There was one big question surrounding the rollout and drop of A$AP Rocky’s new album “DON’T BE DUMB”. Was it worth the wait? And yeah. It was.
For almost eight years, A$AP Rocky was off the radar. After his 2018 album “TESTING”, A$AP Rocky disappeared from the music sphere.
During this time, Rocky was fighting a gun assault charge, which he was found not guilty of, taking care of his three kids with pop star Rihanna, and starring in Spike Lee’s film “Highest 2 Lowest”. Throughout his music hiatus, Rocky dropped a couple of singles, but no album.
Eventually, Rocky started teasing an album. He started wearing merch with “D.B.D” on it, along with performing at Lollapalooza day four on helicopters with those three letters on the doors.
Finally, after years of teasing through merch, performances and singles, A$AP Rocky dropped “DON’T BE DUMB” on Jan. 16, 2026.
From the opening track of the album “ORDER OF PROTECTION”, Rocky shows that he is back and better than ever. Rocky raps that he’s “still in the field like he’s running in cleats” even after the eight year hiatus.
The album has hype moments with both “HELICOPTER” and “STOLE YA FLOW” having in-your-face beats with Rocky rapping in his prime, making for two amazing songs.
Although there is still old Rocky, the album is his most experimental, with him taking his sound in a completely different direction.
“STAY HERE 4 LIFE” shows Rocky taking an R&B approach to his music. With a beautiful Brent Faiyaz feature, Rocky is able to expand his sound to a whole new level. The R&B style fits Rocky’s flow so well on the song, making for a must-listen in his discography. This is the best song on the album.
Along with R&B, Rocky expands his sound to many other genres. “PUNK ROCKY”, the first single for the album, shows the psychedelic rock style with background guitars and drums very reminiscent of “Sundress” with a much darker sound. The psychedelic sound Rocky pulls off throughout the album is incredible, showing him moving more towards that style throughout his projects.
On “ROBBERY”, Rocky creates a jazzy sound with pianos and basses that allow him and Doechii to go back and forth rapping verses acting as a couple about to perform a robbery. Even though the jazzy sound is completely new for Rocky, he is able to pull it off super well and give it a new approach.
On many songs, Rocky is able to blend these styles together perfectly, such as “WHISKEY (RELEASE ME)” where he blends psychedelic with rock instrumentals through a beautiful Gorillaz feature, creating an incredible listening experience.
Although this album has been heavily experimental for Rocky, sometimes it is too much.
On “STFU”, Rocky tries a techno, electronic style with a feature from the Slay Squad, where they basically just yell. The song comes together to end up just being noise pollution.
He tries the same type of thing on “AIR FORCE (BLACK DEMARCO)” which sucks because two bridges in the song have the most beautiful Rocky vocals combined with beautiful Tame Impala type instrumentals that are almost like an “L$D” pt 2, so the song is a skip for me.
A$AP Rocky takes a whole new step with this album, showing that he has had eight years of influences and experiences to contribute to make a fresh album with a new sound.
With this album, Rocky is not leaving any time soon, he is only moving forward. There are all kinds of different sounds on this album, making something for everyone. Even though there is no classic cloud rap Rocky, this album is still very much worth the listen. I give this a 4 out of 5.
