By Elijah Noggle, SCO Cultural Critic
This year, A$AP Rocky, the beloved hip hop artist and one of the genre’s stand out figures of the past 15 years, finally released Don’t be Dumb, his long-awaited fifth album. It has been seven years since his last project, Testing, and the long gap created a lot of hype and high expectations. Let’s find out whether it makes up for the wait.
I want to start with the biggest positives. On his previous albums, people were drawn to the particular ear for production that Rocky seemed to have. This album is no different. Like his other projects, it does not fall into the category of “formulaic trap production” that a lot of this decade’s hip hop genre finds itself in.
There’s some really great experimentation, something you can find plenty of on his previous albums. “Punk Rocky,” with its indie rock guitars and mellow atmosphere, and “Robbery,” with its late-night jazz/lounge vibe with piano and saxophone are a couple of examples.
The features are a standout on the track list. They really elevate the quality of some of the songs. For example, rising star Doechii’s feature on the song “Robbery” is much more than a simple verse: the song contains her and Rocky trading off lines and their chemistry is really great, with their vocal deliveries both being rather subdued in a way that compliments each other.
Another example is from Tyler, the Creator on the song “Fish N Steak (What it is).” Any time Tyler has popped up on someone else’s album in the past few years, it has been one of my favorite moments. His energy and lyrics are some of the best in the hip hop genre right now.
This album finds its strength in variety. You have more experimental Rocky on songs like “Don’t Be Dumb,” you have the “high energy bangers” type of style on songs like “Helicopter,” and you have more moderate energy songs that still hit pretty hard, like “No Trespassing.”
Some favorites include “Stop Snitching,” which stood out with its clever use of sound effect sampling, memorable guest verse from relative unknown Sauce Walka, and really layered beat. I hope this song wins some awards. By the end of the year, it will still remain one of the coolest and most unique songs of 2026.
There’s plenty of criticism to this long-awaited release, however. I don’t think Rocky’s lyrics on this album are particularly memorable. He has plenty of charisma and energy as a rapper, but I found myself way more connected to this album’s production than much of what was said on it. While Rocky has been known in the past for his really cool flow as a rapper, with great technical ability, I don’t think that aspect of his rapping is quite as good as it is on his previous albums.
The song I probably liked the least on this album was “STFU.” It tries too hard to be really crazy and high energy. It just sounded a little messy. I felt the vocal delivery by the guest rappers was clunky on this one, and some of the rapping just felt like it wasn’t on beat, which was odd.
To conclude this review, do I think this album was worth the wait? And does it live up to the quality of his previous albums? In my personal opinion, kind of. It’s pretty close, at least. There are very strong moments, but some songs drag on for a little long, and some of them are a tad bit forgettable. Overall, I don’t think it’s as good as his best records, but it’s a solid enough release that proves A$AP Rocky can still deliver.
I’m going to give this a solid 6.5/10. Teetering on a 7/10. It’s a really fun listen, despite some flaws. I really do recommend giving it a listen if you’re interested.