Michael G. Barilleaux“It’s been a while since I’ve been in the league, a couple new trials, a couple of leaks,” begins A$AP Rocky as he opens up his newest album, “Don’t Be Dumb.” The expectations for this project have been undoubtedly high. Perhaps this is due to the prolonged wait fans have endured or maybe it’s just the varieties of hype that have surrounded it all, though it’s likely a mix of both. There’s something about a highly-anticipated album being put off multiple times that seems to make those waiting for it raise their expectations, even if only subconsciously.
I know this has often been true for me, and I do believe that it applies to others as well. Lil Wayne’s “Tha Carter V” is a strong example of this phenomenon, its name in many ways being synonymous with continuously delayed and years-long awaited albums that fans often couldn’t help but feel would never actually be released. When Wayne’s long awaited fifth installment to his landmark series did arrive, it was met with a significantly more lukewarm reception than expected as all of us who’d been waiting so anxiously for its release couldn’t help but feel that it didn’t live up to the standards we’d created for it in our minds over such a long period of time.
In all fairness to fans and critics alike, “Tha Carter V” was in fact a relatively weak effort from the New Orleans-born megastar. Nevertheless, I can’t help but think that it would have had much lower expectations to live up to if not for its heavily put off release date, something that was publicly known to be caused by a dispute at the Ca$h Money record label. Whether caused by that type of interference or more typical setbacks such as artist time outs and sample clearances, however, it certainly seems that the longer the wait the more difficult it is for an album to fulfill what standards have been arbitrarily applied to it. Perhaps I would be remiss to not mention what is probably the greatest example of this, in hip-hop at least, but I really don’t want to get into a full breakdown and analysis of the legendarily fabled Dr. Dre album “Detox.”
So here we are with the long awaited and pushed back A$AP Rocky album “Don’t Be Dumb” in hand, and the question inevitably arises: was it worth the wait? Well, interestingly enough, whether or not justly evaluated with the ideas and phenomena presented here in the prior several paragraphs of this review, the answer is no. Allow me to explain. Firstly, from the arguably tainted perspective of a long awaited release, “Don’t Be Dumb” certainly doesn’t feel like something that has been multi-drafted, painstakingly thought out or perfected with time. Instead, it plays like a subpar effort from an artist we have all seen deliver notably stronger work in the past.
A little note here, I’ve never considered Rocky to be a monumental or particularly exceptional rapper as a whole. It would seem unfair, however, to look back at his past albums and not see several exceptional moments. Whether it be the creativity of his breakout mixtape, “Live.Love.A$AP,” a handful of tracks off the two albums that followed it (songs such as “Goldie,” “Canal Street” and the well-known posse cut “1 Train” come to mind first) or his most recent album, the more experimental “Testing.” In the case of that last one, Rocky took chances that ultimately paid off, whether or not they were immediately lauded by many of his fans in the way they deserved.
Now, looking at this new album from a more realistic perspective, one which at least attempts to imagine it was released all the way back when first scheduled, it’s only fair to say that there still isn’t much here to be excited about. Rocky takes a few mildly unexpected turns, such as on “STFU” and “Punk Rocky,” but nothing that catches as it did on “Testing” or even hits as hard as several tracks off his other past works do.
Those two tracks I just mentioned, “STFU” and “Punk Rocky,” are not only slight attempts to do something different, however, they are also two of the weakest parts of the entire album. This is particularly true in the case of the former which carries an annoying refrain over a mostly awkward beat selection and boasts eye-rolling, cringe-demanding Slay Squad bars such as, “They say Haitians eating cats, I make sure my dogs eat.” Hard pass on that line.
More traditional Rocky-like tracks such as “Helicopter” and “Stole Ya Flow” go back to the basics of rattling beats equipped with heavy bass hits and rickety drums over which Rocky unfortunately spits nap-inducing lyrics such as, “Only GOAT with a llama” and the primary line of the latter track, “First you stole my flow, so I stole your bitch.” Yes,I’ve heard some rumors that this is a Drake diss, but I don’t particularly care to contribute to the speculation. As far as I’m concerned, Kendrick buried Drake far deeper in the dirt than anyone else ever could or will need to.
I would be remiss to not mention the intriguing, piano-laden track “Robbery,” which features the highly-skilled Doechii dropping big bars and going back and forth with Rocky in a way that keeps the song fresh from start to finish. It’s conversely important to note that despite the slew of various features across “Don’t Be Dumb,” very few stand out.
While there are obvious references to what has been an eventful, trying past period of time for Rocky, particularly in the case of his recent criminal trial (as found almost immediately on the opening track “Order of Protection”), there doesn’t seem to be much noticeable resulting changes in the rapper’s perspective or musical approach. Long wait or not, I come away from this album believing that the self-proclaimed ‘pretty boy’ can do better. The trajectory of “Testing” was a promising note after a string of enjoyable but ultimately un-moving albums, but where Rocky’s artistry is headed now might just be a dead end.