ASAP Rocky has been teasing his forthcoming album Don’t Be Dumb by name for over two and a half years, over the span of which he: performed potential tracks on it at Rolling Loud twice, starred in two high-profile feature films, began raising one infant with Rihanna, welcomed another, and now is waiting on the arrival of a third, oh, and beat a felony assault case levied by his former friend and collaborator that could have sent him to jail for 24 years. While there’s understandably been some restlessness and perhaps even annoyance (as Rocky has noted himself) towards the delayed arrival of the album, when you put it in perspective, it’ll be a miracle if Don’t Be Dumb comes out at all.
After announcing a few unmet release dates and divulging details about the album in interview after interview, Rocky’s concerns about fan fatigue towards updates alone may have been warranted. His last album, Testing, dropped in 2018. “I’m in the mixing and mastering realm of it, but I think quite frankly, people are tired of hearing about updates about the album,” he told GQ of Don’t Be Dumb in February. On July 3, Rocky dropped “Pray4DaGang” as an Apple Music exclusive for the first 24 hours, seemingly a new look into a new era. However, social media soon noticed that in its tenure on Apple music alone, the song didn’t seem to crack the platform’s daily top 200 songs chart (meanwhile, that weekend, Rocky’s rival Drake released “What Did I Miss?” and made a spectacle of it with his Iceman stream, drawing many eyes and landing the song high on the same chart).
Though both Rocky and Drake came up in the trenches of the Blog Era and defined many elements of rap culture, their lives and careers have taken very different paths, with one chasing superstardom through a constant churn of music, and the other living a fuller, broader life. Will Don’t Be Dumb make that dissonance clearer?
As we await the album, here’s everything we know about Don’t Be Dumb so far.
April 2022 – ASAP Rocky is Arrested on Felony Gun Charges
This happens roughly eight months before Rocky reveals Don’t Be Dumb as the title of his next album, but the fallout of his arrest for allegedly shooting his former friend ASAP Relli covers its entire timeline. In April 2022, Rocky was taken into police custody at Los Angeles International Airport after flying in from a private plane from his partner, Rihanna’s, native Barbados.
May 2022 – Rocky Clarifies That the Album Won’t Be Called All Smiles
Though Rocky had teased a project called All Smiles previously, he clarifies with Dazed that his forthcoming album won’t be called that. “One thing I can tell you is that the name isn’t gonna be All Smiles – you know, I never publicly said that my album was called All Smiles,” he corrects for them. “That one is more of a concept project, it’s music and more. I’m wrapping up the new album now; I’ve been shooting so many visuals for it. I don’t want to be cliche or sound like a salesman, but I’ve pushed myself to the limit on everything. Going from that industrial, subversive sound from Testing and then graduating with a more polished sound… I just like where it is.”
December 2, 2022 – Metro Boomin Has Entered the Chat
In another interview with GQ, Rocky teases that Metro Boomin made major contributions to his fourth album: “I’m gonna put it to you like this: This next album needs to be just called Flacko Boomin, you hear me?”
December 8, 2022 – The Album’s Real Name is Revealed
While performing on 2 Chainz’s Amazon Music Live concert series, Rocky debuts the somber “Same Problems?” while displaying the portraits of many late rappers like 2Pac, Notorious B.I.G., DMX, Nipsey Hussle, Mac Miller, and Pop Smoke. The title, Don’t Be Dumb, is also on display and referenced throughout the show.
July 20, 2023 – “Riot (Rowdy Pipe’n)” is Called an Official Album Single
In an interview with Complex, Rocky plants a stake in the ground: his latest song at this point, “Riot (Rowdy Pipe’n),” is a Don’t Be Dumb single. Though he condemns constant leaks as a source of his album delays, the song itself is a version of one that was leaked under the name “Piper” years before, too. “These dummies got to stop leaking shit,” Rocky says. “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.” A few days later, he would perform another new song, now known as “Tailor Swif,” at Rolling Loud Miami. While chopping it up with Complex, he shares that in addition to Metro Boomin, Hit-Boy, Tyler, the Creator, Madlib, The Alchemist, and Hitkidd did some production on the album.
October 2023 – Don’t Be Dumb is Rocky’s “Best Work Yet”
In a new Dazed interview, Rocky sets a high bar for his next album. “I’ve been really experimenting as usual, and what I like about this is it feels like my best work yet,” he says. “I want to leave expectations wide and open. I don’t want to tell you what to expect. I just want people to experience it how they do naturally.”
June 2024 – Don’t Be Dumb Gets Its First Release Date
While presenting his clothing line American Sabotage in his Paris Fashion Week debut, he plays music from Don’t Be Dumb and livestreams the show beyond the posh city streets. Mid-stream, he announces August 30 as its release date and opens up pre-orders. He tells GQ how the clothing line and the album were connected when asked where the name American Sabotage came from. “I was working on my album and I was thinking about being rebellious and the stuff that we’re not really allowed to talk about,” he says. “It’s not about treason or nothing like that, it’s more about deciding to do things from a different perspective, taking the hard way instead of the easy way. And sometimes challenging yourself can come across as self-sabotaging. Exceeding time limits and deadlines, that’s self-sabotaging. So it’s also about talking about your flaws and the struggle that made you.”
July 2024 – DJ Kast One Says the Album Will Make Rocky a Permanent Drake Enemy
While on the Ebro in the Morning show on New York’s Hot 97, DJ Kast One divulges his take on the Don’t Be Dumb music he’s heard, claiming that Rocky “is going to be cemented on Drake’s list after this.” A player in the Kendrick vs. Drake saga, Rocky has also seemingly tossed shots at the Canadian rapper on songs like Kid Cudi’s “Wow,” Future and Metro Boomin’s “Show of Hands” and his J. Cole collaboration “Ruby Rosary.”
As for Don’t Be Dumb, DJ Kast One also says, “I heard Slick Rick [on it]. That was amazing. I also heard ASAP Rocky definitely addressing a lot of the main topics that are happening out here right now. Let’s just say, the list keeps going on strong.”
August 2, 2024 – Okay, So Now “Highjack” is the First Single?
In the description of an Apple Music interview with Zane Lowe, the streamer calls his song “Highjack” Don’t Be Dumb’s first single. “Most of the songs that I usually perform and shit like that, muthafuckers leak it. And once it’s leaked, it’s just like, ‘Nah, it’s not on the project,’” Rocky tells Lowe.
August 22, 2024 – Don’t Be Dumb Delayed to Fall 2024
Once again, blaming leaks in addition to sample clearances, Rocky takes to Twitter to explain the latest roadblock. “LEAKS & SAMPLE CLEARANCES ARE DISRUPTING THE ALBUM,” he wrote. “ITS BEEN 6 YEARS & I WANNA MAKE THE BEST ALBUM EVER. IM SORRY FOR THE WAIT.” In better news, in a Billboard cover story, Rocky notes that his hero, the filmmaker Tim Burton, heard the album and loved it: “I sat and I played the album for Tim Burton, and he was f—ing with it heavy.”
December 2024 – Fall Has Come and Gone; the Album is Delayed Again
Fans who pre-ordered Don’t Be Dumb box sets, vinyl, and CDs receive a refund email announcing an early 2025 release date. They also get an “attached coupon for a gift upon release.”
February 2025 – Found Not Guilty in ASAP Relli Assault Trial, Rocky Is Ready to Move On In More Ways Than One
On February 18, Rocky was found not guilty of shooting at ASAP Relli after a three-week trial. Just ten days later, he tells GQ he’s tired of yapping about his unreleased album. “The album’s done,” Rocky said. “I just want to drop it. I don’t want to keep saying what I’m going to do, and I want to give people what I’ve been promising them for a long-ass fucking time.”
March 2025 – Rocky Performs at Rolling Loud California
As one of the popular rap festival’s headliners, Rocky began his set aboard a helicopter that had Don’t Be Dumb painted across its side.
May 2025 – Don’t Be Dumb May Show Rocky’s Sensitive Side
In an interview with Variety, Rocky teases the album’s subject matter and a bit of insecurity: “This fucking album, it represents who I am right now. It’s just I hope that it’s digestible,” he says. Elsewhere, he adds, “It’s odd because as I get older, I’m more conscious about how I view myself. Describing my life sounds very braggadocious, and I want to figure out how to say it to where it feels more humble, relatable, and sincere, as opposed to just shitting on the next person or making the next person feel down, or just evoking negative shit out of people.” In July, he tells Apple Music’s Mehdi Maïzi, “If I’m out here telling y’all how pretty I am again, it’s not talking about nothing..If I talked about how I fucked your bitch or how I can take your bitch again, it’s not really talking about nothing.”
July 3 – “Pray4DaGang” Drops as An Apple Music Exclusive
“Pray4DaGang” gets a seemingly rocky rollout in the public eye, as fans notice the Fourth of July drop doesn’t land on Apple’s top songs, though it’s released exclusively there, and that its music video was pulled from YouTube.
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