That philanthropy of tech billionaires Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg It is clear that it is just an opportunistic performance. They have long embraced e-mobility as an opportunity for the environment and fact-checking as a strengthening of democracy Omnipotence fantasies and mania for masculinity evaded.
And unfortunately this also comes with the realization that pop can obviously do little to combat authoritarian developments. We’ll know that at the latest since Taylor Swift’s positioning and mobilization of her fans against Trump in the run-up to the US presidential election failed. These are explosive times, the huge country is difficult to organize and is on the brink of disaster. The question arises as to how rappers, who at least previously raised their voices for the marginalized, react to this.
In recent years, hip-hop mainstream has primarily been about interaction weirdness, Drugs and gunfire. Opioids until the doctor came, sometimes he came too late. Dissociation through consumption. A$AP Rocky, New York’s flagship rapper for 15 years – at least when it comes to who’s the most charming – has always been good at it.
At the start of his career, he released a mixtape that sounded like you would imagine an opioid high to be. Overcast, dragging, everything slowly trickled away and formed a thick puddle of sound on the floor. Rocky, a gangsta who had nothing brutal about him, but rather an “Ocean’s Eleven”-like deviousness. Charming and galvanized at the same time.
Successful social advancement
Now he has released his new album “Don’t Be Dumb”. Rocky’s first sign of life in seven years. His new work offers at least an idea of what it sounds like when a millionaire pretty boy who has successfully climbed the class from the petty criminal son of a single mother to a pop star checks out: Something is going wrong in the USA right nowtaking part in the apocalypse is not an option. So: “Don’t be dumb,” he raps, don’t be stupid – again and again throughout the entire album. You can feel his brow furrowing and looking at the MAGA world in disbelief.
“This is the way the world ends,” he repeats again and again on his song “The End,” and this mantra seems to have been preceded by a process of reflection and possibly even a politicization in recent years. For his part, Rocky not only deals with racism and social inequality in the education system, but also with the decline of bees and climate change.
“It’s hard to sing ‘Sunshine, good morning’ with global warming,” he raps, and what follows is the realization that A$AP Rocky is now something of a left-wing liberal.
Coming of age in public
This certainly has something to do with his private life, which the tabloid press is more interested in than his music. He became a father, several times over. And the mother of his children is not just anyone, but Rihanna. A$AP Rocky seems settled, a “grown man” who has been in court again and again in recent years, but ultimately got away.
There’s still a lack of impulse control, it seems, and you can hear that in the music on the new album. Because of course, despite all the love, “Don’t Be Dumb” is not a political album. A$AP Rocky is neither Kendrick Lamar still part of Run The Jewels, but still someone who defines himself as a rap star through beauty and extravagance.
What this means for the album is that Rocky lives out his learned cultural capital when it comes to fashion and codes of wealth and sounds so accomplished that it’s fun to listen to. And it means that despite being in a happy relationship, he continues to say that women are generally pretty fond of him.
Laughter with volleys
It’s charming show-off music, and sometimes there are even gunshot noises made with the mouth, but they don’t sound like they do the murders of the ICE paramilitariesbut as if Rocky wanted to make his children laugh.
And something else is interesting: aesthetics. A$AP Rocky has long since expanded his repertoire and no longer just relies on dry beats or on everything sounding blurry. There are the guitars, there are the chopped electronic dissonances in contrast, there is an indie pop song called “Rocky Punk,” and he repeatedly quotes horror film rap from Memphis.
A$AP Rocky: „Don’t be Dumb“ (RCA/Sony)
Many things that have proven themselves elsewhere and that represent a certain underground charm and are still considered cool are now coming together for him. On “Robbery”, another filmic robber ballad, there is even a jazz piano. And the dreamy US singer-songwriter Jessica Pratt sings a few quiet lines on the aforementioned song “The End”.
In the end there is the realization that behind “Don’t Be Dumb” there is an artist who has achieved everything and still has a sincere interest in music. This is not a given, especially with rap stars. And maybe it also does something that, in addition to all the boastful crowing, Rocky also makes his point of view clear with “Don’t Be Dumb”. And that fundamentally contradicts the disruptive political style of the Trump administration.