Everything We Know About A$AP Rocky's New Album 'Don't Be Dumb'

A$AP Rocky fans have been not-so-patiently waiting for a new album for more than half a decade, but the wait will soon finally be over.

Later this month, the Harlem-bred rap star will release his fourth LP Don’t Be Dumb, ending the six-year drought since his 2018 effort TESTING.

Despite enjoying modest commercial success and spawning the transatlantic hit “Praise the Lord (Da Shine)” with grime kingpin Skepta, the album divided both fans and critics alike, earning a 2.9 out of 5 score from this very website.

The tepid recepetion underscored a sense that New York’s most stylish sonic innovator might be losing his touch, especially compared to peers like Drake, Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, Future and Tyler, The Creator, whose careers have all soared since their respective breakthroughs in the late 2000s and early 2010s.

All that to say, there’s a lot riding on A$AP Rocky’s new album. Will Don’t Be Dumb live up to the hype and mark the grand return of Lord Pretty Flacko Jodye? Or will it fail to meet expectations and vindicate Drake‘s recent “Family Matters” dig (“I ain’t even know you rapped still / ‘Cause they only talkin’ ’bout your ‘fit again / Probably gotta have a kid again / ‘Fore you think of droppin’ any shit again.”)

Only time will tell. In the meantime, here’s everything we know about Don’t Be Dumb.

When Will Don’t Be Dumb Be Released?

Don’t Be Dumb is set to be released on August 30. A$AP Rocky unveiled the date in June while debuting his AWGE “American Sabotage” clothing collection during Paris Fashion Week, holding up a white placard that simply read: “Don’t Be Dumb. August 30, 2024” as he walked the runway in front of his girlfriend Rihanna, Pharrell, Pusha T and others.

UPDATE: According to Billboard, Don’t Be Dumb has since been delayed and will now be released this fall.

Rocky has yet to explain the meaning behind Don’t Be Dumb, nor reveal the album cover.

The album was previously rumored to be called All Smiles but Rocky set the record straight in a 2022 interview with Dazed magazine: “One thing I can tell you is that the name isn’t gonna be All Smiles. I never publicly said that my album was called All Smiles! That one is more of a concept project, it’s music and more.”

As for the delay behind the album, Rocky partly blames leaks. “They gotta stop leaking it! These dummies got to stop leaking shit,” he told Complex last year. “Every time, we have to go back to the drawing board, but right now I think it’s in a place where we tightened it up and we really can’t make or break anything right now.”

How Many Singles Has A$AP Rocky Released From Don’t Be Dumb?

Rocky has so far dropped a handful of potential singles from Don’t Be Dumb, starting with “D.M.B.” two years ago. The song’s stylish, psychedelic video boasts a cameo from his leading lady Rihanna and sees the power couple getting hitched — ‘hood style.

The somber, stripped-down “Same Problems?” followed in early 2023, before Rocky cranked up the energy on “RIOT (Rowdy Pipe’n),” which sounds like Master P‘s No Limit tank in song form.

Just last week, Rocky served up another sample of Don’t Be Dumb with “HIGHJACK,” which calls back to the woozy, Houston- and Memphis-influenced aesthetic of his early career.

“Shittin’ Me,” released in 2022, may also make the cut but that song was primarly made for the video game Need for Speed Unbound.

Despite the eclectic mix of songs, none of the singles have come close to touching Rocky’s biggest hits, with “D.M.B.” peaking at No. 32 on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs chart.

The A$AP Mob leader has also previewed a number of still-to-be-released songs during various performances, including the alleged Travis Scott diss “Taylor Swift.” But in a recent interview with Zane Lowe, he indicated that these tracks won’t appear on Don’t Be Dumb: “Most of the songs that I usually perform and shit like that, muthafuckas leak it. And once it’s leaked, it’s just like, ‘Nah, it’s not on the project.'”

Who Are the Features & Producers on Don’t Be Dumb?

If the aforementioned singles all make the cut, Don’t Be Dumb will feature vocal contributions from Lil Yachty, Miguel, Jessica Pratt and Jon Batiste, as well as production from Tyler, The Creator, Pharrell, Skepta, Thundercat, Hitkidd, Hector Delgado, Greg Kurstin, Shlohmo, Kelvin Krash, Jordan Patrick, Zach Fogarty and A$AP Rocky himself.

Outside of these names, Flacko recently confirmed a particularly tantalizing collaboration with Busta Rhymes, Slick Rick, Flavor Flav, Fatman Scoop and Morrissey called “Hood Happy.” Features from Rihanna, J. Cole, Tyler and Peso Pluma have also been teased by either Rocky himself or those who have heard the album (for which a listening session was held in New York City last month).

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Behind the boards, Hip Hop’s premiere hitmaker Metro Boomin is expected to play a big role, with Rocky telling GQ: “This next album needs to be just called Flacko Boomin, you hear me? Most artists wanna make [collabs just because they’re hot]. For us, it’s like, that’s really my n-gga.”

In a separate interview with Complex, he confirmed that the album will also boast production from The Alchemist, Madlib, Hit-Boy, Boi-1da, Mike Dean, Swedish House Mafia and Dean Blunt.

How Has A$AP Rocky Described Don’t Be Dumb?

The mixed response to TESTING hasn’t dimmed A$AP Rocky’s confidence in his art. “I’ve been really experimenting as usual and what I like about this is it feels like my best work yet,” he told Dazed magazine last year.

In a separate interview with the same publication in 2022, he shed light on the sonic direction of Don’t Be Dumb by saying: “I don’t want to be cliché or sound like a salesman, but I’ve pushed myself to the limit on everything. Going from that industrial, subversive sound from TESTING and then graduating with a more polished sound… I just like where it is.”

While it remains to be seen whether Rihanna will appear on the album, it sounds like she’s involved behind the scenes at least. While chatting with Entertainment Tonight earlier this year, the Bajan beauty revealed that she and her boyfriend were helping each other pick “hits” for their respective albums. (Rihanna is working on her highly-anticipated ninth album.)

What Will A$AP Rocky Talk About on Don’t Be Dumb?

If these early singles are anything to go by, the brashness of the title Don’t Be Dumb is reflected in the music itself. On “D.M.B.,” A$AP Rocky appears to subliminally diss Rihanna’s ex-boyfriend Chris Brown, who infamously assaulted her in 2009 during their highly-publicized relationship. “I don’t beat my bitch, I need my bitch,” he rapped.

On the recently released “HIGHJACK,” Rocky seemingly taunts another of RiRi’s (rumored) former flames Drake by spitting: “These n-ggas want my wife bad, the people want my next track.”

Tensions between the two have been simmering in recent months, ever since Drizzy appeared to shade Rihanna on his 2023 album For All the Dogs. Rocky hit back on Kid Cudi‘s “WOW” and Future and Metro Boomin‘s “Show of Hands,” claiming on the latter that he once slept with the 6 God’s baby mother Sophie Brussaux.

Drake issued a lengthy rebuttal on “Family Matters” in which he referenced his rumored romance with Rihanna and the head injury that Rocky sustained in a scooter accident in 2020.

There could be more smoke for Drake on Don’t Be Dumb, with Hot 97’s DJ Kast One saying: “I heard A$AP Rocky definitely addressing a lot of the main topics that are happening out there right now […] He’s gonna be cemented on [Drake’s hit] list after this.”

Outside of rap beef, “Same Problems?” is perhaps A$AP Rocky’s most poignant song and finds him lamenting society’s woes while analyzing his own flaws. “N-ggas dyin’ every other night / N-ggas cryin’, that’s a part of life / Lyin’ to my face, tryna say that it’s all good / No, I’m not alright,” he confesses.

When he debuted the song during an Amazon Music Live performance, the 35-year-old stood in front of images of the many rappers who have succumbed to untimely deaths, from 2Pac, Biggie and DMX to Nipsey Hussle, Mac Miller and Pop Smoke.

The weight of death in Hip Hop is countered by the arrival of new life in A$AP Rocky’s personal life as he has welcomed two children, sons RZA and Riot, with Rihanna since his last album came out. While “RIOT (Rowdy Pipe’n)” is an obvious nod to his youngest boy, it remains to be seen whether Rocky will touch on fatherhood on Don’t Be Dumb.

In the six years since TESTING, some pretty serious legal trouble has also loomed large over Rocky’s head. In 2022, he was arrested on felony gun charges after allegedly shooting former friend A$AP Relli during an argument in November 2021. Rocky has pleaded not guilty and is set to stand trial this November.

He has also been hit with multiple civil lawsuits over the alleged shooting, including for defamation. Rocky’s lawyer has called the allegations “false” and painted them as an “extortion” attempt.