A$AP Rocky's DON'T BE DUMB - Did it Live Up to the Hype?

Written By: Nolan Durand

Edited By: Andrew Ott

On January 16th, 2025, A$AP Rocky would release his 4th studio album DON’T BE DUMB. This was nearly 8 years after the release of his previous album, and in that time DON’T BE DUMB became highly anticipated by the fans. In those 8 years there were album name changes, leaks, previewed songs, interviews, concerts, and more that were all building high expectations for fans. Now that the album is released, I’m here to discuss if the album lived up to those expectations.

Timeline Between Testing & DONT BE DUMB

Before I go into DON’T BE DUMB, I want to give a brief timeline of those 8 years since Testing to help those who weren’t waiting understand what fans went through.

A few weeks after the release of Testing, Rocky would announce a collab album with Tyler, The Creator named WANG$AP along with a single. This album was later cancelled, and in 2019 Tyler clarified that they never even started working on it. He would also tease another album, which his fans titled ALL $MILE$. A common collaborator of his, Juicy J, would then confirm the album in an interview, and Rocky would confirm the album existed during his 2019 tour for Testing. That was the same tour where he was arrested in Sweden, which ultimately changed the direction of the album. While the album wasn’t ever officially called ALL $MILE$, the name stuck with many fans, and that's what many would refer to as his 4th album.

Rocky scrapped the idea of ALL $MILE$ and moved into a darker style. During quarantine, Rocky became inspired by German Expressionism and the works of Tim Burton. He would also begin spending more time with Rihanna. Rocky would preview new songs at live shows, such as GRIM FREESTYLE. In May of 2021, he appeared in a GQ interview and said the album was 90% done and referred to it as a “ghetto love tale”. The new name for his 4th album was GRIM, and many fans thought we would definitely see it released at this time.

Early 2022 was a huge year for Rocky, he had features on albums for $not, Swedish House Mafia, and Nigo. He would also tease new music in a collaboration with Mercedes. In May, Rocky would drop the first single for GRIM, D.M.B, a love song dedicated to Rihanna and where he proposes to her in the music video. Later that month, in a DAZED interview, Rocky said the album was wrapping up and they were shooting visuals for it. Fans built up hype for the album to drop over the summer, but the album never released.

September 2022, the album never released, but he did go on Instagram to tease a song with Playboi Carti and Surf Gang. This helped bring excitement back as it was a few weeks before his performance at Rolling Loud New York. Many expected him to play the album in full there and then release it after. When the night of his performance came, he was late and his show was cut short. GRIM was seemingly scrapped after this, leading into a new era.

On December 2nd, 2022, Rocky would release his single Shittin’ Me, in collaboration with the game Need For Speed Unbound. It was a throwaway song from the Testing era, but highly wanted by fans. A few days later, on the 8th, Rocky would officially announce DON’T BE DUMB on a Thursday night football game, saying it was done. The next day, he performed on Amazon Music and previewed his single Same Problems, which was released on Yams Day, January 18th, 2023. Rocky would release another single, RIOT (Rowdy Pipe’n), in July and then claimed he was in “album mode”.  In August, Rocky went on Twitter and posted “AWGEUST” hinting at a release this month, but nothing happened. Finally, in October, Rocky said the album would be released by the end of the year, but again, it was never released. All of 2023 was just a period of false hope for the fans, with fake out releases and constant delays.

Starting in April of 2024, Rocky would start selling merch for the album. He would then announce the album’s release date at AWGE’s SS25 runway as August 30, 2024. He would preview 2 songs here and release one, HIGHJACK, as a single on August 2nd. The album was delayed shortly after due to “leaks and clearances”, but fan favorite song Tailor Swif would release on the original date, and Ruby Rosary dropped a week later. Rocky said the album would be released in the fall of that year. In an interview, he also stated the album was influenced by the Wu-Tang Clan, Diplomatic Immunity, Tim Burton’s films, Memphis hip-hop, Portishead, and 1930’s German Expressionist films. This started raising fans’ expectations for what they should hear. As the album faced further delays and Rocky continued to build hype, expectations grew higher. On December 10th, AWGE emailed fans who bought the merch that they were being refunded, but reassured them that the album would release in early 2025. 

On February 18th, 2025, A$AP Rocky was found not guilty in an assault case against former A$AP member Relli. He would go on Twitter to say “DON’T BE DUMB”. Later that month, in an interview he said the album was finished and was just being mixed and mastered. He would perform at Rolling Loud Los Angeles in March and preview new songs, seemingly starting a new rollout. In June, AWGE SS26 would take place, where multiple new songs were previewed. In July, Rocky would release the single pray4dagang but no announcements were made at the time. In October, he would tease new music in the ads for his Puma collab. In November, he would release merch saying “Album Never Dropping” for his performance at Camp Flog Gnaw. At this point it was clear to fans that something was happening soon, and hopefully it was the official release and not a fakeout.

On December 16th, 2025, the album cover for DON’T BE DUMB was revealed. It featured artwork made by Tim Burton and at this point fans knew the album was actually coming. The next day, it was revealed the album would be dropping on National Nothing Day, January 16th, 2026. Rocky would release box sets, vinyl, CDs, and more throughout December. On January 2nd, 2026, Rocky would tease a music video for his lead single PUNK ROCKY starring Winona Ryder. The video and single would be released on the 5th, and a second single and video would be released on the 12th, titled HELICOPTER. On the 14th, the full tracklist for the album was revealed, and the next day the features for the album were revealed. Finally, after years of waiting, DON’T BE DUMB was released on the 16th. Years of anticipation from fans led to this moment. The many delays, previews, teased features, and sound changes led to the album you hear today, so let’s listen.

Album Review:

ORDER OF PROTECTION

I think this is a great intro to the album. It feels like a return to his older style instead of his Testing style. When I first heard it, it got me really excited for what was to come. It’s old Rocky, it’s fun to listen to, and it helped remind me of how good Rocky can be.

HELICOPTER

This was the second lead single for the album. The song isn’t really anything special, but it is a typical Rocky song, and I believe that would’ve worked better as a lead single. It’s a great way to get people back into the fun side of Rocky’s music.

INTERROGATION (SKIT)

The only solo skit on the album. A few other skits are mixed within the songs. These skits don’t really do much for me, and I think they shouldn’t have been included. This one just has Rocky complaining, saying he won’t listen to critics/fans about his style and will do his own stuff.

STOLE YA FLOW

The song is a Drake diss track. The actual diss is lazy, being “First you stole my flow, so I stole yo’ bitch”. The song is a fun hype track as Rocky is rapping over some crazy 808s. I wish the actual diss for Drake was better, but there isn’t much for Rocky to say that hasn’t been said by other artists. This song also ends with a skit that also does nothing for me, basically saying no one can tell him what to do again.

STAY HERE 4 LIFE

This song is a rework of Brent Fayiaz’s full moon, with Rocky adding onto the chorus and adding a verse. This is a great song and is a highlight of the album. Rocky reflects on his relationship with Rihanna, wanting to stay in the moment while also dreaming of their future together. It’s a great song that helps slow down the album from the previous fast paced songs. The only critique I have is that the outro is too long, being nearly 2 minutes! It slows down the song even more and repeats the chorus twice. The chorus should’ve been repeated once, also cut the skit from the ending, as he was just complaining about fans who want him single. 

PLAYA

This song is one of the most forgettable songs on the album. My first two re-listens I was surprised as I completely forgot about the song. It keeps up the slower pace, but the song has no memorable aspects. The lyrical content, the beat, the flow, everything about it is boring and is just a complete skip in my mind. It doesn’t help that it’s going for the same feelings that STAY HERE 4 LIFE has, so you go from a great track immediately to the discount version. 

NO TRESPASSING

Another song that doesn't really do much for me. The beat is fun, and the lyrics are fine, but it just doesn’t really stand out. If I heard it on shuffle I would continue to play it, but I would never go out of my way to listen to it.

STOP SNITCHING

After some just ok tracks, this one does stand out to me. This track probably has the best beat on the album, and Rocky didn’t waste it. The song is very catchy and Rocky’s flow is amazing here. The track also features Sauce Walka, and he helps keep that amazing flow, which is used as a good contrast to the style Rocky used.

STFU

This is one of the most distinct tracks on the album. The beat is similar to something you would hear off an experimental hip hop album with a lot of bass, drums, and a goal of trying to be as loud as possible. The song also has a feature from the group Slay Squad, and I thought they worked really well on this. I thought it was a fun deviation from the rest of the album’s sound, but it did lead me to wanting more of that sound instead of just one track.

PUNK ROCKY

This was the first lead single for the album, and when it first released I did not like it. After 8 years I wanted a rap track, not Sundress part 2. That sentiment was the same for many fans, who thought the entire album would sound like this. That being said, I really enjoy this track now, especially listening to it in the context of the full album. It’s a nice change of pace from the previous tracks, which helps it stand out. The overall production, love focused lyrics, and change in pace really made me appreciate this more. I do believe that HELICOPTER should have been the initial lead single, and maybe keep this as a surprise.

AIR FORCE (BLACK DEMARCO)

This is a fast-paced trap beat song, and it reminds me a lot of the song Bahamas from the Cozy Tapes. It’s like if Rocky got to be the full focus of that song and not just one verse. I really do enjoy a lot of fast-paced trap songs, so this is a standout for me, though there is a beat switch half through that goes into a short and slow R&B section. I thought that was creative to break up the song halfway through to just go back to the fast-paced trap.

WHISKEY (RELEASE ME)

This is an interesting one to me. There's a 1-minute intro with a smoother jazz-type beat with Rocky singing over it and some background vocals from 2-D of Gorillaz. After a minute, it mixes that jazz-type beat with some trap drums. When Rocky starts rapping is where the song kinda lost me. After that, the beat isn’t really special and Rocky’s raps are just ok. Near the end, Westside Gunn comes in just spamming his adlibs, and it just makes me think “Wow, I wish he actually had a verse on this”. Even though Rocky got some high-profile names, the song just doesn’t feel too special.

ROBBERY

While the last song was a mix of trap and jazz, this is just Jazz. Rocky is joined by Doechii and they rap together about sex and wealth, you know the typical Rocky stuff. The song is really good, especially after a robbery interlude sketch where Rocky and Doechii are going bar for bar, the two have great chemistry. The song also reminds me a lot of Jay-Z and Beyonce’s Part II, a sequel to their Bonnie & Clyde song. This is why it confuses me that Rocky chose to go with Doechii, and not his wife Rihanna. If you’re doing this Bonnie & Clyde shtick and rapping about fucking each other, why not get your wife, who is infamous for songs about sex! Overall, I do enjoy this song, I just think Rihanna should’ve been here, especially if you’re calling this a “ghetto love tape” in interviews.

DON’T BE DUMB / TRIP BABY

Finally, we get to the title track of the album. A nice, slower song with some nice background vocals, centered around his love for Rihanna. Halfway through we switch to TRIP BABY, a faster trap song, but still focusing on love. I think it was a good move putting these two songs together, it gives a good contrast between the two sides and makes the track more interesting. This is my favorite song off the album, especially the first half with DON’T BE DUMB. It’s catchy, it’s slow, and it reminds me a lot of why I like listening to Rocky. 

THE END

Now we reach the final track of the main album. It has Rocky, will.i.am, and Jessica Pratt rapping about problems in the world over a sample repeating “This is the way the world ends”, that creates an almost eerie vibe to the song. Overall, I thought the song was ok. The message is nice as he mentions every problem facing the world saying that's how it will end, but every topic is brought up for one line only so nothing special is said about any of these topics. It reminds me of the clip from Family Guy of Lois saying “9/11 is bad”, but Rocky is doing this the whole song with wars, racism, and global warming just to say nothing about any of these topics. I think DON’T BE DUMB / TRIP BABY would have been the better ending track. This is an ok song but feels out of place here.

On release, there were two bonus tracks available to listen to after THE END, and a week later, two more would be added. I will only talk about the first two, as I’m talking about the album we heard on release, and if it lived up to the hype. The two tracks added a week later were also already available on streaming and were only added so the album could reach 1 billion streams sooner. 

SWAT TEAM

This is a really fun song and the production sounds like something off of LONG.LIVE.A$AP, which makes sense since it’s produced by SpaceGhostPurpp. I’m surprised it wasn’t on the main album, as the song is really good and I enjoy his rapping on this. 

FISH N STEAK (WHAT IT IS)This is another slow-paced song with Rocky trying out a new style. In this one he’s rapping over a flute, but the entire song just ends up being okay. Tyler, the Creator is a feature here making a return for the iconic duo. I did prefer his part as the song ditched the flute for a harp, and it sounds more interesting. For the only song with Tyler on it, I was hoping it would be better. Tyler does well, but Rocky is just here making the entire song ok.

Did It Live Up To The Hype?

I enjoyed the album, I thought it was a good release. While the album felt like it was having an identity crisis halfway through, due to the genre and beat switches, it still ended up working for a good majority of the songs. If I had to rate it, I would probably end up giving it a 6.5 - 7/10. The album was a mixed bag, but the good outweighs the bad. I wish there were some changes, but I would recommend most people check the album out, even if you haven’t heard a Rocky album before. 

Now, to answer the big question. Did it live up to the hype?

No.

While I enjoyed it, it took 8 years to release this and during my first listen I kept thinking “8 years for this” especially during the songs that were mid or bad. This is a good Rocky album, but it would have worked better if he actually released an album between these 8 years. I think 2022 was the perfect time for him to release an album, but he missed that opportunity. With that miss, he continued building hype for an album that is pretty good, but not amazing. For 8 years we were expecting something mind-blowing, not this.

Just to reiterate what the fans were thinking, I wanted to go over a few of my expectations with the album. I expected more features with long-time collaborators and artists signed to AWGE. This album didn't feature a single member from A$AP Mob, didn’t feature Carti, didn’t feature Kaycyy, and more artists all signed to AWGE. This is insane to me, this is Rocky’s label and none of them showed up. Kaycyy was featured on a single before the drop, but not on the actual album! Carti was also teased a lot as a feature during the multiple rollouts, so seeing him not on the album was very disappointing, especially since Rocky wasn’t on MUSIC. Other collaborators from previous albums, like Juicy J, Skepta, Schoolboy Q, Pharrell, Metro Boomin, and plenty of others were not featured. These artists all had leaks with their inclusions for the various eras between Testing and DON'T BE DUMB, but didn’t make it to the official release. While I understand most people want to hear Rocky on a Rocky album, with the wait it took I wanted more features from his previous collaborators. Now it seems like we’ll have to wait longer to hear Rocky and these artists together again.

I think another Cozy Tape would have been perfect between his two main album releases as those tapes focus more on the collaboration between A$AP members and non-members. Rocky could have kept the same features here, but give the fans the features they wanted on the Cozy Tape.

I was also surprised that Rihanna wasn’t featured at all. For all the interviews of him saying this being a love tape and a lot of the songs focusing on love, I couldn’t believe it when I never heard Rihanna on the album. It’s not like she’s not making music anymore as she did a song for the Smurfs movie last year, so you would think her husband would at least be able to get her on the album. 

Speaking of interviews, Rocky said this tape would feel gothic and like a Tim Burton film. While he did get Tim Burton to do art for the cover, and merch, the album didn’t really feel gothic. Maybe 3 of the songs felt gothic, but the whole tape certainly didn’t feel like that. It actually felt directionless at the end with all the genre switches and beat switches. That tracks in the hodgepodge of influences he named off in interviews with Tim Burton, Diplomatic Immunity, and Memphis Hip-Hop all being stated as influences. While I see these aspects in some of the songs, they never really mesh well together, making the entire album feel like he was throwing sounds at the wall to see what stuck. For 8 years I expected a consistent sound, something that would mark his grand return to hip-hop being a classic on release. The album doesn’t do that, it’s a mix of sounds that works sometimes and other times not so much, ultimately making an album that is good but not great. 

This problem of high expectations that are never met is a problem for other albums too. While Playboi Carti only took about 4 years to release Music after Whole Lotta Red, he did the same thing as Rocky. He was in interviews hyping up the sound, teasing features, going to festivals and previewing songs, and constantly hyping the album just for it to never release. All these combined together for fans to hear the album on release and not really enjoy it. Songs that were previewed were never made, features that were teased weren’t there, and even official singles that were released (not on streaming) weren’t on the album. These aspects along with the album being bloated and unfocused made fans disappointed, the expectations that were set were not met.

Carti also faced similar disappointment from fans with the release of Whole Lotta Red. While that was an even shorter wait, only being around 2 years from his previous release, this one was definitely overhyped by fans. Leaks were a constant in this rollout, with many leaks becoming classics to fans. Overall, the leaks showed that the album should continue the same sound as Die Lit, but with more of a “baby voice” that was just his voice pitched slightly higher. Carti would then release his first single for the album @ MEH and that song took the baby voice to an extreme. Fans were really disappointed and were clowning Carti for this new voice style. This hate got even worse when Drake released Pain 1993, a highly anticipated leak by fans, where Carti completely changed his verse changing the style from Die Lit to this new baby voice sound. This hate caused Carti to delay the album and rework it into the one we hear today, with this more rage style of trap. This release is infamous for the amount of hate it got on release. Fans were calling it trash, “WHOLELOTTATRASH” was trending on Twitter, and many fans were disappointed by what came out. It was a complete departure from his normal sound, and it featured barely any leaks that fans were excited for. This led to Carti promising a deluxe with all the fan favorite leaks, but that never happened. 

Whole Lotta Red was one of three albums that were being hyped to no end in 2019 and 2020, the other two being Lil Uzi Vert’s Eternal Atake and A$AP Rocky’s ALL $MILE$. Eternal Atake did manage to live up to the hype set by fans. It followed the same cycle as Whole Lotta Red, with leaks initially coming out and fans getting hyped around those leaks. Uzi would rework the album after the leaks to what we hear today, and the album was able to satisfy the fans. I think the biggest difference between Whole Lotta Red and Eternal Atake was that EA stuck close to the sound that fans were expecting, and while some fans were disappointed by the lack of leaks, Uzi would drop a deluxe album a week later featuring all of the fan favorite leaks. This was able to satisfy every fan, those expecting new stuff, and those expecting leaks. Even without the deluxe, the albums stuck with a familiar sound that easily met the expectations from the fans.

So is the only way to meet expectations from fans is to stick to your current sound? No. Kendrick Lamar took nearly 5 years to drop Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers after DAMN. Fans were eager for Kendrick’s 5th studio album, but people didn’t have proper expectations other than wanting it to be good. Kendrick wasn’t promising release dates that were never met, he wasn’t in interviews hyping the sound up or hyping features, and he wasn’t teasing songs. This kept the expectations pretty low for the fans, so when many heard the album for the first time, they were satisfied. Even if it was a departure from the sound of DAMN, fans didn’t know what to expect except a good album which the album definitely delivered on. 

I think that the best way to release an album is not to make fake promises to the fans that build their expectations so high you can’t satisfy them. Baby Keem just dropped his 2nd album, Ca$ino, a few weeks ago, only announcing it a week before release. While it has been awhile since Keem released an album, he also kept expectations low by not making any false promises, and I think that’s part of the reason why fans are loving it so much. They have no expectations to compare the album against. 

That being said, I think no artist can beat the expectations that come with an extremely long wait. Frank Ocean hasn’t released an album in nearly a decade. If he ever decides to release his next album and it’s anything but amazing, it will be hated on by fans. Even though Frank has been pretty quiet about his next album, the extensive wait has ultimately built an expectation for a masterpiece of an album. This aspect also affects art forms outside of the music industry. GTA 6 will have taken 13 years when it releases this year, and while Rockstar has been pretty quiet about the game, many fans expect this to be the greatest game of all time. There is no way for GTA 6 to meet the expectations from fans after this long of a wait. 

Between the 8 year wait, Rocky claimed that this album would be his best work. The leaks became fan favorites, ultimately building expectations for Rocky unrealistically high. While the album is good, it wasn’t amazing, which disappointed many fans and led to plenty of criticism. 

I know Rocky was making a point of not caring about what the fans said in the album, but he actually does. A few days after the album’s release, Rocky would tweet saying Disc 1 was for him, and that Disc 2 would be for the fans. He went on an interview to say that he wants to drop it before the tour. He is starting this hype cycle for his next album once again, and really didn’t learn from the problems of this rollout. One can only hope Disc 2 actually drops and doesn’t end up delayed.