Until Jan. 21, A$AP Rocky had not released an album in eight years. Dec. 7, 2022, at the Amazon Music Live concert, the initial album title was revealed. Three years later, he posted the cover art, illustrated by Tim Burton, and the release date. “Don’t Be Dumb” was released this January. Now, after ample time to digest the album, I am offering a very informal review of the album.
Disc 1
ORDER OF PROTECTION
“ORDER OF PROTECTION” is such a great opener to the album. It is a song you would put on to hype yourself up, but it still leaves room for growth. It is a strong start, but you can tell that something more is coming.
HELICOPTER
Immediately, this is the “something more” that I was referring to in “ORDER OF PROTECTION.” While this track has a lot of repetition, it still successfully kept my attention the entire time. This song is also one of the two on the album that has an official music video. I had a lot of fun watching it, with my favorite part being A$AP Rocky spinning on top of helicopter blades while others danced around him. Ending the video with A$AP Rocky falling out of a building and exploding was genuinely something I was not expecting. Just from these first two songs, you can tell that this album is going to be different from past A$AP Rocky albums.
INTERROGATION (SKIT)
When I first listened to this interlude, I almost didn’t notice that it existed. It sounded exactly like something he might have included in the beginning or end of a song.
STOLE YA FLOW
I found that this song is less up my alley than the previous ones. I do love the intro, outro and backing vocals, as well as the shoutout to Rihanna and their child. Overall, this song was great and I can really appreciate it, it is just not necessarily a song that I would listen to regularly in my day-to-day life.
STAY HERE 4 LIFE (feat. Brent Faiyaz)
Brent Faiyaz’s feature immediately made this song a 10/10. The beat of this track is so good and it easily makes you want to dance. I don’t think that I have a single complaint about this song. The slower ending was phenomenal; it lets you sit with the music you’ve consumed. My first listen, I thought the song had changed at least three times before it actually had. It threw me off and I had to keep checking when it actually changed, but I loved it. The types of songs that seem to have three songs in one are some of my favorites.
PLAYA
Unfortunately, this song is one of my least favorites on the album. It is not bad at all, I just found it hard to pay attention to. In my opinion, it feels more like a background or filler song. While it is still a great song, nothing in particular stood out to me about this song as opposed to other tracks on the album.
NO TRESPASSING
I love how seamlessly this song transitions from “PLAYA.” I also loved the slow, conversational beginning, immediately followed by faster lines starting with “down, bro shut it down.” This track stands out to me musically. The flow and melody of this song felt mesmerizing.
STOP SNITCHING (feat. BossMan Dlow & Sauce Walka)
After “NO TRESPASSING,” the tone of the album starts to shift with “STOP SNITCHING.” It begins to feel more urgent. It gets faster, angrier and feels more personal. Along with the tone switch that this song brings, the features in this track were placed beautifully. They fit seamlessly into the song.
STFU (feat. Slay Squad)
Listening to this track, I felt like it was very fun and possibly one of the more relatable songs on the album. It portrays being absolutely fed up with all the questions and pestering he gets. In my everyday life I do not feel like I could listen to repetitive screaming of “STFU” while I am walking around campus. While it’s not an easy track to have in the background, I don’t think it is supposed to be. It’s not a song that is made to be listened to every day. More so, it is made to send an incredibly clear and direct message.
PUNK ROCKY
Just based on the first minute, I can tell this is one of my favorite music videos I have seen. The visual of A$AP Rocky singing with his black eye was so jarring. I truly did not know where this video was going the whole time I watched it. Between featuring Winona Ryder in the music video and having a similar sound to songs on A$AP Rocky’s previous albums, I can understand why this was one of the most anticipated and hyped up songs of the album. To me, it has a similar vibe to songs like “LVL” from “LIVE.LOVE.A$AP” and his single, “HIGHJACK (feat. Jessica Pratt).”
AIR FORCE (BLACK DEMARCO)
I really loved the back and forth between singing and rapping. It jumps from electronic-backed rapped lines like “boy don’t really like me, I don’t like him either,” to singing, “It’s really good to see you, very nice to see you,” and “bumblebees are buzzin’,” immediately back to the electronic-backed rap. I am the type of person to listen to music in the background without fully paying attention to it, but this song kept my attention easily.
WHISKEY (RELEASE ME) [feat. Gorillaz & Westside Gunn]
My favorite thing about this song is the almost constant background vocals saying “sing, song.” Along with this, the Gorillaz feature at the end was a really great end to the song. It fit so seamlessly into the track that I almost did not notice that they were even in the song.
ROBBERY (feat. Doechii)
I absolutely adored the Doechii feature on this track. I’ve heard commentary that it should have been Rihanna instead of Doechii, but I think that Doechii was the perfect fit. I do not think this song is Rihanna’s style. While this isn’t a song I would listen to every day, it is still one of my favorites on the album. The story of the track flows so easily, and Doechii’s voice is so beautiful.
DON’T BE DUMB / TRIP BABY
The beginning part of this song fits more into my taste of music, but I did like both parts. This song feels like the start of the closing of the album. You can feel it start to slow down in this song. It is much slower, emotional and romantic compared to the previous tracks with angrier tones.
THE END (feat. wil.i.am & Jessica Pratt)
This song perfectly brings all of the themes of the album into a calmer, more accepting resolution. Some of the previous tracks felt angry but this track does not, especially with the repetition of the lines “this is the way the world is,” and Jessica Pratt’s folky feature.
Disc 2
SWAT TEAM
Once again, similar to many tracks on Disc 1, there is a familiar electronic backing with an urgent and almost sinister tone to it. The voice-over in this backing has a slightly different tone though. It starts off deep and almost seductive and ends with a calmer tone. In this song, the lyrics focus even more on the world surrounding him, instead of focusing on romantic interests like previous tracks on the album had.
FISH N STEAK (WHAT IT IS) [feat. Tyler, The Creator & Jozzy]
I automatically love anything with Tyler, The Creator in it. I definitely feel like Tyler, The Creator’s tone shines through in this song. Even though it is A$AP Rocky’s song that Tyler, The Creator is just featured in, it feels like a song that they worked on together to create. It has the melodic music in the background that is common with both A$AP Rocky’s and Tyler, The Creator’s songs. It is slower than a lot of other songs on “DON’T BE DUMB,” so I understand why it didn’t make it to Disc 1. While it is a great song, possibly one of my favorites, it doesn’t fit as well with most of the tracks on Disc 1.
FLACKITO JODYE (feat. Tokischa)
“FLACKITO JODYE” is one of, if not my absolute favorite song on the album. I love Tokischa’s Spanish feature on this track. It is a song with quite a bit of repetition and a steady pattern, but it still keeps your attention. This track makes you want to get up and dance.
I Smoked Away My Brain (I’m God x Demons Mashup) [feat. Imogen Heap & Clams Casino]
Before the album came out, I had already heard this song. It has been unofficially out for a while, and it was already one of my favorite songs. The original “I Smoked Away My Brain” is also one of my favorite, and most nostalgic, songs from A$AP Rocky’s old albums. I was really glad to see this version be officially released so I can put it on my playlists!
Overall, this album was well worth the eight-year wait. While I don’t have experience in reviewing albums formally, I really enjoyed this experience. Usually, when I listen to a new album, I don’t tend to analyze the album. My thoughts are usually not much more than “I like this song!” I think at least once in everyone’s life, if you have any interest in music at all, you should take the time to think as critically as you can about an album.
In my review, I focused mainly on the musical similarities of each of the songs and how I felt about them, not as much on hidden meanings and symbolism. I think that both ways of thinking about music are equally important. Music is art, and in my opinion, to truly appreciate art, you need to take the time to think about it. On top of that, thinking about albums is fun! If you have the time to try it, I would definitely recommend finding your favorite album and trying to notice at least one new thing about each track.