In the 10 yeas since he notched his first Top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Fuckin’ Problems,” A$AP Rocky has seen a lot of his fellow rappers die young due to gun violence and drug overdoses. (Juice WRLD, PnB Rock, King Von, Takeoff—the list is sadly very long.) These tragic losses have have inspired Rocky to look inward and reconsider the types of things he writes about, and that process of quiet contemplation informs his brand-new single “Same Problems?”, the first taste of his forthcoming fourth album, Don’t Be Dumb.
Produced by Rocky himself under the alias Lord Flacko and featuring vocals from Lil Yachty and Miguel, “Same Problems?” is a sparse and soulful byproduct of “remorse,” as Rocky told Zane Lowe. “I think I was also feeling a sense of guilt, because every time we lose somebody in our community, we all, especially me, have a habit of just saying things like, ‘It’s messed up. It’s wrong. Why do these kind of things happen?’” he told Lowe, as Stereogum reports. “You ask a bunch of questions and usually … I never took time out to really understand that I was part of the problem because I was contributing those kind of lyrics and whatnot to songs.”
“Same Problems?” opens with Yachty repeatedly singing the line, “How many problems get solved?” over pensive jazz bass. Rocky then steps up for the first verse and describes how commonplace early deaths have become in his community.
Niggas dyin’ every other night (Solved)
Niggas cryin’, that’s a part of life
Lyin’ to my face (Solved), tryna say that it’s all good (Ooh)
No, I’m not alright (Shit don’t, shit, ooh, shit don’t, ah)
Toward the end of the verse, Rocky touches on how tragedy has affected his life. He doesn’t give specifics, but he notably lost his brother Ricky to gun violence and his mentor A$AP Yams to an overdose in 2015.
Stand by a nigga, wrong or right
Not new to drama, nigga, all my life
Not new to trauma, nigga, all my life (Ooh)
Been duckin’ karma, nigga, all my life (Shit don’t, ah, shit, ooh, shit don’t)
On the chorus, Rocky builds on Yachty’s intro and wonders if, by virtue of not being part of the solution, he’s part of the problem.
How many problems get solved? (Ooh)
Am I proud of the things in my songs?
How many problems get solved? (Ooh)
Am I product of all of my flaws?
How many problems get solved if we don’t get involved?
In the third verse, Rocky returns to the idea of horrible things becoming almost routine where he’s from.
Just settle down, shawty I’m sellin’ white
Niggas cryin’ and it’s just the other night (Shit don’t)
Mommas cryin’, it’s a part of life (Shit)
Momma sayin’ I’m a satellite (Ooh, shit don’t)
Rocky told Zane Lowe that Don’t Be Dumb will showcase his maturity and artistic growth. “The new stuff is me being vulnerable, and it’s just no filter, and just where I’m at, at my stage,” Rocky said. “My age and how I see things, my peers, the younger kids, the older cats, it’s just my perspective.”
You can read all the lyrics to “Same Problems?” on Genius now.
