A$AP Rocky in New York, 2024. COURTESY OF RCA
On Friday, January 16 at 9 pm, 350 young fans of rapper A$AP Rocky settled into the comfortable seats of a cinema on Place Clichy in Paris's 18th arrondissement. The collective Mino, who invited them, played the New Yorker's long-awaited fourth album, Don't Be Dumb, through immersive sound. Their motto: "Music isn't something you consume, it's something you live."
To illustrate the music on the big screen, the rapper's label provided music videos and "visualizers" – short clips of A$AP Rocky rapping and dancing in various outfits: pink curlers in his hair, a megaphone in hand or dressed in a suit and beige trench coat.
The American artist, who is in a relationship with pop star Rihanna and is the father of her three children, had not released an album in eight years. Once a defining force in the new wave of New York rap in the 2010s, he was preoccupied with fashion these past few years, serving as ambassador for Chanel since December 2025; with film, appearing in If I Had Legs I'd Kick You, directed by Mary Bronstein (2025), and Highest 2 Lowest, directed by Spike Lee (2025); as well as with legal troubles. In February 2021, he brandished a weapon – a film prop – at a former friend and faced up to 20 years in prison, but was acquitted in February 2025.
