A$AP Rocky Delays ‘Don’t Be Dumb’ Album, Vents About Leaks

A$AP Rocky‘s new album Don’t Be Dumb has suffered another delay and will no longer be released on August 30.

The news was reported in Billboard‘s new cover story on the Harlem rapper, with the publication revealing that the long-awaited project has been pushed back to the fall.

While a new release date remains unclear, Pretty Flacko did shed light on the long wait for his fourth album, pointing the finger at leakers.

“At this point I’ve been working on music for six years, but they leak my music and I get over it and say, ‘Fuck it,’” he said. “They leak a lot of the music and it ruins it. Like my ‘Taylor Swift’ video. I was pissed off about it, so I never released it.”

The article also offers some insight into Don’t Be Dumb: “He’s only been working on it for the past year but he believes, like most artists discussing their new work, that it’s the best album he’s ever made.”

It continues: “Don’t Be Dumb skews slightly heavier topically and goes deeper than Rocky’s usual vainglorious works. The 35-year-old jack-of-all-that’s-fly chalks this up to him getting older (“I’m an OG now”) and wiser and the world being batshit crazy at the moment.

“One of the first songs he recorded for the album is a grim, experimental track called ‘Shroom Cloud’ that deals with ‘current affairs and world wars and, you know, the world dying and whatnot.’”

A$AP Rocky himself described the album as “grim” and a mix of “German expressionism [and] ghetto futurism.” He also revealed he played the project for legendary director Tim Burton, who he unsuccessfully attempted to recruit to create the cover art.

“I sat and I played the album for Tim Burton, and he was fucking with it heavy,” the father of two said. “[H]e was rocking his head and he’s like, ‘Wow! I didn’t know you made that kind of music!’”

Rocky did, however, manage to secure musical contributions from composer Danny Elfman, including on a song produced by The Alchemist.

Other prominent producers also expected to make the album include Metro Boomin, Tyler, The Creator, Pharrell, Madlib and Mike Dean.

Don’t Be Dumb will serve as A$AP Rocky’s first album in six years and the follow up to his third LP Testing, which arrived to mixed reviews in 2018.