A$AP Rocky Tickets

Pushing the edges of his sound from his native Harlem to Houston, A$AP Rocky boldly transcended rap’s geographic boundaries.

“It’s about daring to differ”, A$AP Rocky said in one of his typically outspoken interviews, setting out an early manifesto for what was to come. From music to fashion, as a fledgling member of the New York collective A$AP Mob or a Billboard-topping A-lister, the rapper born Rakim Mayers was committed to his creative muse more than a traditional sense of place or style, challenging long-held ideas about what East Coast rap is supposed to be in the streaming era.

Born and raised in Harlem, Mayers spent time living in homeless shelters with his family while coming to grips with the murder of his older brother, the person who had got him into hip-hop as a child. In music, he would soon find a solid mentor and friend in Yams, the co-founder of the A$AP Mob and catalyst in defining the rapper’s genre-expanding vision. Steeped in Houston influences and cloud rap’s hazy, lo-fi atmospherics, ‘Peso’ and ‘Purple Swag’, both featured on A$AP Rocky’s 2011 debut mixtape LIVE.LOVE.A$AP, sparked debates and fresh excitement for New York rap in the new decade, aided by production talents such as Clams Casino and Ty Beats. Despite just two singles, record labels jumped in, with the rapper signing a 3$-million-dollar deal with Sony/RCA-distributed Polo Grounds Music, while still in his early 20s. 

Assembling the likes of Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Florence Welch and Skrillex, A$AP Rocky’s 2013 major label debut, LONG.LIVE.A$AP topped the US Billboard 200, melding screwed-and-chopped aesthetics with EDM and electro-pop that brought his uncompromising authenticity into sharp focus. In 2015, his sophomore record AT.LONG.LAST.A$AP (A.L.L.A..) graced him with another number one but, furthermore, it reaffirmed his drive to champion a dreamy, genre-swirling sound that drew from trap, gospel and alt-R&B alongside collaborators such as Kanye West, Rod Stewart and Mark Ronson. Sadly, along with vertiginous success came loss: Yams died of an accidental overdose, aged 26, just a few months before the album’s release.

Now, without his most trusted creative ally, A$AP Rocky set out to explore uncharted sonic territory: TESTING came in 2018 to affirm the rapper’s innate instinct to take chances, upping the experimental ante with features from guests like Frank Ocean, Moby and Skepta. Reaching up to number five in the charts, the album divided fans and critics — but in its poignant 15-track statement, it also contained some of the rapper’s most mood-grabbing offerings, including ‘Fukk Sleep’ with haunting, siren-like vocals by FKA Twigs.

It would be a long eight years before A$AP Rocky released another album; a time marked by trials and tribulations, quite literally, as the rapper faced charges of firing a gun at a former collaborator — of which he was eventually acquitted — but also triumphs, with standout fashion moments, film roles and, most importantly, three children with his power couple other half, Rihanna. He channelled this new era of life-changing experiences into his fourth full-length, Don't Be Dumb, arriving in early 2026 to set the record straight: with album artwork from goth-adjacent director Tim Burton, collabs including major Hollywood composer Danny Elfman and Tyler, The Creator, Gorillaz and Doechii, the album swings, stretches and hops between psychedelic rap, Duke Ellington jazz and alt-rock. ‘Fashion Killa’ or ‘Punk Rocky’, A$AP knows how to roll with the punches.