After fans waited nearly eight years for A$AP Rocky’s album “Don’t be Dumb” is finally available to stream. Don’t be Dumb is Rakim Mayer’s, AKA A$AP Rocky, fourth studio album which has been teased since late 2022. Mayer is an American rapper who is famous for his cultural impact on the music industry. His unique and experimental sounds have inspired new generations of artists. His influence ranges from music to fashion which has helped build a gap between luxury brands and hip-hop culture. His newest album has been delayed multiple times before release due to leaks, sample clearance problems and a desire for perfection, so once it was released, was it truly as perfect and as good as A$AP Rocky promoted it? Here is what you need to know.
Before speaking music, the Don’t be Dumb album cover is amazing. The art and meaning of the weird little creatures that represent A$AP Rocky’s past eras such as the 
dummy from Testing and the creepy creature from Babushka Boi is a clever touch. The different colors and cartoony images bring strong vibes and are very complementary to the theme of “not being dumb” or weird. American filmmaker and animator, Tim Burton, helped along with the artistic style of the album. According to A$AP he had to “basically stalk and harass him for a few years” to secure a collab with Burton which is a hilarious response when asked. When invited to the Tonight show, he explained that the art came from Burton and his daughter when they would draw images together as a bond. “They looked at it as a bond. I looked at it like, ‘oh nah’, this is valuable,” said A$AP. If I was rating the cover art and the style of the album alone, it would probably be a near if not perfect rating.
The album starts off solid with ORDER OF PROTECTION where he basically acknowledges that he’s finally back and is still not someone to mess with. The beat drop is definitely the biggest strength of this track. However, the second track, HELICOPTER, immediately brings the energy with a flawless flow and beat choice by A$AP. This was one of the tracks that was released before the album’s release which was actually supposed to feature Playboi Carti but was cut most likely for his poor performance on the song which can actually be found online. A change to the track that was made was the addition of a high pitch drone-like noise near the end of the song which was nice. I can definitely imagine this song being a crowd favorite in a concert.
The album follows it up with skit where A$AP speaks to internet users complaining about him delaying his album and telling him what they want. He responds saying that he is enhancing his dream, and the buzz is around him and not the music. Stole Ya Flow is a full blown Drake diss where A$AP makes his goal for this track to fully offend him in any ways possible. He speaks on how Drake copied his style, how he ‘took’ famous artist Rihanna away from him, and how he switched from friends to opponents with A$AP. The beat is very aggressive and it’s a very heavy hitting song.
STAY HERE 4 LIFE and PLAYA are quite similar to each other. They both feature Brent Faiyaz who does an amazing job setting the mood for these tracks. The album slows down and gives great vocals and rhymes by both A$AP and Brent and can be argued as one of if not the best out of the album. Following that, it goes straight back to rap with NO TRESSPASSING and NO SNITCHING. NO TRESSPASSING was basically a subliminal diss to Drake, saying that he might move to Texas (where Drake lives) and bring his weapons along, and will start action if he attempts to trespass. But NO SNITCHING easily outshines it with its outstanding feature BossMan Dlow who brings the energy right to the beat and the emotion with his delivery. If fans were looking for rap, this track is the one to look forward to, easily the best of the bunch.
Now the second half of the album is where it takes a very drastic turn and lets say…very experimental. STFU marks a huge turnaround where A$AP explores the world of heavy rock. This track is one of the most criticized of the album due to its vast difference of music that A$AP Rocky has done. The track is very chaotic and is all over the place with some outrageous lines like “they say Haitians eatin’ cats, I make sure my dawgs eat,” which on its own summarizes the craziness of this song. This song feels like a failed experiment that has little value to offer. However he does mention the idea of potentially marrying Rihanna which shows how he uses this song to catch buzz on the internet. Then PUNK ROCKY follows it up, which is for sure going to turn into the most underrated track of the album. The song was released before the album and it received mixed reviews but, I definitely see this song growing on fans. Considering A$AP Rocky is mainly a hip-hop artist, he promoted his album with a punk rock song, so it definitely threw off fans. However, this song was definitely well produced and the music video that came along with it was very creative. The issue with the switch of genres is the fact that the majority of his audience is waiting for a specific sound, in this case rap and hip-hop, so when they receive this it’s bound to cause mixed reactions.
AIR FORCE (BLACK DEMARCO) is probably the weakest song of the project, too many beat switches and pretty obnoxious as a whole, It’s a close tie between that and STFU. WHISKEY was a great addition to the album and actually had a decent and reasonable beat switch. Definitely a top 5 track from the project. ROBBERRY featuring Doechii was more of an experience rather than a song expected to be replayed. The jazz atmosphere that was created was really fresh air for A$AP and the back and forth he had with Doechii during the song was very creative but definitely not a song to be played at a party or at your local barbershop but, still pretty solid.
DON’T BE DUMB/TRIP BABY was very iffy. The first half could most definitely be its own song, it did not need to be attached to the second half where it’s basically a whole different song. Went from an uplifting and soothing song to a rare poor hip-hop performance by A$AP. If TRIP BABY was a track by itself it would one-hundred percent be the worst song of the project but, sadly it stuck together to a more decent track. THE END is a well produced record that feels reasonable for the ending of the album but is not actually the real end of the album. SWAT TEAM and FISH N STEAK (WHAT IT IS) are bonus tracks which are cool but nothing special. SWAT TEAM seemed a bit filler but wasn’t too bad to not have included it. FISH N STEAK (WHAT IT IS) was the long awaited collaboration between A$AP and Tyler The Creator which to be honest was a bit underwhelming. The flute for a beat was an odd choice but didn’t seem that far stretched. Tyler’s verse was simple and his vocals did add more value to the track, similar to the style he used in his album IGOR.
The album overall was pretty good, but did come with its fair share of downsides. There were plenty of instances where the album definitely felt more as a movie, as an experience rather than something to come back to. However, there were still some very memorable moments to take away from the album such as STAY HERE 4 LIFE and STOP SNITCHING. Many new sounds and overall a solid performance done by A$AP Rocky. I give DON’T BE DUMB three and a half stars out of five.
