Album Review: Don't Be Dumb

The cover of Don’t Be Dumb, featuring an artistic collab between A$AP Rocky and TIm Burton [PHOTO CREDIT: RCA Records]

Don’t Be Dumb marks A$AP Rocky’s long awaited return to an album release; his last one being TESTING in 2018. A$AP himself, as he’s best known, has built a legacy for himself with his particular approach to rap in albums like LIVE.LOVE.A$AP and LONG.LIVE. A$AP that continues to appeal to stylish SoHo kids and Tumblr nostalgics. 

His production was airy and dreamy, pushing cloud rap to the mainstream while also maintaining a very unique sound all his own. With a clear inspiration from the tradition of Houston and Memphis rap fused with the indie electronica of groups like Phantogram, his sound has undoubtedly made its mark in the rap scene. 

Since the albums that have put him on the map, he has established himself as an entire brand. His love for fashion, evident in the genuinely extensive knowledge presented in “Fashion Killa”,  has led to him being appointed a Chanel ambassador, launching his own creative agency and brand under AWGE, and generally being unabashedly experimental with his style at every event he attends. 

He’s confident, charismatic, collected, and with Rhianna with three children. The album lyrically really reflects the brash, self-assuredness that one has come to expect from A$AP; one that you cannot really blame him for having. 

However, in this work he goes for much more of a modern rap sound, more akin to Playboi Carti or Travis Scott, especially in the beginning half of the album. In addition, the transitions are crucial to the overall structure of the album, so it is most digestible as a whole rather than only song-by-song.

“ORDER OF PROTECTION”, “HELICOPTER”, and “STOLE YA FLOW” unfortunately all felt incredibly similar, both in terms of direction and lyricism, but also undoubtedly are among the most marketable of the album. I felt it was smart, though, to break apart this trio with the tongue-in-cheek staticky skit “INTERROGATION”, where A$AP defends any “bad quality” audio in the name of deliberate sound.

As the album progresses, though, A$AP explores many more genres. “STAY HERE 4 LIFE”’s incorporation of Brent Faiyaz dipped its toes into RnB and eased its way into a more laid-back tone in “PLAYA”. Lyrically, the transition is a sweet homage to A$AP’s own relationship, with him attacking his fans that expect a romantic apathy from him that he clearly does not exude. 

“NO TRESPASSING” is the album’s most obvious reference to Memphis rap with its eerie instrumental, with a pretty smooth segway into the also spooky “STOP SNITCHING”. This all culminates in “STFU”, which goes into a more extreme experimental dark sound with Slay Squad’s death metal vocals. It also reminded me of the kind of sound heard in Tyler, The Creator’s Cherry Bomb, especially the title track itself. 

Strangely enough, with the rock influence established, the album flows quite nicely into the much tamer “PUNK ROCKY”. It was largely an indie rock song, and it reminded me of Vundabar’s “Diver” with its chord progression. Here, A$AP’s genre bending and aesthetic really shines, and it was probably one of my favorite songs off of the whole album.

Bridging more of that aforementioned modern rap style with the indie sound of Punk Rocky is “AIR FORCE (BLACK DEMARCO)”. This song was pretty conceptually fascinating, but the Demarco-inspired sections were so strong that it left me wishing they took up more of the song. 

“WHISKEY (RELEASE ME)” feels very 2010’s, but does come off as a bit forgettable, especially when followed by the fabulous “ROBBERY”. Its jazz influence and Hollywood theatricality combined with Doechii’s and A$AP smoothly crooning Bond archetypes feels so classy, sexy, and playfully ironic; immediately it took the award of being my favorite off the album. 

“DON’T BE DUMB/TRIP BABY” starts as the most akin to his earlier style with very upbeat, ethereal beats and that laid back rapping style, later ending on more of that pre-established sound from the album. “THE END” really spoke to the Tim Burton visuals accompanying this album with its almost juvenile sound, while also taking the most political, pensive stance of the entire album. 

This closes out the first disc for the short second disc. “SWAT TEAM” starts the next one with a slightly experimental reimagine of the pre-established sound. This one also felt very early - Tyler, The Creator; think “Yonkers” and other songs off of Goblin. This is followed by a fitting Tyler, The Creator collaboration, “FISH N STEAK (WHAT IT IS)” that pulls more from Tyler’s newer sound. Further continuing the genre bending, we get the reggaeton-inspired “FLACKITO JODYE”. A$AP’s melodic lyrical style flows surprisingly well with the beat and truly delivers on the source sound. 

The album is closed out with a final homage to his much earlier sound and its online resurgence with a re-release of “I Smoked Away My Brain”; the remix that mashes it A$AP’s song “Demons” and Clam Casino and Imogen Heap’s song “I’m God”. This specific remix has gone massively viral on TikTok, and feels like a nostalgic ending that will additionally push the entire album more into the public spotlight. 

As a whole, although I missed more of the floaty-chic essence he had in his older albums, I felt like the overall sound transition feels understandable with the rap genre’s progression. A$AP isn’t the type of performer to live in the past, and I appreciate his usage of fresh talent, new experimentation, and a strong, cheeky, unifying aesthetic. Even at what many consider his prime, he was very much reading the scene and delivered something that fit into that era of music.

The album also flowed extremely well, and as a body of work is very cohesive and deliberate. It is also very indicative of A$AP’s own vocal talent, since his flow and vocal range was made to suit every single sound he explored. It also puts you in a very positive mindset, and despite the album thematically being a response to his haters, you also get the sense that he is genuinely grateful for his success, his personal life, and what he has achieved in his career.

It would also be amiss to disregard the aesthetics presented with this project. Not only is the cover, as mentioned, a Tim Burton original, but the album came with a collection of individual cover art pieces for certain songs with video game-disk inspired designs from the likes of Playstation and Sega. Additionally, the music video for “HELICOPTER” used an almost GTA-like visual animated style that further cemented this video game concept.

In the music video for “FLACKITO JODYE”, in addition to the many visualizers, there was a purposeful usage of bad green screen, low-poly visuals, and garish video collages. With the video for “PUNK ROCKY”, starring Winona Ryder, and its allusion to stop-motion and classic garage mosh pits, there is a very deliberate, unifying early 2000’s, analog feel to the visuals that works extremely well in the ever nostalgic age of AI.

Regardless, this album did leave slightly more to be desired, since the most common auditory style present has been done by so many other artists lately, that it feels slightly overdone. Its referential elements can also be interpreted as a slight detractor; more of a marketing play to a vast audience rather than him taking risks. The second half of the album, in my opinion, vastly surpassed the first half in terms of memorability. 

However, I did not come out of my listening unsatisfied. I think he delivered on the charm he delivers in all of his projects. I listen to A$AP Rocky for a sound that elicits very strong mental aesthetics in addition to a certain playfulness associated with him as a person, and on that note, he succeeded quite well. He also clearly still possesses a strong lyrical and creative game, and I hope he continues to release more work in the near future. 

7/10