A$AP Rocky has ramped up his Don’t Be Dumb rollout with the release of a new single and video, “Punk Rocky.”
Produced by Ging, Zach Fogarty, Cristoforo Donadi and Rocky himself, the track finds Pretty Flacko flexing his musical range and showcasing his smooth singing voice over melodic rock production.
“I thought I fell in love, I thought she felt it too / I thought we was in love, she just another fluke / I thought you was the one, I guess you just the two / You want the last laugh, look, now the joke’s on you,” laments Rocky, whose real-life relationship with Rihanna is anything but on the rocks.
The accompanying video, co-starring Winona Ryder, strengthens Rocky’s reputation as one of hip-hop’s best visual artists. With Dutch directors Simon Beck and Folkert Verdoorn at the helm, the surreal clip features a neighborhood brawl, a stint in jail and a rooftop jam session as the Harlem rapper moves to the suburbs.
While one jacked-up neighbor makes it his mission to snuff out the fun, Winona Ryder becomes A$AP Rocky’s unlikely ally, even bailing him and his crew out of jail. The rollercoaster ride ends in an explosive shootout and ejector seat-triggered car crash.
“Punk Rocky” is set to appear on A$AP Rocky’s long-awaited fourth album Don’t Be Dumb, which will finally arrive on January 16.
According to a vinyl listing of the album, “the 15-track [project] moves through genres the way you’d move through a city — jazz, hip hop, metal, indie, R&B — each track capturing a different block, mood, or moment. It’s Rocky in full range.”
A number of high-profile names have been linked to the album, from Metro Boomin and Madlib to Playboi Carti and Westside Gunn. But one of the most fascinating contributors is Tim Burton, the legendary filmmaker behind Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice and the late ’80s/early ’90s Batman movies.
Burton’s name appears on the official cover for Don’t Be Dumb while Rocky recently thanked the director for “helping me make this movie,” suggesting an accompanying film is in the works.
“I sat and I played the album for Tim Burton, and he was fucking with it heavy … He was rocking his head and was like, ‘Wow! I didn’t know you made that kind of music!’” the rapper told Billboard in 2024.
He explained his admiration for Burton in a sit-down with Vanity Fair last year, saying: “I love Tim Burton, man. I’ve been inspired by him [since] a child. 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.”
