After years of updates, snippets, and delays, A$ap Rocky’s long-awaited project “Don’t Be Dumb” has finally been released. Over the years, Rocky has built a cult following in the Cloud-Rap scene, following the release of his mixtape, “Live.Love.A$ap.” Listeners alike have seen A$ap grow into a pop-culture icon in both music and fashion. So, after three years of delays, is “Don’t be Dumb” worth the wait?
“Don’t be Dumb” holds 15 songs with a runtime of 59 minutes, with features from Brent Faiyaz, Bossman Dlow, Slay Squad, Gorillaz, Westside Gunn, Doechii, will.i.am, and Jessica Pratt, this album is stacked with talent. Yet the first few tracks are pretty underwhelming and repetitive.
It starts with “ORDER OF PROTECTION,” which contains a very one dimensional instrumental with abnormally autotuned vocals, followed by “Helicopter,” “Stole ya Flow,” “Stay here 4 life.” and “Playa.” Where Rocky tries so hard to create experimental radio hits, it creates a cliche side of Rocky that I do not enjoy.
He takes a very unique approach to a type of heavy bass instrumental on “NO TRESPASSING.” Then, on “STOP SNITCHING,” A$ap’s verse is predictable and dull, before Bossman Dlow attempts his signature bouncy flow on a heavily layered instrumental that doesn’t fit his style at all. With lines like “buddy your fabric is softener” that fall flat of any sort of lyrical wittiness.
This is followed by “STFU” and “Punk Rocky,” where “STFU” feels very unpolished with an obnoxious filter on Rocky’s vocals. Meanwhile, “Punk rocky” sounds so polished it’s almost commercial. Then the track “AIRFORCE” follows a very fast paced synth lead production broken up with an etheric slow bridge where I feel Rocky doesn’t fit. Then on track 12 I feel this album picks up with “WHISKEY” starting with a slow snare lead instrumental before significantly increasing the beats per minute, allowing A$ap to feel comfortable.
The Gorillaz and Westside Gunn feature seems useless due to their small addition. On track 13, Doechii gives a great verse on a very simple jazz-like instrumental, with Rocky and Doechii going back and forth throughout. The strongest track in my opinion, “Don’t Be Dumb/Trip Baby” has a very cloud-like feeling to it with Rocky having a laid back flow, before switching to a snare led instrumental. Wrapping up the Album is “THE END,” where Jessica Pratt gives a great closer to the album with a great verse over just a guitar.
Overall, I strongly dislike this album; its delays didn’t help the quality at all, and Rocky doesn’t sound like Rocky at all. This project is missing the effortless swag that made Rocky the artist he is; everything feels commercial and cliche, with repetitive production and writing. Most songs sound okay, but it is just missing that flare that Rocky adds to his music. Due to this, I would rate this album a 3.8/10.
