A$AP Rocky: Don't Be Dumb

"For all the conspicuously expensive samples, the breathless reporting about a $3 million record deal, the Vogue shoots, the white women muttering slurs, the Spike Lee movies, the guns, the kids, the feuds with superstars, and the overtures from a president, A$AP Rocky has always been best when stripped down to core principles. The invocations of Houston rap on "Purple Swag" are secondary to how deliberate and direct Rocky is; this was true of " Peso," of " Goldie," of everything that made him click."

"All the supposed post-regionalism-the borrowing from Houston and Memphis and the jagged online underground-was simply the medium through which a new Harlem superstar had chosen to express himself, like Big L's glossy hypertechnique or Cam'ron's Giuliani-baiting absurdity. Don't Be Dumb, Rocky's first album in almost eight years, arrives at a time and in a manner that seems to be staked entirely on celebrity meta-commentary."

A$AP Rocky performs best when music is reduced to deliberate, direct principles rather than spectacle. Early singles such as "Purple Swag," "Peso," and "Goldie" prioritized clarity while drawing on Houston and Memphis influences as expressive media. Don't Be Dumb appears amid intense publicity and a 2025 trial acquittal, but largely tightens its focus on Rocky's craft. The album is uneven, with poor sequencing and several weak tracks, yet it includes inventive moments that demonstrate continued relevance. The eight-year framing masks that Rocky's last major cultural impact came with 2015's At.Long.Last.A$AP.

Read at Pitchfork