They did it at Rocky's: Rihanna's husband gathered rap, jazz and movie stars

A$AP Rocky puts Winona Ryder in the frame, criticizes school lunches in America and engages Tim Burton. One of the main rap albums of the year, the long-awaited Don't Be Dumb, is designed to return the artist to the top league of hip—hop stars and remind the public that he is actually not only Rihanna's husband and the father of her three children, but also an independent bright figure. However, he did not do without hints of a high-profile affair. For more information about what else is interesting about the new record, read the Izvestia article.

Family or creativity

Previous longplay by A$AP Rocky (real name — Rakim Myers) was released back in 2018. And although since then the artist has more than once flown to other stars for hits, and he himself periodically released singles, his name flashed in the media and social networks much more often in connection with his wife Rihanna. Their romance began in 2021, and in 2022 Rakim became a father. It seemed difficult to imagine a less suitable figure for this role, given the constant problems with the law and the scandals that the infantile rapper managed to get into. But apparently Rihanna has a different opinion, because over the next three years she repeated this experience twice.

Moreover, each time the singer managed to make a sensation out of her pregnancy. Either he will publish it at the Super Bowl, beating it in his own performance, or he will make it the main feature of a social appearance at The Met Gala. The couple was clearly not bothered by the increased attention to their personal lives and demographic achievements. On the contrary, the public role of a large family fascinated them much more than musical creativity. However, if no one has been expecting new albums from Rihanna in recent years (after the release of Anti in 2016, there were rumors that a new record was in the works, but in the end it did not receive any development), then A$AP Rocky has been "feeding breakfast" to his fans since 2023 with enviable regularity.

In 2024, he released several singles at once - very worthy ones. They were supposed to be included in Don't Be Dumb. But time passed, and still no album appeared. And when many had already lost hope, it finally happened. Interestingly, none of the songs released until 2026 made it there. Why Rocky decided to leave them behind and start from scratch is anyone's guess. Anyway, the record turned out to be already saturated and bright.

Horror films by Tim Burton

First of all, Rakim is sincere. And he starts with the words "It's been a while since I've been in the league / A couple of small tests, a couple of leaks" — a hint at a prolonged creative pause, and problems with the law (he was tried for a shootout), and drains of working material. There are also references to real life in the following tracks — in particular, the relationship with Rihanna and fatherhood are mentioned. But the album is not a talk show, and it would hardly have worked if it hadn't had a strong artistic component.

There are a lot of guest stars here (will.i.am , Tyler, The Creator, Thundercat, Jessica Pratt...), an impressive cocktail of styles (from hip-hop and r'n'b to jazz, indie and trip hop), and even Rakim attracted Tim himself to create the cover. Burton, who made a collage in his recognizable manner.

In principle, the fact that there will be a lot of experiments on the disc could already be judged by the debut single of Punk Rocky, released in early January, paired with a wild music video shot by Rocky himself. It's not easy to understand what's happening in the video, all that's clear is that a crowd of dancing young people, led by Asap, is literally tearing up a garage in some suburb, and a neighbor performed by Winona Ryder (another star!) He looks at it with extreme disapproval. But what is more surprising is not even the visual component, but the music itself with a guitar riff, melancholic vocals in the spirit of Gorillaz and live drums.

By the way, Damon Albarn did participate in the work, but in a different composition — Whiskey (Release Me), although the Gorillaz vibe is not so audible here. But John Baptiste, the multi-instrumentalist and Grammy 2022 winner, performed more vividly: his jazz piano variation on a retro motif accompanies the duet of Rakim and rapper Doechii, setting the whole mood.

However, perhaps the most unexpected thing is to see film composer Danny Elfman on the list of "accomplices" of A$AP Rocky, who helped with the sound in the harsh Stall Ya Flow, the finale of which really looks like the soundtrack of a Gothic horror film. But if you remember that Elfman is Burton's constant companion, this is not so surprising.

How will the world end

In fact, Burton's gloom, coupled with eccentricity, permeate the album entirely — despite all the external stylistic distance between Don't Be Dumb and the music of "Edward Scissorhands", "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and Tim's other hits. And it seems especially symbolic that the main track list ends with a composition called The End, in which the refrain is a quote from Thomas Elliott's apocalyptic poem "Hollow People": "This is how the world ends" (another translation is "This is how the end of the universe came"). Following the classic A$AP, Rocky creates his own gloomy picture of the surrounding reality, which includes American schools with fast food instead of normal food, racism in the United States, and the inability of politicians to cope with global warming.

Well, God himself told the father of three children to think about what kind of world they should live in. And if family and civic consciousness is embodied in a convincing creative product, one can only rejoice. This means that at least things are not so bad for a single cell of society.