A$AP Rocky on AI in hip-hop: useful tool, not a replacement
A$AP Rocky would rather make a record himself than hand the job to artificial intelligence.
The rapper set out his position in an interview with Complex published on 14 October, in a conversation titled “A$AP Rocky on ‘Don’t Be Dumb’ Disc 2 and the State of Rap”. He said he prefers to work practically and build music on his own, rather than rely on AI systems to create it for him, according to reporting by Billboard.
That does not mean he rejects the technology outright. Rocky said AI can be a useful studio tool, for example to split stems, the separate parts of a recording such as vocals, drums and bass, and to remove a vocal to isolate an instrumental.
His line sits with the tool, not the finished song. Asked about tracks made entirely by AI, he said: “who am I to say what’s standard and what’s not?” In the full Complex interview, he added that if somebody makes a totally AI-generated song where all they did was prompt something, then that is their thing. A prompt here means a typed instruction given to an AI system.
Rocky also noted the backlash faced by two other rap acts who have worked with AI. He named Fenix Flexin, a member of Shoreline Mafia, and Tyga.
Fenix Flexin’s “Rubberz” became the first fully AI-produced song to enter the Billboard Hot 100, the United States singles chart, earlier in 2026. It peaked at No. 58. Tyga used AI tools on his album $tarface but said all vocals on the project were his own.
The comments follow a busy year for Rocky. He released the album Don’t Be Dumb in January after an eight-year hiatus. It topped the Billboard 200, the US albums chart.
It was his third No. 1 on that chart, and his first in more than a decade, according to Billboard.
Rocky has since wrapped the North American and European legs of his Don’t Be Dumb World Tour. He is due to tour Australia and New Zealand in December.
What makes this stand out is the tone. Rocky did not call for a ban or pick a fight. He drew a clear line between using AI to take a song apart and using it to make one from scratch, then left the rest to listeners.
