By Christian Cosentino-Ferreira
It’s fair to say that if you’ve been listening to hip-hop, or rap for a while, you’ve likely heard A$AP Rocky, whether that was through a feature on another artist’s project or perhaps on his last project that was released eight years ago. The album, Testing (2018), didn’t have a massive impact like his previous releases did, but nonetheless provided great tracks that I often go back to as ‘Hun43rd’ that still manage to please.
Just prior to the release of his latest album DON’T BE DUMB, Fans were excited to be getting what fans hoped would be a top album of the year candidate very early on in the year. It was almost reminiscent of when The Weeknd released his final album ‘Hurry Up Tomorrow’ in late January, an album many would argue was the best of 2025. On top of that, both artists were coming off of hiatus from releasing music, in Rocky’s case a lot longer than Abel.
Unfortunately, the sensation of being overhyped may have indirectly skewed a lot of fans’ image on the album, when it did finally release as it’s safe to say that the project felt almost incomplete (despite the project having a song literally titled ‘THE END’) and at times felt out of place. It was as if someone compiled a bunch of random food into a blender and then being upset when the smoothie tastes weird.
Generally what people look for in an album initially is a good sense of direction of where it’s going to go at the start, in this case his opening track ‘ORDER OF PROTECTION’ does do a good way in reintroducing Rocky to the audience with lyrics like “It’s been a minute since I been in the league,” which is in no case an apology for the wait. He follows that up by reminding them that regardless of his silence, fans will always come back and listen to anything he has even a smidge of influence on with his line “Last time I checked, we still in the lead.”
A$AP is able to transition this smoothly onto his next song, which was a buzz-building single he dropped prior to the album’s release. ‘Helicopter’ was one of his better songs on the project, with simple production and a more commanding and urgent tone then we’re used to from Rocky. The next track, ‘STOLE YA FLOW,’ includes Rocky’s shot at Drake, which is starting to feel like a frequent occurrence in a Rocky album and honestly this whole gimmick which took place throughout the entirety of 2025 is getting old. Despite this, the production is incredible on this song, but it’s just not something many might see meshing well with Rocky.
From here the album seems to divert from the theme that had appeared to be building for the initial three tracks. ‘STAY HERE 4 LIFE’ and ‘PLAYA’ are two songs that seemingly outline his happiness with his wife, Rihanna and their family of five. The Brent Faiyaz feature on the first track immediately made this song all the more better, one that you might want to save for later. Following this the project flickers into a bright indie track that is my personal favourite on the project, titled ‘PUNK ROCKY’ a song that you’ll be putting on repeat throughout the upcoming summer. While the production on this is top notch, the genre-switching does not come off as intentionally designed or cohesive as it would in his previous albums that really made this seem cluttered, which led me to be almost disinterested with the rest of the tracks.
From tracks seven to 12 we see this become common with features that don’t pop and don’t mesh into that classic A$AP Rocky vibe that fans have been waiting for relentlessly. A fan wrote in their own review that they felt that the project was “Super dense, too dense for its own good. A lot of the sounds on the project don’t fit together.”
Despite this, Rocky openly stated via X that this project, or as he called it “Disc One” was for him, in a sense to open his creative mind of music that he could put out there, and that there is a “Disc Two” that will be released for the fans.
DON’T BE DUMB overall will go over well with fans as it features what most see as a successful project, one or two hits and a song that will get a lot of clicks to promote a tour. It serves as a reminder that yes, Rocky is still very much present in the modern music scene, and is seeking to be more creative or innovative with his future projects. The anticipated release demanded more of a risk though, one that sought more of a memory making moment from the songs since it is the first music he’s released in nearly eight years. It was still a strong body of tracks for the most part, ones that are incredibly experimental that he somehow makes work. Not all of them are playlist worthy but it has its rollercoaster peaks in there that more than justifies the long wait between records, which for the most part feels more like it’s just a welcome back instead of a send off album.
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