A$AP Rocky Covers ELLE’s October Issue, Talks His New Album, Fatherhood, His Vindication in Court and More

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A$AP Rocky appears on the second cover for ELLE’s October 2025 issue, on newsstands September 30. In an exclusive interview with Clover Hope, the rapper-turned-style-setter-turned actor reflects on his vindication in court, why music remains sacred even as life expands, and trading late-night rock star chaos for his partnership with Rihanna and fatherhood. He used to enjoy being a playboy—he says he thought you had to be like that “to consider yourself a rock star”—but “There’s no longevity in that,” he’s learned. “What’s really fly is raising a family, bro, and loving them. Being there.”

Rocky shares his hope for their expanding family and how he and Rihanna are manifesting a baby girl: “I hope it’s a girl. I really do. We’re praying for a girl,” he says. “Our first time, we wanted to know the sex of the baby. The second time, we didn’t want to know. Third time, we don’t want to know until, you know.” He trails off. “I feel like it’s going to be a girl. This pregnancy is so different from the other two. You can tell from the experience. I hope it’s a baby girl, man. I need that.”

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On polyamory and leaving the playboy lifestyle behind: A$AP Rocky is talking polyamory. This isn’t about him and his famous partner. He isn’t judging anyone’s consensual lifestyle either. He just can’t tell what’s genuine these days. “It’s not for everybody,” he says. “Half these guys are just doing it for the camera, the look, the facade. But they go home lonely. No companionship. Nobody to let your stress out and vent to. Nobody to lift you up when you’re down.” He used to enjoy being a playboy—he says he thought you had to be like that “to consider yourself a rock star”—but “There’s no longevity in that,” he’s learned. “What’s really fly is raising a family, bro, and loving them. Being there.”

On his acquittal in February and trial fashion: “I knew I was innocent,” Rocky says. “I ain’t no f***ing gangster. I’m a pretty boy. I wear that like a badge of honor.” As for his trial fashion, he says, “I didn’t want to look too formal or tacky. If somebody asks you to come to court, regardless of what the affair is for, you better show up with some integrity, and that’s all I did. I got dressed.”

On relief following the trial and counting blessings: “A lot of times, circumstances and money block you from seeing how fortunate you are, because people measure fortune with commerce and economics. That’s gonna come,” he says. “This is really what I love in life, and somebody tried to take it away. As a man, I cried, man. Tears of joy.” Rocky pauses. “I still look handsome when I cry, though,” he says, and cracks up again. “I’m not an ugly-cry type of guy.”

On his elusive fourth album, Don’t Be Dumb, and why the music can wait, for now: “I don’t want to primarily blame it on my case, but life was lifeing,” he says of the album’s delay. “We don’t plan on having children, but when it happens, you gotta adjust and move with it. I gotta be present for my family, because that’s first.” His core fans might wonder if the artist nicknamed Pretty Flacko is still invested in hip-hop. “Yeah!” he replies, matter-of-factly. “It’s my career,” he says. “Do I depend on that to get my money? No. And that’s what people should appreciate about me. That’s not my cash cow. I treat it with way more spirituality. It’s sacred.”

On Rihanna’s response to the running joke of “never releasing music”: “You know what we joke about?” Rocky says, smirking. “She’s like, ‘Yo, I ain’t gonna lie. Your fans might want to kick you’re a** as much as my fans wanna kick my a**. What saves me is that I’m pregnant most of the time.’”

On Rihanna’s pregnancy and manifesting a baby girl: “I hope it’s a girl. I really do. We’re praying for a girl,” he says. “Our first time, we wanted to know the sex of the baby. The second time, we didn’t want to know. Third time, we don’t want to know until, you know.” He trails off. “I feel like it’s going to be a girl. This pregnancy is so different from the other two. You can tell from the experience. I hope it’s a baby girl, man. I need that.”

On his relationship with Rihanna and leaving work at the door: “We try to keep the business separate. What she does is what she does, and what I do is what I do. But when we collab, that’s fun because I get to be creative with her. She’s so trusting of me,” Rocky says. “We don’t talk too much about work, because we deal with that all day, every day,” he says. “When you come home, it’s about family. It’s about your relationship. It’s about your household. It ain’t about all that other s**t.”

On where his A$AP Mob stands after the trial: He considers some of them brothers, but they are in the process of repairing wounds. “I ain’t bulls****ing. This ain’t no politically correct answer,” he says. “Anybody who used to be my protégés, my friends, my musical band partners, and they don’t f**k with me, that’s ’cause they don’t f**k with me. I don’t have animosity toward anybody. I don’t have a reason to. I’m too happy.”

On his upcoming A24 film, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, starring Rose Byrne: Rocky’s main critique, if you will, is that he wishes the costume department had changed up his look (maybe had him wearing locs, he suggests), so that audiences wouldn’t see A$AP Rocky onscreen. “I’m just self-conscious about that,” he says. While filming in Montauk, Long Island, Byrne says Rocky would toss out ideas like having their characters sip on “some crazy drink.” (It was lean, Rocky says.)

On therapy skepticism and music as medicine: “I might get killed for this,” he says, “but I put therapists in the same box as psychic readings.” Rocky says. “I look at it like, Yo, if you don’t share the same experiences,” he says, “what’s the point of me telling a stranger my business for an hour straight, for them to just say, ‘Okay, well, how did that make you feel?’” When I reason that there’s been a push for more Black therapists in the field, he smiles and remarks, mischievously, “I think Jay-Z is a Black therapist.” Of course, music is therapy, and rappers help listeners process emotions. Metaphorically speaking, Rocky argues, “A lot of people come to him with their problems.”

On fashion evolution and what gives him confidence: “You’d never see a T-shirt with a f***ing Celine logo on it 10, 15 years ago. That was beyond them. They didn’t do T-shirts,” Rocky says. “They didn’t do men’s clothes back then, but there’s a need for it, there’s an ask for it because of the demographics, the trends we’re setting.” When I ask him what he loves about fashion, he says, “Maybe how I feel in it. Maybe the confidence and pizzazz and swag. I look really great in clothes, you know. I think so, at least. And I show other people, ‘This is how you should do it.’” He stops himself. “I hope I don’t come across as, like, one of those guys who are cool and inspirational, but too much on their own f***ing…you know.”

On Drake and Kendrick’s diss tracks: Drake responded to Rocky again on “Family Matters,” a diss track aimed at Kendrick Lamar. “It was healthy for hip-hop,” he says. “The battle was between Kendrick and Drake, not Drake and everybody else who might have said something at that time, and that’s mainly why I fell back. I just hate the way it’s turning out with [Drake] suing and all that. What part of the game is that? What type of s**t is that? That’s none of my business, I guess.”

Editor-in-chief: Nina Garcia
Photographer: Justin French
Stylist: Jan-Michael Quammie
Writer: Clover Hope
Hair: Tashana Miles
Barber: Danny Espinal
Grooming: Mirna Jose
Manicure: Dawn Sterling

[Photo Credit:  Justin French for ELLE Magazine]

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