A$AP Rocky’s Rise: The Rap Star’s Harlem Roots to Family Life with Rihanna | Billboard Cover
Billboard cover star A$AP Rocky has made significant waves in the music industry, and in a revealing interview, he shares more than just his music. During a tour around Harlem, he discusses his deep connection to the neighborhood that raised him and its lasting impact not only on his music but also on his parenting style. He highlights the legacy of the Harlem Renaissance, how fatherhood has changed him, his relationship with Rihanna and more!
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00:00This is why I never leave Harlem.
00:02You can find rock on the block.
00:08Yo, Billboard, what's up? Pretty Flocko here, a.k.a. A$AP Rocky,
00:12and I'm taking y'all on a walk with me through Harlem. Let's get it.
00:23This is technically the beginning of Harlem.
00:25110th Street is where Harlem starts.
00:27I was born on the 116th up this way, St. Luke's Hospital.
00:32And right here is Booker T. Washington, my middle school.
00:35A lot of memories around here. Middle school is where it all happened.
00:39Fashion, girls, bad grades, yeah.
00:42Back in the days, we used to wear Pele Pele,
00:45Wazzams, Rockaway, Cap USA.
00:48I couldn't afford Apollo Signature back then, I ain't gonna lie.
00:52Nobody know about that shit.
00:54Nobody know about that shit.
00:56Apollo Signature is way too expensive.
01:06Melvins is probably one of the only places still creating a community.
01:10We walk in here, you're gonna see aunties, uncles, grandmas, grandpops.
01:15All generations.
01:16Cousins, yeah, youngsters.
01:18Everybody come here on good time and not bad time, you feel me?
01:22It's a Sunday afternoon, they're having a block party outside.
01:26It don't even matter that I'm here right now.
01:28My presence is just adding to it. It's a cherry on top.
01:32That's Harlem.
01:33Cheers.
01:40Look at Dap, the legend.
01:41Dap!
01:43What's up, legend?
01:44What's up, legend?
01:45I love it.
01:46What's going on, man?
01:47They told me you was here, man.
01:48I came to say hi.
01:50Let people know how you inspired them.
01:52Thank you for coming to Harlem, man.
01:53Thank you for being here, because I brag about you all the time.
01:56Man, you know I love you to death, right?
01:58I love you, man.
01:59Hi, Dap.
02:00You're ready.
02:01All good, all good.
02:04I think it feels more like a community.
02:06Institution, establishment, community, whatever you want to call it.
02:10It just feels all inclusive.
02:12You can walk down the block, you might see somebody that you grew up with.
02:15You might walk down the block and see white people.
02:19This is Harlem.
02:20This is fire.
02:21These are called A$AP Yams.
02:24Some of the best candy yams in Harlem.
02:26Melbours.
02:28Told you.
02:30Was I right or was I right?
02:31You were right.
02:32All right.
02:33Man said I'm right, you know what I'm saying?
02:34What can I say?
02:35I really appreciate you coming out to Harlem and doing this interview, you know?
02:42A$AP Rocky.
02:43The Rocky Walker Project.
02:45I'm here in Melbours, Oakland Street.
02:47This my man right here.
02:48We in Harlem all day.
02:49We love you.
02:50Thank you and I love you guys.
02:51Harlem, we don't get it like this nowhere else.
02:53You feel me?
02:54We love you so much.
02:55God bless you, sister.
02:57Hey, Doc.
02:58Love you, man.
02:59This is what make Harlem so great.
03:01Absolutely.
03:02We come home.
03:03Look.
03:04See this?
03:05We come home.
03:06All right, so now we're going to go towards the block that I was born on and whatnot.
03:10You know what I'm saying?
03:15Hey, y'all.
03:16How y'all doing?
03:17All right.
03:19What's up, y'all?
03:23Man, Roscoe.
03:24Man, what's up, baby?
03:25What's up, OG?
03:27How you feeling, Roscoe?
03:28Oh, good.
03:29I woke up this morning.
03:30This man watched me grow up, man.
03:32I ain't going to lie.
03:33This is a good family friend right here.
03:34I'm proud of you.
03:35Thank you, brother.
03:36Thank you, man.
03:38I guess my advice worked.
03:39Yeah.
03:40Listen, you dropping juice since I was a youngin'.
03:42Thank you, man.
03:43We on 116th right now between Manhattan Ave and Morningside.
03:46This is the block that I was born on in 88.
03:51A long, long time ago.
03:57First thing I think of is my brother, for real, for real.
04:01Yeah.
04:02I was 13 when he died.
04:03That was like 2002.
04:05Shit was crazy.
04:09Yeah.
04:10He got killed on the same block he was born on.
04:13I mean, that's just how this shit be out here, though.
04:15You know what I mean?
04:16Like, that's regular stories anywhere you go.
04:18That's the building that I was born in on 116th right here.
04:25We was on the fourth floor.
04:30Yeah, this my old hood.
04:32Got so much memories in that park over there across the street.
04:35Getting stuck in the swings in the summertime, the big, the icies.
04:40Cocoa, cherry, mango.
04:42Yeah.
04:43I'm not gonna lie, this building still looks the same.
04:46Like...
04:47It's good.
04:48Yeah.
04:49Everybody used to sit out here.
04:51You either eat, like, sunflower seeds.
04:53People double dutching.
04:55People having fun.
04:56I don't really think they do that no more.
04:58People don't really play outside too much.
05:00Kids is kind of stuck to their screens and shit.
05:03But, yeah, that's like my memories, you know?
05:05Yeah, I brought my girl up here.
05:07She sat on this stoop with me and, you know, kind of took it all in.
05:14We're gonna go to Morningside Park real quick.
05:27I wonder how this looks.
05:28It must look like real cerebral and just...
05:32It must look cool.
05:33We might look like we're in, like, Alabama or the swamps somewhere right now.
05:37I got a soft spot for little kids, man.
05:39After being a dad, man, I just...
05:41I look at puppies and kids and I just get all, like, mushy inside and shit like that.
05:47You know what I'm saying?
05:48What did Harlem teach you about fatherhood?
05:50Like, what are the...
05:51All the lessons you brought from here into your daddy duties?
05:55I think my father taught me a lot about fatherhood.
05:58I think my father taught me about fatherhood.
06:00And being in Harlem, I guess, it subsequently allowed me to just kind of carry, like,
06:06principles and morals of an inner city, you know, a man or adult or a parent.
06:15Being in Harlem, it allows you the freedom of, like, walking to the store, walking to the park,
06:21you know, clearing your mind, going to the swings,
06:24being more present and active.
06:26If you live in a suburb somewhere, you're probably more, like, inclined to just, like,
06:30go to work, go to the mall, go, you know, just...
06:33Driving.
06:34Driving and shit.
06:35Here, it's just, you know, you're more present.
06:39You're more in the thick of it, you know?
06:41How do you impart that on to your children?
06:43Because they're surely not going to be able to live the same childhood you live.
06:47Yes, they do.
06:48How?
06:49Man, let me show you a little rizzle.
06:51Yes, they do.
06:52How?
06:53Man, let me show you a little rizzle.
06:54Last night, bro, look, this is my little man right here.
06:57A$AP Rocky and Rihanna's kids aren't going to walk to a corner store in the middle of the night to go...
07:02Why the fuck not?
07:04Because they are the children of A$AP Rocky and Rihanna.
07:08But they're still human.
07:10Like, they're human beings, man.
07:12Look, this is him last night.
07:15He was walking to the corner store.
07:17How different are your and Rihanna's parenting styles?
07:20She's fun and shit, too.
07:21I mean, she's just, she's the mom.
07:24I'm the dad, she's the female.
07:25I'm a male, and I think that's the only difference is we're both silly as shit.
07:29She play too fucking much.
07:31Like, she like to prank and shit like that.
07:33When my kid was born, it was all about mom.
07:35A little after he turned two, it was like, it's all about dad.
07:38And I was like, not prepared for it.
07:40It always starts out, it's always about dad.
07:43Then they just...
07:45And it's just like, they become mama's boys overnight and shit like that.
07:48You know what I'm saying?
07:49What is the Harlem influence on Don't Be Dumb?
07:51I think Harlem Renaissance.
07:54I walk around Harlem and I just feel like, you know, black royalty.
07:59I feel the love, I feel the appreciation and the admiration.
08:03When you think about, or you talk about Langston Hughes,
08:06you talk about Louis Armstrong, you talk about Cab Calloway,
08:10these guys was just walking around with a cigarette and whiskey.
08:13They would walk to the Cotton Club.
08:15It's no difference.
08:16You got to soak up all the energy and the game and all of that.
08:21And the only way to do that is to be in the thick of it, like I said.
08:24Us just walking around and feeling the people, feeling the love.
08:27That's the family, that's your neighbor, that's thy neighbor.
08:30That's thy brother and sister, and like I said, auntie and uncle and whatnot.
08:34That man who I saw, Roscoe,
08:37Mr. Roscoe, not only did he watch every person in my family grow up,
08:43but he was there.
08:45Me just bumping into him randomly like that,
08:48you can only do that if you're in the thick of it, like I said.
08:52It's interesting when we spoke, you brought up the 100-year anniversary of the Harlem Renaissance.
08:56And for most people who don't know, it was going on since 1918, 1919,
09:02but the real crux of it was in 1924 where the National Urban League had the party
09:07that brought everybody together.
09:09Did you see the flyer for it?
09:10Yeah.
09:11Yeah, that was crazy, right?
09:12It's nuts.
09:13I think about that.
09:14You knew about that.
09:15I'm proud of you.
09:16I'm proud of you.
09:17Yeah, that's what's up, gang.
09:18I'm glad you're bringing this out to the masses.
09:20But people get bored by it, so I'm trying to disguise it so it's not so boring
09:25and it's not like you're trying to be preaching, teaching.
09:27All those people that were partying together, it was just a concentration of talent.
09:32Right now, do you feel that Harlem has that same concentration of talent?
09:36I don't think that Harlem has, per se, a crazy movement right now,
09:42like the Harlem Renaissance or Diplomats or ASAP or Harlem World or something like that.
09:47I think it's in the transitional period.
09:51This shit comes around once every 10 years.
09:56Once every 15 years, there's always something new to come out of Harlem and go big.
10:01But what I like about Harlem that I felt was missing for a while,
10:05and I don't know if it was after COVID we came back to it,
10:08but it feels like a real fucking community again.
10:11This is somewhere where I would consider raising my family.
10:20You didn't have one, I can tell. You didn't have one. You need one. Come get one.
10:24Can I get a cocoa-cherry-mango mix, two of those?
10:27Yeah!
10:30That's good, gang!
10:32Yo, who going crazy on the court right now?
10:35I see y'all, boy! I see y'all, buddy!
10:38Yeah!
10:40On the side, regular Sunday.
10:43Okay, brosé. Love, bro. Y'all ready.
10:49Hey, Billboard, that's a wrap.
10:51I need y'all to stay tuned for my cover shoot, man.
10:54I'll see y'all there.
10:56See this handsome fella on the front page of that Billboard magazine again ASAP.
11:19I'll see y'all there.