A$AP Rocky Drops Latest Single “D.M.B” Along With Eye-Catching Visual
Photo by @fucktatnames
Apart from the recent release from Nigo with his I Know NIGO! album, it’s been a while since we got new music from A$AP Rocky. For those who don’t know, Nigo is a Japanese fashion designer, DJ, and record producer; best known as the creator of fashion line A Bathing Ape or Bape. Nigo is no stranger to the hip hop industry being a member of the Japanese hip hop group Teriyaki Boys and a longtime collaborator with Pharrell and Kanye West. Having one of the biggest, if not the biggest impacts with his Bapstas he changed fashion in hip hop with the help of Pharrell and Kanye. With the release of his latest album he recruited A$AP Rocky for the lead single Arya; Rocky’s first song in a couple years. If you know anything about A$AP Rocky you know that he is constantly experimenting and evolving as an artist. From Arya to the latest single D.M.B, Rocky continues to show his versatility.
“A ghetto love tale” reads on the cover art for the single and this is exactly what that is. When you think about a love song you would probably think sad and melancholy, this is the opposite. Rocky is not an artist that typically talks about his personal relationships but this time he raps about his love for Rihanna and their relationship together. D.M.B, which stands for “DAT$ MAH B!*$H” is a new approach for a love song. D.M.B is the version of him perfecting and expanding the sound he initially created with his last album Testing, reminiscent of his song Changes. When talking about how women are viewed as sex symbols and are degraded within the hip hop industry, Rocky is doing the exact opposite. “I don’t beat my bitch, I need my bitch, she clean my crib, she feed my friends, she keep my fridge packed” Rocky raps in the first verse. Expressing that he is against abuse and how he needs Rihanna because she is everything in his life. A different approach to hip hop where most rappers negatively speak on women, Rocky shows his appreciation for Rihanna and everything she does for him.
With very minimal drums and a laid-back melody, Rocky raps for majority of the song and sings for the latter half of the song; a style Rocky has been developing since his 2015 album AT.LONG.LAST.A$AP. This song being a dedication to Rihanna shows how the relationship between the two of them has influenced Rocky in a good way by making him a little more vulnerable in his music; something Rocky hasn’t done much of in the past. Ironically another song that shows this side of Rocky is Fashion Killa which features Rihanna in the music video. I believe this song along with many more will be a changing factor in how women are represented in hip hop. Expressing your love and appreciation for someone is a difficult thing to do in today’s generation where vulnerability is seen as a weakness, especially in the black community where we choose pride over being vulnerable. Women do a lot of great things that may go unnoticed or underappreciated and it’s important for a man to reinforce his gratitude towards her. A$AP Rocky did a great job with that by not only conveying his love, but also showing how important Rihanna has been to his life.
Accompanied by a great video that A$AP Rocky directed, the visuals are next level. Rocky has been killing his music videos for some time now and I think it’s time to recognize that his videos are some of the most creative videos in history. The video gives you an insight of Rocky’s life, taking you through his lens of New York. It utilizes a collage of pictures and videos from the time spent together between Rocky and Rihanna to create a story that led to Rocky proposing to Rihanna. A cool way to propose to say the least, Rocky is putting himself right where he left off. D.M.B is what looks like the start of an album rollout and he executed it great. This song has a positive vibe and is worth a listen, it gives off the impression of a guy bragging about how great his girl is and how other women can’t compare. A$AP Rocky is back with latest song D.M.B to set the bar high for rappers to speak more positively about women.