I'm in my Renaissance era.
You know, I'm in my Frank Sinatra Rat Pack shit.
You've been with the same woman, Rihanna, for a while now.
What's the secret?
She's my match.
The trial.
What did you learn from that experience?
I had survivor's remorse, and I don't feel guilty no more.
You hold your own with Denzel Washington.
I'm an artistic motherfucker, you know?
Hi, I'm Michael Sebastian, editor-in-chief of Esquire.
Today, I am joined by a modern Renaissance man, a musician, an actor, a designer, and more.
Please welcome A$AP Rocky.
Thank you for, yes, exactly.
I have to give myself a round of applause.
I finally made it, Mom!
I want to start with a quote from another guy who grew up in Harlem like you and came to know the city of Paris very well James Baldwin.
In an interview, Baldwin once said, you write to find out something which you don't know.
I'm curious what you found out about yourself as you were making the new record.
What a way to jump into the interview.
First of all, James Baldwin just being a political activist and talking about his journeys and parallels between Harlem and Paris really correlates to my journey as well.
For me, what I didn't know about myself is that I had how limitless I was.
My biggest enemy was myself for a while, and I think the only thing stopping me and getting in the way of me was my own self.
And I think once you make no barriers, no holds barred, you just go all out.
It's just like you make sure that there's no limits to everything.
It's kind of like you figure out how much you can push yourself.
You know, and I'm a very, like, spiritual man.
So I believe in God and I just, you know, I pray a lot and I just always say you know God, and when I'm in tough situations especially, I'm like God.
I know it's nothing that I can't push through or pull through, but please don't give me nothing I can't handle.
And I think God has a funny way of showing me my own strength.
The universe has a funny way of showing me my own strength.
And unbeknownst to me, I have a funny way of revealing it to myself.
Okay, the new record, Don't Be Dumb.
Yes, sir.
Why did you call it Don't Be Dumb?
So many reasons.
One being the prior album was just all about crashing out crash dummies.
And I think this is a call to it.
If you look at what's going on right now, which is not long ago last month in December, A lot of rappers are starting to say fuck the streets.
Fuck the streets.
I got trauma.
Fuck the streets.
All of these guys that were portrayed as you know gangster street dudes are now coming out and just being like you know what.
This whole shit is rigged.
This shit is make believe.
Kids, we've been, you know, selling y'all a lie because we, you know, had a blindfold over our eyes.
And Don't Be Dumb embodies all of that.
You said in an interview that you're really challenging yourself.
What does it mean when you challenge yourself?
I hate to sound like I'm trying to self-promote and toot my own horn and shit, but honestly I never saw or heard anything like this, you know.
And the challenge was just like being patient, waiting for the right time, because timing is everything.
Especially a climate where you got big rap battles that are kind of, like you know, changing the playing field.
You got streamings, you got bots, you got all of these kind of inflated streams and arbitrary just everything happening.
And then not to mention AI.
And this album is anti-AI.
It's practicality.
It's actually taking it back to the essence.
So I think people will get to really see what took so long to make this album.
And it was just not only just preparation and trying to perfect it, but also timing.
The timing had to be perfect.
And no other perfect timing in the beginning of the year to start off.
Right now, you know, at this point, all we know is that it's it's Tim Burton is on the cover that you put on your Instagram.
Why work with Tim Burton?
Getting to work with Tim Burton has been a dream.
You know, I never thought that that was possible.
And I reached out to him.
I reached out to his composer, Danny Elfman, and they were all just, you know so gladly and obliged.
Like, yeah, I do that.
Like, let's do it.
We fuck with you.
And I'm like.
I can't believe it, you know?
The fact that they fuck with my shit, it was just amazing.
I'm sorry, can I say fuck?
You can abso-fucking-lutely say fuck.
Yeah, you know, just from A Nightmare Before Christmas.
That was my favorite film from Tim Burton, so I've always wanted to work with him, you know.
Yeah.
I actually want to go way back, and I want to talk about growing up.
When you were a kid, what kind of music was playing in your house?
Man, all sorts of music.
You had reggae, you had rap, hip-hop, R&B, you had rock and roll, you had classics, even some disco.
It was just like a Milton pot of just different music.
Growing up, my favorite musician was Michael Jackson.
He was heavy in my house.
And me being named after arguably not even an argument, but one of the greatest MCs of all time.
Rakim music was prevalent in my household.
Speaking of that household, what was the biggest lesson your mom taught you?
Watching how loyal she is to her children or whoever her husband or her man is.
It showed me that there are decent women out there, because nine times out of 10, the way that public or media portrays women, especially nowadays, is scandalous and shit like that.
And men too.
But she let me know that there was hope for Real decent women out there and good women out there.
Loyal.
What about your dad?
My pops was an extraordinary fella.
He was a very handsome gentleman from Barbados.
Came over here when he was like 19, 20 years old.
Met my mother in Harlem.
He taught me to stay groomed.
He was the first man I saw, you know, paint his nails with, you know, clear polish.
Really?
Yeah, manicure and stuff.
And my dad was a hustler.
And, you know, he was extraordinary.
Rest in peace, you know.
Yeah.
I know that there was a period of time when you were a kid where you lived in a homeless shelter with your mom.
And I'm curious, what did you learn from that experience?
Some people look at their circumstances and assume this is the end all be all.
And for me, at a very young age, I learned that there's light at the end of the tunnel.
Perseverance is just like motivation.
You just got to kind of go out and do it and get it.
Another thing I learned is that everybody, no matter who you are, everybody has struggle.
People's circumstances and struggles might differ from each other.
Nonetheless, struggle is struggle.
And what you got to do is trust your struggle.
Do you ever have moments where you think about going back to that period of time in your life where you think where your life could have gone if you didn't have music creativity, as an outlet?
All the time.
Really?
All the time.
I always think about it.
I had this innate passion for like extraordinary things, like decor and for design, and you know, for you know film and clothes.
I was pretty boy since.
I want to read you a quote that you gave to Interview Magazine.
My aunt.
Let us live with her for a while, which was pretty hard because it was like an upper middle class kind of neighborhood.
So I didn't get along with any of the kids.
They used to pick on me and tease me and make fun of me at the bus stop.
What did this experience teach you?
Kids can be cruel as shit sometimes, you know what I mean?
And you just got to live with it, you know?
Shout out to Auntie Lenny, North Carolina, Charlotte, North Carolina.
But my aunt.
She lived in a middle class, like an upper middle class neighborhood, but she had the smallest house in the neighborhood.
Yeah, yeah.
And she had a troublesome son who was in Juvie at the time, which was my big cousin Rory.
Rest in peace.
What ended up happening was when he went to juvenile hall and all this other stuff.
We moved in and I learned that you know, no matter where you go, when you are in an environment, especially a radical environment, that's new to you.
It's going to be some growing pains in that situation.
And, you know, I don't hold anybody, you know.
I don't hold it against anybody for that.
We were all like 11 and 12 and 13.
We were all kids at one point.
With children, you know?
At the same time.
I mean, maybe I'm putting too much meaning into this, but it's like you find yourselves in all kinds of different worlds where you, at least at first, were new, whether it's fashion, whether it's film, you name it.
And I feel like there's got to be some of these experiences from a kid that really prepared you for that.
Wow.
I didn't even make the correlation to that.
You know, you just did.
I would have to agree with you, especially when you think about how just being able to adapt.
You know I've been through some hardships but I don't want to make it sound, all like you know, extra dramatic and tragic.
It was some good times, man.
You know, some of the most happiest people is subjectively poor people.
You know, because is it better to not have and to not know?
So sometimes oblivion is the pursuit of happiness for a lot of people.
And sometimes materials and gluttony is what people measure success by.
It's all subjective.
Yeah.
There's a reason why in A Christmas Carol, Scrooge is the completely miserable one.
And it's like the kind of common people are the ones who are having a good time on Christmas, right?
Yeah, man.
I want to talk about the A$AP crew for a minute.
What did you learn coming up with those guys?
I learned fellowship.
You know, I learned loyalty.
I learned penmanship, craftsmanship.
Yeah, it was really cool with the guys growing up back in the day, you know?
Like an orphanage.
You've said in interviews that you want to bring people together with your music.
And you've rapped, fuck your color, fuck your skin, you're my brother.
Fuck your color, fuck your brother, fuck your skin, you're my brother.
No, no, let's try that again.
Yeah, fuck your color.
Include all of that because I really messed that up.
I could never be a rapper, obviously.
I think this is what we're learning.
Hold on, let me try that again.
Fuck your color, fuck your skin.
You're my brother, you're my kin.
There it is.
What does that mean to you?
You're trying to bring people together, right?
Yeah, absolutely.
I think even my best friend, A$AP Lou, you know?
We were born on the same day.
He's white, I'm black.
I don't think it matters.
Growing up in Manhattan or just Harlem, it's a beautiful Milton pot, New York City.
Puerto Ricans were blacks, blacks were Dominicans, Dominicans were whites, whites were Indians, Indians were Asians.
And it's just a vast majority of just different ethnicities and cultures, all moving in unison, getting along and living their daily lives.
And when you're kids, you don't know prejudice.
You know, I think, like you know, some people don't dislike people for whatever, but I think prejudice is taught.
So for the most part, everybody's just very, you know, welcoming with open arms and hands and it's just like it's all love.
You know it's all love.
Yeah, so your brother Ricky, was killed when you were barely a teenager.
Yeah man, I wonder what that moment, what was that like for you?
What did you learn from that moment?
I learned that the streets don't love you.
My brother was heavy in the streets.
You live by the gun, you die by the gun.
You know, kind of situation.
And I knew that that path wasn't for me a few years prior to that.
He had told me to walk a straight and narrow.
He was just like, nah, that lifestyle ain't for you.
That's my lifestyle.
I should have never showed you none of that shit.
Yeah.
Let's jump to, you know, you are, this is going back 15 years, something like that.
You're blowing up, right?
You know, your mixtape comes out.
There's a lot of heat, a lot of anticipation around you.
You're, I mean, you're a super young guy.
You're in your, at that point, you're probably in your very early 20s, something like that.
22, yeah.
Yeah.
How do you handle something like that?
You know when all of a sudden the spotlight's on you and there's anticipation and attention and everything else.
I think I was made for it.
It comes with the job.
We know what we signed up for.
I just wanted to make music that could bring people together and change people's lives, and that's what we did and I'm so proud of that.
I'm curious how, in that moment, how fame changes a person.
Fame and money could do two things.
It could change you, or it could change the people around you.
Some people remain the same and some people it just affects your relationship with you.
Know everybody else around you.
For lack of better words,
Yeah.
Yeah.
I get it.
Is there a rapper, maybe even kind of an old school one, who at that point in your career gave you a piece of advice that you still listen to?
Quite a few.
Yeah?
David Banner, Swizz Beatz.
Those guys were always like big brothers to me.
Bun B, Chase Infinite, Mos Def, Styles P. He taught me stage etiquette.
He's like, yo, bro, you need divers.
You need to stop jumping in the crowd, crowd surfing yourself.
Get divers.
And you go on stage and just say, dive, dive.
And I started doing it.
And it started working, motherfuckers, flying off stage.
I really was a sponge when I came into gaming.
I just wanted to learn more.
I wanted to know more.
And I was willing to listen to anybody willing to give me advice.
All right, here's a controversial question.
Which era of hip hop, of New York hip hop, would you say was the strongest?
The 90s.
Yeah?
A lot of these guys broke barriers for guys like us.
From You know, De La Soul Tribe, Called Quest Bad Boy.
Wu-Tang Clan Onyx.
Man, the list goes on and forgive me for Das FX, EPMD, G-Unit, you know?
Even though that was the early 2000s.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Digging in the crates and Children of the Corn and Terror Squad and so many different groups that just shaped the game and made it what it is today.
From the early 90s to the late 90s was the best decade for hip hop.
Really?
Yeah.
I mean this as a compliment.
You're a very charismatic person.
Thank you.
And you have and this is what I'm getting at with the compliment you have the charisma of like a politician.
Oh, shit.
No, no, I mean this in a good way.
And in a recent interview, you actually said that you would want to be mayor of New York City.
For sure.
Is politics something that could actually be in your future?
I think so.
You know, there are a lot of political current affairs that need to be addressed, changes that needs to be made.
I think that I would really do well because I'm a goddess for the people.
You see potholes?
Fix them.
Look at the rates for the trains.
Like, the train fare just went up to $3.
It's fucking crazy.
You know, inflation is crazy.
I mean SNAP and welfare and food stamps and all of these you know benefits is fucked up, because that's where I derive from.
Create more job opportunities.
Create better health care.
You know, these are some of the things that most politicians come in promising.
But for the most part you just assume a lot of the decisions made by politicians you know have material motives.
And it's really self-beneficial.
For me, I make a really great living off being myself.
Yeah.
2029, vote for Mayor Mayors.
You've got my vote.
Vote for Rocky, man.
You said it a couple of times and I've seen this said about you that you are a modern renaissance man.
Absolutely.
What does that mean?
What does a modern renaissance man mean?
Film, fashion, engineering, family, music.
I'm missing one.
All of these things are.
What kind of encapsulates me as an individual just explaining what the Harlem Renaissance was.
It was heavy and rich in music, fashion, culture, et cetera.
So I think I'm a modern Renaissance man.
Back to politics for just a second.
You know, when you were in jail in Sweden, then President Trump advocated for your release.
That must have been really weird.
It was really ironic, right?
So I was just sitting in my cell and I just hear, we're gonna get A$AP Rocky.
And I just looked and I'm just like, no fucking way.
I must be dreaming.
When you're away in prison, anybody who's experienced prison could tell you you kind of feel like the outside world forgot about you or turn their back on you.
For me to get that kind of support from the outside world.
The president, my mother friends, so-called enemies.
It was beautiful, you know.
And it really it gave me the drive to really push through that shit, because it was a real hard very, very difficult time in my life, you know.
A very difficult period, yeah.
All right, so you were in two movies in 2025, Highest to Lowest, and If I Had Legs, I'd Kick You.
I wanna start with Highest to Lowest.
Denzel Washington, one of the greatest actors of his generation.
What did you learn working with him?
I learned that Denzel might be my biological dad.
Why do you say that?
My whole life, my mother told me I looked like Denzel.
She used to gas my head up, you know?
She had a crush on a dude, so she just wanted me to look like him for whatever reasons.
But what I learned from the movie was looking at Spike's and Denzel's dynamic.
It was amazing to see pros who are brothers working behind the scenes and just seeing how they, you know, bounce ideas and energy off of each other.
It was quite fascinating to see.
I was fanned out during certain scenes.
I would forget that we were rolling, and I would just be like, oh shit, this ain't a movie.
Like, I'm in the movie, Rocky, snap out of it.
Like, all jokes aside, because I'm just a super Denzel fan, you know?
I mean, you guys are in like basically three scenes together, right?
And they're kind of the most powerful scenes in the movie and you hold your own with Denzel Washington.
Like, where do you learn that?
Where do you get that?
I don't know, man.
I think I'm a renaissance man.
Like I said, it's just part of the arts.
Like film, acting, theater is just all part of the arts, you know?
I'm an artistic motherfucker, you know?
What about if I had legs that kick you, what about working with Rose Byrne?
She's so beautiful in and out, man.
Shout out to her husband, Bobby.
I think it was such a privilege to work with her as well.
Mary Bronson killed the film.
The script was beautiful.
Man, she's just a beautiful soul and such a nice woman.
It was a pleasure and I really hope some way, somehow we get to work in the future again, because it was quite the experience.
All right.
So you've I mean, you've rapped about religion a lot.
I'm curious what your relationship with God is like now.
Oh, it's better than never.
I try to nitpick and adapt from all different religions and cultures and practices.
Yeah.
Buddhism, you know, Catholicism, Christianity, Hinduism, you know, all these different qualities, they all have, I think, attributes and qualities to make you a better person and whole.
I'm not perfect, so I try to just adopt a lot of these different morales from different religions to make myself a better motherfucker.
In the time that your last record came out and your new one is coming out.
So much has happened in your life.
You've had three children, you've shown your collections in Paris and, of course, you had the high-profile trial as well.
And I want to get into all three of those.
First of all, you've been with the same woman, Rihanna, for a while now.
What's the secret to having a strong relationship?
She's my match.
She matches me, right?
And so if it didn't match, it wouldn't work, you know?
I've always wanted to have a family, you know?
I think I was able to have all of my fun and do all the like ladies and be a pretty boy, a playboy, most of my like life.
You know, it gets tiresome, you know.
It's hard out here for a player, you feel me?
And so I switched it over and you know I made it cool to just be with one lady, be with one joint.
You know and love her.
You know and show people what true love is, not just when the cameras come on and shit like that.
You know.
And it's not easy being in two high profiles in a relationship together like...
That can't be easy because one has one scheduling agenda, the other has another scheduling agenda.
But we make it work and that's what I love about, you know, being with somebody like my girl, you know.
Is there something that you've learned from I don't know, being with her for so long.
Oh, absolutely.
I learned that a woman who loves you will protect you.
It's moral support to the 10th power.
Yeah.
You know, when you have a woman that loves you, is madly in love with you, your shit might smell like roses, you know.
Before getting with her, I kind of had that stigma or just that modern women is portrayed, the modern Venus is just like sex appeal and this, this, that.
And they try to portray more of a scandalous kind of a like you know vibe on women, for lack of better words nowadays.
And I think that fucking with her.
It just showed me, like, it was like looking at my mother.
I see a lot of my mom in her, you know?
And it's just like, damn, that's a strong black woman right there, yo.
Like, yo, she really be supporting the shit out of me, man.
She loves the shit out of me.
I fucking love this chick, you know?
One thing I do want to point out is, just like people swear, it's no trouble in paradise and everybody's all lovey-dovey, and it's like the battles that you come out victoriously and show how strong and compatible you are with that person.
Basically, it's like you get stronger because of those battles, because of those fights.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
The scariest relationships if you're in one is the one when you and your mate never argue, never have a dispute and never fight verbally.
You might have something to worry about, because when the shit hits the fan, that's when you see people in true colors, at least in my experience.
Yeah.
You told Elle that you are praying for a girl.
And of course, your third child was a girl.
And I am the father of two daughters.
They're 10 and 7.
And I love being the father of two girls.
And I'm curious what you've learned from this experience of being the father of a daughter.
So far, so good.
No boys yet?
No boys.
OK, OK.
So far, so good.
I think being a girl dad just brings out this self-vulnerability that you're OK with.
Yeah.
Because most people don't like being gullible or vulnerable, right, and soft.
And it's just now you have every reason to be.
When you're the dad of a princess, man, you gotta, you know, you gotta wear that suit, you know?
You gotta take that role on, and it's okay.
It changed you, didn't it?
It did, absolutely, yeah.
I mean to a point where, like being a dad, sometimes you could look at puppies and make you want to cry because oh, those cute puppies.
Like, shit like that never happened before, you know what I mean?
Yeah, it's just, it's a beautiful thing it's, it's happiness that you can't, you can't really equate to anything or compare to anything, to give an example to you.
Know, but being responsible of little human beings is in an easy role.
You have to be emotionally available, you have to be tentative and you have to be present.
Yeah, i love being present, you know, for my fam.
So when i'm away And I'm working, it has to be worth my while.
It has to be worth it.
Other than that, man, I gotta be with the fam.
Is that the secret?
I was curious about that.
You're obviously, you're a very busy guy.
I mean, is it throwing yourself into work when you're working and then throwing yourself into your family when you're not?
I think so.
When you're done with work, you go home, you know?
Me, I try to be able to, like, take my children to school.
You do, yeah?
Yeah yeah, you know, pick them up, try to be around for bath time, dinner time and, you know, bedtime.
If I miss one thing, you know, I make up for it in another way, you know?
But it's not easy missing anything.
Yeah.
You know, but that's the sacrifices you make when you're trying to be a working dad, you know?
Yeah, yeah.
OK, so the trial, what did you learn from that experience?
I learned that I've outgrown a lot of my old relationships with friends.
You hold on to it because, man, we went through the mud together.
You knew me since we was riding bicycles.
You knew me since we were sharing clothes together.
We were brothers.
We used to get girls together.
We were brothers.
It's the past, bro.
I've outgrown a lot of people, and I had survivor's guilt.
I had survivor's remorse.
And I don't feel guilty no more.
My success isn't your demise.
And I'm not responsible for any mishaps or misfortunes with the next man.
I try my best to do what I can and to help people when I can.
If I can't help you, you gotta be able to respect that.
Yeah.
How did you stay grounded through that whole period of time?
The support of my family, the support of different pairs, the support of different friends, real friends.
Yeah.
It got me through it.
And I was praying a lot during that time too.
It felt like I had an angel or a few angels right by my side, right there with me.
I honestly felt like a higher presence. during that time.
You know, I did, man.
You also looked great at the trial, too.
You dressed very well for the court.
Well, I think it's appropriate.
You really embraced tailoring in terms of, you know, just seeing you out and about.
What is it that attracts you to that?
Being a dad.
That's called dad swag.
You know, I've been in my dad bag.
I've always liked tailoring.
I mean, You can see photos of me in 2013 to 2015.
You know, I was obviously the first black male to face Dior.
Crispin Nash designed a lot of really nice tailored suits for me back then, and that was over a decade ago.
So, you know, tailoring is nothing new to me.
I just embraced it more going into fatherhood, because it gave me every reason to be, you know, and I'm in my Renaissance era.
You know, I'm in my Frank Sinatra rat pack shit right now.
So like I'm on my shit.
Yeah.
I love that you say that about the dad thing though, because I uh, I don't want to be a dad who basically dresses like a kid.
You know what I mean?
Like I want my kids to see me as an adult and wearing like a suit and a tie or a jacket and a tie or something like that says that you know.
The funny part about this is it's a debate going on right now about a lot of rappers dressing younger.
I honestly think that depending on who you are really dictates how you dress.
If you somebody who was wearing street wear your whole life, like imagine Sean Stussy.
Back in the day, you know he was wearing a T-shirt.
You know some, probably some cargoes and some skating shoes.
You know, what about rappers from the 90s and shit like that when it was cool to wear baggy shit?
That was just the style and trend at the moment.
Who am I to say you got to stop it?
That is outdated or, you know, stop doing it.
Because it's seven days out the week.
And some days out the week I robbed here in Timberland boots, baggy jeans, a thermal shirt and a parka jacket and a durag.
That's what I had on today, earlier before I looked nice and through on the Chanel.
And fashion is a sense.
It's an expression.
And it's supposed to express how you feel that day.
You know, certain days you want to dress down, certain days you want to dress up.
Whatever calls, you know you rise for the occasion and you come.
Make sure that you're fashionable for that, you know.
You mentioned Chanel, you're wearing Chanel.
You also showed up to that Chanel show in New York in November and kind of made all the headlines, as you were wearing a great men's look.
Tell me about that.
To be the newest male ambassador of Chanel is a dream come true.
Shout out to Matt Chu.
Working with him at Bottega was such an experience, so I knew that this would be nothing less than that.
The show was a beautiful show last November, and all of my dreams are coming true.
All of them.
Yeah.
Does that ever worry you?
No, man, I have a lot of dreams and aspirations.
Yeah.
The more I accomplish them, the more tears of joy roll down my face, the more, you know, happy I am.
And, you know.
Yeah.
I'm really happy with accomplishments, you know.
It reminds me of something you said in an interview.
This was a while ago.
You said the top is going to be the next step.
And you say, I mean, we're already here, but I'm talking the tippy top, the tippy top.
Do you feel like you've reached the tippy-top yet?
I'm still climbing up.
Yeah?
Yeah.
Yeah.
As a younger man, you spoke in interviews and in your music.
You kind of were a revolutionary in some ways.
You know, you were kind of like the young guy storming the gates.
Yeah.
Now you're a little bit older.
I'm wondering if you still have that point of view or if you feel like you've mellowed at all.
I don't know.
You tell me.
You know, I think I always had that rebellious ambition, and that's kind of what drives me.
When everybody's going left, I'll straight right.
That's always been my take on direction in general.
All right.
When you were 23 you said this in Interview Magazine.
I just want to make sure that by the time I'm 40 I don't have back problems and dumb shit going on with me because I was wilding when I was younger.
You're 37 now.
40's getting pretty close.
How are you feeling?
I feel great.
Yeah?
I feel how I look.
You know?
Yeah.
I'm exercising.
I'm a vegetarian.
I have a great diet.
You know, at the moment, I'm not smoking.
You know, I drunk some wine last night.
I would have said I'm not drinking, but then I'd be lying.
Yeah, that's okay.
Yeah, right, you know?
But I'm, you know, I'm chilling.
I'm taking it easy, man.
You know, going, getting checkups when I need to.
You know, just trying to stay away from processed westernized foods.
And you know FDA approved bullshit, you know.
And I'm trying to do my thing, man.
Stay pretty out here, man.
All right, last question.
What advice would you give your younger self?
That younger self that was coming up in Harlem or was living in a homeless shelter.
From the perspective of time now, what would you tell him?
Which age would you pick?
You tell me.
I mean, what would be an impressionable age if you could go back in time and give him some advice?
AAP Rocky.
Well, Rakim at 13 made a promise to myself that if I wasn't a big, successful rapper by 18, I was a failure.
So I like to tell my 13-year-old and 18-year-old self, just hang in there.
It's going to be cool.
Don't worry about nothing.
Your time will come.
Every dog has his day, and every good dog has two.
It's like what you were saying about hard work, putting in the time, everything else.
Absolutely.
Well, that's it.
I thank you so much for this conversation.
Thank you.
A$AP Rocky is on the March cover of Esquire magazine.
He's got a new record out, 116.
It's called Don't Be Dumb.
So go check it out.
Oh, this is legendary.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Yeah, this was awesome.
This was really awesome.
Thank you.
