Key Takeaways

• A$AP Rocky’s blessed his followers with a teaser for a twin music video from his new album, Don’t Be Dumb.
• He then took to “Saturday Night Live” to carry out “PUNK ROCKY,” “DON’T BE DUMB” and “HELICOPTER” reside.
• The episode marked Rocky’s return to reside TV performances after almost eight years and not using a new album.

A$AP Rocky spent the primary weekend of his Don’t Be Dumb period again in a well-known enviornment: Studio 8H. On Saturday (Jan. 17), the Harlem rapper made his musical visitor debut on “Saturday Night Live” throughout Finn Wolfhard’s internet hosting flip. Rocky opened with “PUNK ROCKY,” then returned for a second set that jumped from the venture’s title observe to “HELICOPTER.” He additionally leaned into the comedy facet of the present, popping up in “Snackhomiez,” the recurring boys-podcast sketch, which noticed Wolfhard be part of a crew of juvenile snack obsessives and Sabrina Carpenter slide in as a shock visitor.

Don’t Be Dumb landed independently on Friday (Jan. 16) and marked Rocky’s first studio album in almost eight years. The venture’s visible identification already performed a central function within the marketing campaign, together with cowl artwork crafted by filmmaker Tim Burton that spotlights a number of Rocky personas.

The previous weekend additionally noticed Rocky teasing a brief trailer for a “WHISKEY/BLACK DEMARCO” music video, during which Burton is anticipated to star in. Set in a bar/lounge surroundings, the teaser confirmed Rocky’s crash-dummy character getting clocked with a bottle earlier than his Rugahand persona vaulted over-the-counter to step in.

As far as the subject material, “AIR FORCE (BLACK DEMARCO)” toggles between brash punchlines and a slowed-down refrain that gave collaborator Spencer Sutherland room so as to add a melodic help. “WHISKEY (RELEASE ME),” however, leans right into a hook courtesy of Damon Albarn and lets Westside Gunn shade the margins with signature ad-libs, all as Rocky raps about late-night temptation and trendsetting.

“How could I resist? Wanna get high as we can get and that’s how we exist,” the Harlem star expresses on “WHISKEY.” “The deaf don’t play like they don’t hear the kid, read his lips / How to be a pimp? How to be legit? / And live to see this s**t, and die with what you pick It all depends, is she gon’ get freaky and share with all her friends?”