Few art forms have evolved quite like the well-timed rollout. Where most envision taking weeks (even months) to build audience curiosity, a modern trend seems to favor the abrupt Friday drop that’s free of any hype save that your favorite artist was bound to put out something eventually. This has helped catapult artists like Kendrick Lamar or Tyler, the Creator into marketing geniuses. It’s the act of being fresh, causing audiences to spend their whole weekend deconstructing every last word. Of course, this only really works if the artist has an established persona, but it’s still the best way to confirm your audience isn’t scrolling through Spotify already yawning that you “finally” put something out.
A$AP Rocky doesn’t seem to have gotten the memo. Whether it’s because of his marriage and family with Rihanna, a well-established fashion line, or a legal trial that only wrapped not even a year before “Don’t Be Dumb” hit the shelves, he seems to have been distracted from the hustle of keeping his pulse on the charts. That isn’t to say he hasn’t stayed busy doing guest features and establishing a substantial acting career opposite the likes of Denzel Washington, but the idea of a full-fledged solo album that hits on the same level as the pioneering sound he made his bones with was becoming more of a joke than a moment worthy of a parade.
In fairness, this isn’t the most disastrous rollout of the 21st century, lest we forget the time Eve took 11 years to not only release her fourth album, but did so a whole six years after “Tambourine” became one of her most inescapable hits – at least everywhere but on her own record. By that standard, Rocky was doing a fine, if somewhat misguided, attempt to get the next phase of his career launched. Not only did he release many stray singles, but gave them memorable music videos. Some of them would even attempt to scrub themselves from the internet: a move that more than likely annoyed fans and also led to Rocky’s own frustration when Reddit refused to let him promote his own work on the site.
For better or worse, the eventual album “Don’t Be Dumb” sprang forth eight years after the latest go-around and is being sold as the first blockbuster album of 2026. Part of that is merely timing, but also because this release shares an equal level of anticipation and skepticism, with some expressing disbelief that it would even come out, and others suggesting that the time away was intended to equate to a higher production value. Still, with the many false starts that made the actual singles feel less encouraging, what exactly was to make this a blockbuster worthy of a grander statement, one that would suggest a man whose status transcended that of a rapper to an industry mogul? Lurking in the shadow of people’s memories is Playboi Carti’s “Music,” which had a similar burden of filling a five-year release gap, only to be accused of being lazy, uninspiring, and far from the ambitious masterpiece this hypothetical meticulousness would have many believe.
This feels very much like a Blockbuster album in a different way. Whereas most rap is preoccupied with trend chasing, Rocky seems fixated on turning the disposability of 90s pop art into a whole personality. Throughout this album, it feels like it harkens back to a time when culture was less introspective and expected less from its big acts. Despite having lived a life full of surely interesting tales in those eight years, he is preoccupied with writing novelty juke joint raps with Doechii over a Thelonius Monk piano sample. Is it catchy? Boy howdy, is it ever. However, it’s indicative of a larger album that wouldn’t feel out of place in the cartoonish landscape of Warren Beatty’s Dick Tracy (1990) adaptation, down to the eccentric interludes where the gangsters talk about lavish lifestyles and trying to avoid being dumb, i.e., staying out of jail. Stick this in with some playfully juvenile bars about his sexual exploits, and you have a narrative driven by hedonistic pleasure, which, in itself, feels reminiscent of the late 2000s fantasies of recession pop and desiring things outside practical means.
In that regard, “Don’t Be Dumb” fulfills its place in the zeitgeist. It’s not trying to be a grand statement about Rocky’s absence. Outside of a Drake diss track so thinly veiled that it would tear cellophane, this is about embracing whatever passions he had in the past year. It’s hard to think there’s a greater throughline, at least in a literal sense, than him wanting to recapture something fun about music… and that’s far from what the rest of the world wants to produce. He’s at risk of potential irrelevance, having not made a singular art piece that matches his halcyon days. Ironically, that may be the most fitting assumption for why Tim Burton not only gets album cover credit, but designed some of his most wackadoo designs since collabing with Pee-wee Herman.
No matter what can be said about the overall success of the record, the execution may be one of the most endearing outputs of recent times. This is an artist who has forgone any self-consciousness and is giving in to impulse. He seems to be confidently bragging about how well he networks, especially when he has Thundercat AND Danny Elfman appearing in his Saturday Night Live performance over the weekend. He is a man with clearly unlimited resources, and it’s an astounding ode to excess in its own right. Whereas most rappers would be cool with featuring the hot new talent, Rocky’s pulling from anyone who he finds significant. There are people like Jessica Pratt, Spencer Sutherland, and even Gorillaz in the mix to liven up the chaos. It’s the type of line-up that warrants going in blind, if just for shock value and to determine if the Frank Ocean truthers are just conspiracists at this point.
A major downside of a record like “Don’t Be Dumb” is that Rocky has always catered more towards vibes than lyrical complexity. This isn’t to suggest he slouches, but the bars are at best quips designed for typical braggadocio that have limited reach beyond his public persona. He’s about the good times, and it’s easy to buy into everything. Still, for as compulsory as the record becomes by the final track, it’s lacking a stickiness that feels like more than a dizzying journey through a mosh pit. It’ll leave you with this great endorphin rush, but maintaining the high may prove difficult when forced to put everything else about that night together.
Part of it is by design, especially as his sound mixes the mobster schtick with his familiar blend of psychedelic soundscapes – including production by Danny Elfman – that leans heavily into the cinematic aura of his guests. Everything has euphoric undertones, intoxicating the listener in a chase for greater pleasure. The tracks that lean more emotional, like the single “Punk Rocky” (which also marks the third collaborator Rocky has here from Beetlejuice (1988) with a Winona Ryder cameo in the music video), swirl with ambition. In these moments, he’s especially keen on suggesting that he wants to be more than a rapper. The propulsive track is rock-oriented, with the chorus feeling more garage band than rage anthem. He at times feels tender on this album, though rarely in the traditional balladry sense. If anything, there’s promise of a more obtuse future on the horizon.
That may be the biggest success of “Don’t Be Dumb.” It’s less a cohesive project than the assumption that Rocky’s return to music is going to be more lavish, combining the sound into a new avant-garde for the masses. For now, it’s a record packed with so many small tics that it’s impossible not to be taken aback by some of them.
For me personally, the final run is especially confounding (in a good way) because it’s the closest that Rocky has ever come to making something that captures the grandeur and pathos that many assumed this would carry. “The End” mixes dark themes with a bittersweet choir as he seems to usher in his own cartoonish version of doomsday. It’s subdued, pulling at times into sincerity as he contemplates his mortality and, for lack of better phrasing, if he managed to not be dumb. Given his depicted life choices, it’s easy to see the bravado giving way to some greater truth hidden underneath… though how much may be subjective.
The choice to cut this into two albums as well proves to be a tease of something much less clear at this point. With the second only featuring two tracks, what is the suggestion here? Will there be more? Is this closer to a prelude after “The End”? Again, little is known, though the closing song’s cameo from Tyler, the Creator feels in some way like the artist’s own nostalgic throwback to the “Goblin” days – less in the brash comments and more in the production feeling workmanlike. That, and somewhere amid the verse are the hallmarks of Tyler’s early work, including a deep-voiced third character playing a therapist to both artists. It’s not a big bang of an ending, but the throwback approach is fitting with a record whose fans probably find Tex Avery cartoons timeless.
After eight years and several false alarms, it’s easy to find A$AP Rocky’s return a bit underwhelming. Despite recent acclaim for artists even older than him, there’s a sense that he’s losing his vitality. That may explain why this record feels less urgent, more designed as a lark that would find its fans, but mostly fall by the wayside. If anything, the eccentricity is a great alternative to what hip-hop can sometimes feel like. There’s an immediacy, a need to produce something that sticks in the zeitgeist for months. Alas, this isn’t Kendrick Lamar, and it’s not offering anything on par with the party anthems of “GNX.” This is Rocky making an album that seems to be based solely on curiosity, which in its own way feels like a revival of music designed to be something “lesser.”
It may hurt to hear that someone who went the entire Biden administration without a drop is mostly goofing off, but this is still worth consideration for the time being. The lampoonery makes for a unique experience that envelopes those willing to give him a chance and hopefully recognize how silly it is. This may not be dumb, but it has a personality that clearly grew up on comics, idolizing a fantasy that has fallen out of fashion. The go-for-broke nature of Rocky’s work this time around may not always land, but it still takes risks. Who knows where his career is going from here, or if there will even be another album. It’s only January, and it seems like an odd time to release a Blockbuster album. Then again, that may be part of its perplexing alchemy,
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