Member of the A$AP Mob, founder of creative agency AWGE, and all-American bad boy A$AP Rocky is everyone’s envy with the 90s-themed visuals for his latest single, “D.M.B.”, starring alongside his romantic partner and mother of his child, Rihanna.
Fans who spotted Rocky and Riri shooting a video in July 2021 were far from disappointed with the animated spectacle. In it, we witness the epitome of street culture, a varied taste in fashion, and an innovative mingle between the filler and reel culture of modern technology versus the classic texture of baby boom generation visuals.
Written, directed, and exclusively produced by A$AP Rocky for AWGE, “D.M.B.” shies away from the upper-class luxury of areas such as Times Square and Manhattan. The move accentuates Rocky’s bad-boy persona, who remains true to his doe boy status as he narrates a ghetto love tale in short film format, doing justice to his environment. This is most noticeable in scenes of him being released from remand detention multiple times, only to engage in high-risk activities that will most likely send him back to prison. The duality of his hoodlum mentality coupled with his refined taste in fashion is precisely what made his debut album single “Fashion Killa” come to pass, subsequently earning him a soft spot in the billionaire bad girl’s heart.
Pulling his weight as one-half of a fashion power couple, Rocky sports a custom two-finger ring he designed with Jason of Beverly Hills, featuring 120 grams of eighteen-karat gold and five carats of round, brilliant white diamonds. He also wears fashion pieces such as a monochrome red outfit, in addition to a classic tux, a fuzzy green hat, gold necklaces, a white tank top, and distressed denim jeans.
Rihanna flaunts a Barbie-pink-and-orange fur coat with gold jewellery, a tan slipdress with an asymmetrical hem, and a mint-blue tweed jacket. Accessorizing with gold jewellery and sunglasses, she dons an all-brown outfit consisting of a corset tucked into baggy trousers and a long shearling-lined coat.
Nobody can forget the tongue-wagging hysteria caused by the ratchet proposal Rocky shared with his partner. In a counter-culture move, which is not that surprising considering his creative acumen and history with hip-hop, he proposed to Rihanna via a mouthful of dazzling Grillz. And Rihanna, also in Grillz, matched his energy with an “I DO”.
I can’t help but share Rocky’s sentiments in his Drink Champs interview, where he expressed how social media has made fifteen-second reels more important than intentional, full-length visuals, feature films, and movies. This change does not simply pose a contextual threat to how art is interpreted as seen in polarizing clips that exaggerate a moment in our politically-correct climate. The greatest threat is that the bigger picture that comes with consuming content in its entirety, where there are both the positive and negative connotations within an artist’s message, is lost in translation.
Artists are tasked with the impossible: deciding between having 15-30 seconds of a show-stopping moment of replay value or investing in stretching the theatrical scope of a music video. It is a brand new challenge in the current climate of music to take just enough bait for the algorithm to entice the audience to watch the whole video that will make them feel like those five minutes are worth the stream.
A$AP Rocky has quietly been at the forefront of shifting the tectonic plates of creative culture through his creative agency. From shooting ads with Mercedes Benz and creating his own affordable alcohol brand (Mercer + Prince) with lush packaging to shooting music videos for acts such as Tyler, The Creator (who’s collaborated with him in fashion, as well), Playboi Carti, A$AP Ferg, and Nas. “D.M.B.” makes a wildly vivid display of how far he can stretch his imagination given the right amount of time, team, budget and inspiration.
Watch “D.M.B.” Here:
