A$AP Rocky has provided an update on his oft-delayed album Don’t Be Dumb – though it’s not much.
On Thursday (November 7), the Harlem rapper made an appearance in New York City for his A$AP Puma Takeover launch event. While on his way out, a crowd of fans asked when they could expect the LP – which initially had a release date of August 30 before being delayed to an unspecified fall date.
Unfortunately, Rocky offered little insight on when to expect it, as he simply replied, “ASAP, n-gga.”
The update (or lack thereof) arrives just days after fans noticed retailers have canceled pre-orders of the vinyl edition of the album – which seems to speak to an even longer delay.
A$AP Rocky on when ‘DON’T BE DUMB’ is dropping 👀💿
“ASAP” pic.twitter.com/ejLMD6fJfZ
— NFR Podcast (@nfr_podcast) November 8, 2024
A$AP Rocky announced the August 30 release date back in June while debuting his AWGE “American Sabotage” clothing collection during Paris Fashion Week as he walked the runway in front of his girlfriend Rihanna, Pharrell, Pusha T and others.
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Don’t Be Dumb will serve as his first album in six years and the follow up to his third LP Testing, which arrived to mixed reviews in 2018.
And on the long time in between, 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.”
Then in a cover story for Billboard in late August, he revealed it was pushed back again to the fall while once again addressing the leaks.
“At this point I’ve been working on music for six years, but they leak my music and I get over it and say, ‘Fuck it,’” he said. “They leak a lot of the music and it ruins it. Like my ‘Taylor Swift’ video. I was pissed off about it, so I never released it.”
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The article also offered some insight into Don’t Be Dumb: “He’s only been working on it for the past year but he believes, like most artists discussing their new work, that it’s the best album he’s ever made.”
It continues: “Don’t Be Dumb skews slightly heavier topically and goes deeper than Rocky’s usual vainglorious works. The 35-year-old jack-of-all-that’s-fly chalks this up to him getting older (“I’m an OG now”) and wiser and the world being batshit crazy at the moment.
“One of the first songs he recorded for the album is a grim, experimental track called ‘Shroom Cloud’ that deals with ‘current affairs and world wars and, you know, the world dying and whatnot.’”
A$AP Rocky himself described the album as “grim” and a mix of “German expressionism [and] ghetto futurism.” He also revealed he played the project for legendary director Tim Burton, who he unsuccessfully attempted to recruit to create the cover art.
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“I sat and I played the album for Tim Burton, and he was fucking with it heavy,” the father of two said. “[H]e was rocking his head and he’s like, ‘Wow! I didn’t know you made that kind of music!’”
Rocky did, however, manage to secure musical contributions from composer Danny Elfman, including on a song produced by The Alchemist.
Other prominent producers also expected to make the album include Metro Boomin, Tyler, The Creator, Pharrell, Madlib and Mike Dean.
