A$AP Rocky starts a riot in the music video for his latest single, “Helicopter.”
Directed by Dan Streit, the dystopian clip sees Pretty Flacko taking to the skies in a stolen chopper (the same one from some of his recent festival performances) and lording over New York City as it descends into chaos.
The Harlem native made pains to point out on Instagram that the visual “is not AI generated.” Instead, it employs motion-captured animations of the rapper and his crew, along with a nostalgic lo-fi filter that gives it the feel of late ’90s PlayStation games. (The single’s cover art also nods to classic games from this era.)
As for the track itself, “Helicopter” features ominous, hard-hitting producing from Kelvin Krash and Soufien 3000 and agile, staccato flows from A$AP Rocky, who namedrops Cam’ron and Jim Jones while pledging allegiance to his fashion partners Puma.
“I’m checkin’ my sneakers, no checks on my sneakers / Just Puma, Gap and yeah, the goody GRIM,” he raps, before adding: “I ridе around in an all-pink Mercedes, thе pussy whip / Like Killa Cam, my braids lookin’ like I could be Jim.”
Watch the video below.
“Helicopter” is the latest offering from A$AP Rocky’s long-awaited upcoming album Don’t Be Dumb, which is finally set to arrive this Friday (January 16).
While a tracklist has yet to be confirmed, other songs expected to appear on the project include the recently released “Punk Rocky,” as well as “Stop Snitchin,” “Stole Ya Flow” and “Whiskey (I’m Not Resisting)” which Rocky has debuted during live performances in recent years.
Much like its predecessor, 2018’s Testing, Don’t Be Dumb could also be a star-studded affair, with rumored contributions from Metro Boomin, Tyler, The Creator and Playboi Carti, among others.
Flacko’s closest collaborator is his unlikeliest, though. The artwork credits Tim Burton, the legendary filmmaker behind Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice and the late ’80s/early ’90s Batman movies, as Rocky’s partner-in-crime, although it remains to be seen what role he plays exactly.
“I love Tim Burton, man. I’ve been inspired by him [since] a child,” Rocky said in a recent sit-down with Vanity Fair. “I think what he does with claymation and how he transcended into live-action movies, the parallels between them and [how] he seamlessly included it from matte painting to German Expressionism. I think he’s a fucking genius.”
