects are still being felt. Case in point: all the other names caught up in the “20 v 1” side of the conflict.
ASAP Rocky took one of the harshest shots from Drake on “Family Matters”—“Probably gotta have a kid again ’fore you think of droppin’ any shit again”—so it’s not surprising he responded on his own album. And he does it on a highlight of the project, “Stole Ya Flow” where the swelling, growling bass paired with echoed ad-libs gives the track an aggressive edge.
On the track, Rocky makes it clear he’s going after Drake without actually mentioning his name. On the chorus, he raps, “First you stole my flow, so I stole yo' bitch,” a clear reference to Rihanna. He also weaves in digs at Drake’s alleged cosmetic surgery with the line, “N****s gettin' BBLs, lucky we don't body shame.”
These jabs are obvious and humorous, preventing the diss from feeling overly serious. Rocky leans into that energy when he adds, “My baby mama Rihanna, so we unbothered.” In a recent interview with NYTimes Popcast, Rocky confirmed the track’s intended target, responding, “I think we all know,” when his relationship with Drake came up in conversation. But the interview also suggested he’s ready to move on after this. —Antonio Johri
“Stay Here 4 Life” provides a masterclass in flipping samples
Brent Faiyaz is both sampled and featured on Don’t Be Dumb. Rather than simply lifting his vocals, Rocky makes Brent feel fully integrated into the track: vocals from the chorus of Brent’s late-2025 loosie “Full Moon” serve as the hook for “Stay Here 4 Life.” Rocky also samples the melody from that same song, which itself samples Ken Carson’s “Mewtwo” from A Great Chaos.
The way Rocky and producer Hit-Boy sample Brent is genuinely novel. Elements of the original track remain, but Brent also delivers a completely new third verse. The result feels both fresh and familiar, with Brent’s airy vocals providing a welcome contrast to the three hard-hitting trap cuts that open the project. This flip makes “Stay Here 4 Life” one of the more enjoyable melodic moments on DBD, and serves as a reminder that sampling recent songs—even those released less than six months ago—can still feel inspired when executed creatively. —Antonio Johri
This is def a step up from Testing but, nowhere near pantheon-level Rocky
One of the challenges with waiting so long for a new Rocky album is the fact that Testing, his last album, was such a disappointment.
On that album, Rocky fully embraced a new, avant-garde persona—remember when he was drinking milk during that livestream?—but the music never reached the same heights as his ambition. It was a noble effort, but outside of “Praise the Lord (Da Shine),” the album was too clumsy and stiff to work as a great Rocky album.
A similar adventurous spirit is present on Don’t Be Dumb, with nearly every track taking a different turn. This time, though, while the ambition remains, the music—and frankly Rocky himself—sounds lighter on its feet. That looseness—featured in tracks like spunky "STFU" and the melodic single “Punk Rocky,"—makes the album far more fun to listen to. Instead of being adventurous in a self-serious way, Don’t Be Dumb embraces a freer, more playful energy. —Dimas Sanfiorenzo
Some of the swings are wild
While that playful energy is usually a boost, there are times when it doesn’t land. The prime example is "Robbery," a high-concept collaboration with Doechii that features the two rappers trading almost breathless scat flows over a sample of Thelonious Monk’s “Caravan.”
While technically impressive, the song’s overall theatricality feels a bit over the top. Similarly, “Whiskey (Release Me)” attempts to blend Damon Albarn’s vocals with adlibs from Westside Gunn, but the combination just doesn’t work. —Dimas Sanfiorenzo
Old Rocky is still the best Rocky
“I think this album is what 2011 Rocky would be making in 2026," ASAP Rocky said while speaking to The New York Times.
After listening to Don’t Be Dumb, you can see where he’s coming from. Rocky operates in two modes on this album: either exploring new soundscapes—which makes up most of the record—or leaning into nostalgic elements from the Live. Love. ASAP days. The energy from that tape, built around an exploratory approach to hip-hop styles and flows that felt genuinely novel at the time, resonates throughout this album. He’s often at his strongest when hitting those Live. Love. ASAP pockets.
The run from "Playa" through "No Trespassing" to "Stop Snitching," featuring a standout Sauce Walka verse, is some of the album’s best material. Even when the subject matter is more mature—"Playa" is about being a family man—the music mostly feels like it could have come from a 2011 time capsule.
Then there’s the melodic "Don’t Be Dumb/Trip Baby," a touching and surprisingly emotional reconnection with Clams Casino, perhaps the producer who had the biggest impact on Rocky’s early rise. There's a final track—plus a couple of bonus cuts—but that song serves as the perfect capstone to this ASAP Rocky era. —Dimas Sanfiorenzo