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.
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