A$AP Rocky is applying Burtonesque touches to his next studio album.
In a collaboration that fans have been tracking, with little success, for more than a year, the U.S. hip-hop star reveals Tim Burton is on board with his next project.
In an all-caps social post, A$AP Rocky announces the end of a near-eight-year drought with Don’t Be Dumb, what will be his fourth studio album.
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Burton, the legendary director behind such films as Edward Scissorhands, Batman, and Mars Attacks, created the album artwork, which can be seen below. Rocky also alludes to a “movie,” which is understood to be the visual assets connected with the release.
“SORRY 4 THE WAIT DON’T BE DUMB FINALLY HERE! THANKS TIM BURTON FOR HELPING ME MAKE THIS MOVIE! COMING SOON,” he writes.
The Mob frontman has teased the album on several occasions, including his performance last month at Camp Flog Gnaw, where he donned a hoodie with a set of numbers emblazoned across the right sleeve.
Those numbers, “01162026,” were seen as the strongest of hints at a Jan. 16, 2026 release date for the album. Or perhaps not. That date also happens to be National Nothing Day, and Rocky has separately said the album is still slated to drop this year.
“Danny Elfman, he just did my album with me that I’m putting out this year,” Rocky said during a conversation as part of Variety‘s Hollywood Issue. “He scored a bunch of the songs on my album.”
Elfman, for those keeping score, has frequently scored Burton’s films.
As part of his August 2024 cover story with Billboard, Rocky revealed he intended to have the Oscar-nominated director design the cover, but their schedules didn’t align to properly collaborate on the artwork.
That’s no longer the case.
“I sat and I played the album for Tim Burton, and he was f—ing with it heavy,” he said of Burton’s reaction to the music. “He was rocking his head and he’s like, ‘Wow! I didn’t know you made that kind of music!’” Elfman reportedly contributed to certain songs, including one produced by The Alchemist.
A$AP Rocky’s last album arrived in 2018 with TESTING, which peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard 200, one his three top 10 appearances. The Harlem native has led the all-genres albums chart on two occasions, with 2013’s Long.Live.A$AP, and 2015’s AT.LONG.LAST.A$AP.
Don’t Be Dumb was originally intended for an Aug. 30, 2024 release, and has been beset with multiple delays. Previously announced tracks on the collection include “Highjack,” “Tailor Swif,” “Ruby Rosary” and “Pray4DaGang.”
