ASAP Rocky’s last album, Testing, reminds me a lot of The Bear. In the recently concluded third season of the genre-defying FX restaurant dramedy, Carmen, the proprietor of the titular beef sandwich stand-turned-Michelin-star-hopeful hot spot, insists on a constantly changing menu of experimental and effortful dishes. It’s a strategy aimed at generating enough buzz and critical acclaim to turn The Bear into one of those generational, culture-shifting eateries that defines the shape, look, and flavor of fine dining for a decade to come. It shouldn’t count as a spoiler to point out that this strategy does not go well.
In the same way, ASAP Rocky really swung for the fences in 2018, doing his best to both subvert and redirect the flow of hip-hop from crowd-pleasing but repetitive Atlanta trap productions to something more psychedelic and vibey, like Grateful Dead for heads who grew up on The Notorious B.I.G. and Three 6 Mafia. As with Carmy’s restaurant ambitions, it seems that Rocky’s reach exceeded his grasp.
In an interview with GQ, he admitted to being “emotionally discouraged” by its early lukewarm reception among fans, while expressing belief that his hardcore followers would grow into it. While the album wasn’t a complete disaster (neither was The Bear), it didn’t turn out to be the paradigm-shifting smash success Rocky evidently believed that it would be.
Now, with Don’t Be Dumb, his first album in six years sitting on the launchpad and fueling up for release, there’s one item on Rocky’s readiness checklist that absolutely must be a non-negotiable: He needs to go back to basics, or watch his comeback album also get stuck in the inner atmosphere, falling well short of his cosmic goals.
When he first appeared on the national scene with his breakout 2011 single, “Peso,” Rocky enamored himself to rap fans with a smart, unexpected blend of Memphis trap aesthetics, East Texas murk, and Uptown New York swagger. Although the seeds of his future sonic experimentation could be heard in the druggy, slowed-down morass of his UGK and Three 6-inspired sounds, those sounds were familiar enough to rap fans of all stripes that they were immediately accessible in the melting pot atmosphere that bubbled up from the digital underground of the late noughties. It launched him into the stratosphere, putting him on par with fellow breakouts like Big KRIT, Big Sean, Drake, J. Cole, Kendrick Lamar, Mac Miller, Meek Mill, Pusha T, Tyler The Creator, and Wale.
In the years since then, though, he’s taken a number of detours through the worlds of fashion and television — and a Scandanavian jail — while ending up only fractionally as productive musically as his onetime peers. As of this writing, he’s only got three full-length albums to his name, along with his debut mixtape, Live. Love. ASAP, and his contributions to the handful of releases from his former clique, ASAP Mob. While he’s popped up on a few high-profile collaborations with the likes of Japanese designer/part-time DJ, Nigo, Tyler, and producer Metro Boomin, it has seemed that Rocky’s attentions have mostly focused on building a family with longtime girlfriend/possible wife Rihanna.
Which explains the hype for Don’t Be Dumb, Rocky’s first album since the misunderstood and oft-maligned Testing. DMB represents not only his first real collection of music since 2018, but also his opportunity to recognize and return to the traits that made his output so beloved in the first place. He’s always been a stellar rapper, but rap has plenty of those; what made him stand out was his willingness to combine unexpected elements to create alchemical results more than the sum of their respective parts. Think real-life chef Roy Choi’s ingenious invention of the Los Angeles food truck, Kogi BBQ, which combined taco truck staples with the Korean cuisines Choi grew up with in LA’s Koreatown.
It’s understandable why Rocky, someone who was so lauded for his own unusual combinations, would want to prove he could continue to push the boundaries with Testing. As he told New York radio fixture Peter Rosenberg for Complex’s Open Late, “I want to take a different approach, and I want to challenge the viewer who is tired of hearing the same old shit… I’m just trying to test my viewers and listeners and see if they’re ready to evolve and grow with me.”
But what made his first experimental musical dishes work was their simplicity. They took straightforward questions and answered them: What if Big L had rapped on “Sippin on Some Syrup?” What about a Mase guest spot on “Pocket Full Of Stones?” It turns out, these are things that work together. Testing, however, combined way too many elements without considering whether any of this made any of these things work better than they would on their own. While we do like surprise and innovation, folks don’t necessarily want to have their tastes challenged, broadly speaking.
Testing tried a lot — maybe too much — to impress fans who never really wanted that from Rocky. He’d gone from giving them roast beef and peppers on French bread to a full-on French fusion menu. With Don’t Be Dumb, fans might be ready for palate-widening flights of fancy, but truthfully, what many (most, even) want from Rocky is the feeling that made him a superstar in the first place. Late career resurgences aren’t all that uncommon in hip-hop anymore, but all of them have hinged on delivering on fans expectations without the demands — think Nas and Hit-Boy’s stellar run, Rick Ross’s glittering luxury rap, or Lil Wayne’s relentless punchline onslaught.
Rocky, too, can have such a renaissance. Obviously, as an artist, his vision should be the only thing that matters to him — although it does sound like he’s focusing on making good rap records again. Maybe he can top himself. Maybe he can figure out a way to polish the ideas he hinted at on Testing and really make them fly. But if he wants the praise, accolades, and appreciation of being a fan favorite, he’s going to have to tamp down on some of his ambition. Fundamentals are called that for a reason. The basics work; sure, fine dining is nice every once in a while, but nobody ever turns down a really good sandwich.