Editor’s Note: Kim Sanchez was misidentified as a former OE student in the originally published article. This has been corrected to an OH alum.
After he released his last album, “Testing” in 2018, A$AP Rocky has not released any new music other than singles such as “Sundress” and “Highjack”. On Jan 8, 2026, A$AP Rocky released “Don’t Be Dumb.” As of currently the album has surpassed one billion streams on Spotify alone.
This new album has had a lot of mixed reactions regarding whether it was worth the wait or not. OH alumni, Kim Sanchez said, “I thought it was really good, there’s a lot of diversity on the album.” While there are lots of different genres incorporated into the album, there are also lots of different features, such as Brent Faiyaz, Gorillaz, Dochi, and Tyler, the Creator.
Some may say that his new release is not as good because it is different from his old music. Sanchez said, “I think he pulls a lot of genres in different songs, like there’s rap and R&B.” This is different from some of his old albums, where they are predominantly rap. OH senior Hailey Pattison said, “I love how upbeat is, you can tell he put a lot of work into this.”
While this album is not quite the same as his old albums, certain songs have been hits. Sanchez said, “I can’t really compare the two because a lot of people like nostalgia.” This switch in music style has proven to be successful for A$AP Rocky as he has remained a popular artist despite the fact that he went eight years without relesing an album.
Currently, the most popular song off the new album is “STAY HERE 4 LIFE”, a collaboration with Brent Faiyaz. Pattison agreed, saying, “Currently, my favorite song is STAY HERE 4 LIFE. I love Brent Faiyaz, and he was featured on it.”
In previous years, some of A$AP Rocky’s most popular songs were collaborations, such as “Highjack,” a collaboration with Jessica Pratt. A$AP and his collaborations have been something widely supported by his fans. Pattison said, “Jukebox joints, I could probable restate word for word, it is one of my favorites and most listened to” Juke box joints is from his album titled, AT.LONG.A$AP and is a collaboration with Joe Fox and Kanye West.
With the shift in the music genre, it has been widely supported; however, some fans say that the reasons for the negative reactions are that “a lot of people like nostalgia.” Sanchez said. Songs like LVL and Fashion Killa are how people found his music so some may say that they are not a fan of his shift in music.
Overall, the feedback from the public has been positive. Additionally, A$AP announced that he will be doing the “DON’T BE DUMB” world tour, including Chicago, Illinois, at united center on May 27, 2026, where songs from his new album as well as older albums will be played. Once this tour was announced, fans flooded the presale sign up and once tickets went on sale, ticket sales are predicted to be very high given that his last tour was in 2019 and he was just in Chicago in Aug. 2025 and preformed at the music festivle, LOLLAPALOOZA. Many fans were not able to get tickets to see him, so many people are happy they will now get to.
Hi! My name is Ainslee Gerardot and I'm a junior at Oswego High School. This is my first year of the 42Fifty staff, and I am proud to serve as Social Media Editor. You can contact me by emailing 42Fifty@sd308.org and putting my name in the subject line. We welcome comments on our articles and feedback on our publication!
The album was a great success my favorite songs on the album are “Stay Here 4 Life”, “Playa”, “SWAT TEAM”. I wish that asap rocky added grim freestyle but overall the album was great. Thank you for writing about the album I am a big asap rocky fan.