ASAP Rocky blames the delayed release of his upcoming album Don’t Be Dumb on being a perfectionist.
We recently sat down with the 35-year-old rapper to chat about the forthcoming project. During the course of the conversation, he covered the reasons why it’s been delayed. “There were different reasons why, mainly being leaks and clearance stuff,” he explained. “But it gave me more time to be creative and put some finishing touches.”
“I'm a perfectionist and I think sometimes that's my own worst enemy,” he continued. “I like to keep revising and editing, pushing things to the limit. I want to explore every option and every possibility. I want to assure that all of my fans will be fulfilled when they get this music.”
The rollout for Don’t Be Dumb has been a unique one. Last month, he dropped “Highjack” and addressed rappers who “stole the flow” and seemingly want his wife, Rihanna (ahem, Drake). Speaking to Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Rocky said that the release of the song should be taken as a sign that “the real is back.”
"Not only that, it's just we coming with a whole new aesthetic on everything, especially with German expressionism and the whole ghetto futurism GR1M thing,"Rocky added. "So that's just what the sound sounds like and whatnot. The sonics of it."
DJ Kast One revealed on the Ebro in the Morning show that he’s heard the album and claims that it addresses “a lot of the main topics that are happening out here.” When Ebro pressed the issue, specifically about the shots traded back and forth between Rocky and Drake in recent months, Kast One suggested that Rocky would be “cemented” on Drake’s list of enemies.
The latest track the Rocky’s dropped from that might appear on the album is “Tailor Swif” — one of the songs that had already gotten leaked. “SINCE U DUMMIES LEAKED IT ALREADY,” he wrote on X when he released a snippet of the music video.
As for what else will be on the album, it’s hard to say. Rocky told Lowe back in August that what’ll be on the project won’t be stuff that’s leaked already. “It’s very important and special if it makes it on the album,” he said. “Most of the songs that I usually perform and shit like that, motherfuckers leak it.”
“And once it’s leaked, it’s just like, ha, it’s not on the project,” he continued. “I might perform it here or there, but it’s leaked. It is what it is. It’s out already. A lot of these records didn’t make it because they got leaked at some point.”