Don't Be Dumb

When A$AP Rocky first emerged online in the early 2010s as the face and figurehead of the trendsetting Harlem collective known as the A$AP Mob, he was already primed for stardom, with model good looks, a strong curatorial eye and a sound that drew from brolic New York street rap, DJ Screw tapes and trippy underground electronics alike. Parlaying the hype from his acclaimed debut mixtape, 2011’s <i>LIVE.LOVE.A$AP</i>, the Harlem native soon found himself in hip-hop’s upper echelons, testing the boundaries of genre and style. But for years, Rocky mostly applied his ambitions elsewhere: He embraced acting, taking on roles in 2025’s <i>Highest 2 Lowest</i> and <i>If I Had Legs I’d Kick You</i>, co-chaired the 2025 Met Gala (for which he designed his own look) and meanwhile, became half of pop culture’s coolest power couple, starting a family with his partner, Rihanna. Some wondered if the fashion killa had outgrown rap entirely. His long-awaited fourth studio album, <i>Don’t Be Dumb</i>, proves otherwise. His first full-length release since 2018’s <i>TESTING</i> is evidence that the father of three is still hungry for his spot among the hip-hop elite. Alternately brash and sophisticated, the album is a return to the stylish, self-possessed art rap of his 2013 major-label debut, and on it the superstar does not spare the feelings of the many who have bitten or betrayed him. “Stole my flow, so I stole your bitch/If you stole my style, I need at least like 10 per cent,” he scoffs on “STOLE YA FLOW”, the latest in a line of not-so-subtle shots at Drake. On “STOP SNITCHING”, he fires at the former A$AP Mob member who testified against him in a 2025 felony assault trial at which Rocky was found not guilty. Fifteen years into his career, the 37-year-old rapper has earned the role of hip-hop elder statesman, and <i>Don’t Be Dumb</i> sounds accordingly wizened, slipping into jazz mode on the Duke Ellington-sampling, Doechii-featuring “ROBBERY” or lavishing in psychedelic dream pop on single “PUNK ROCKY”. Still, his singular knack for curation prevails: Who else would recruit Westside Gunn to ad-lib gun sounds over backup harmonies from Damon Albarn, as on “WHISKEY (RELEASE ME)”, or juxtapose Jessica Pratt’s bewitching psych-pop with apocalypse bars from will.i.am (“THE END”)? And on the two-part “DON’T BE DUMB / TRIP BABY”, throwback beats from former collaborators Clams Casino and Harry Fraud take the pretty MFer back to where it all began.