Grammy nominated rapper Rakim Mayers, known by his stage name A$AP Rocky, released a new single “Babushka Boi” on August 28, 2019, following his guilty verdict of assault in Stockholm, Sweden. 

Mayers and two associates were arrested and detained in Stockholm on July 3, 2019, and later charged with assault. Mayers was deemed a flight risk by the Swedish government and held for an additional thirty days. In those thirty days, many came to his support such as Donald Trump, Kim Kardashian, Tyler Okonma (aka Tyler, The Creator) and more. He was allowed back into the U.S. on August 4. On August 14, 2019, Swedish judges ruled that Mayers pay a $1,300 fine for damages of the victim and court fees. 

In the “Babushka Boi” music video, directed by Nadia Lee Cohen, Mayers and fellow rappers Schoolboy Q and A$AP Ferg portray bank robbers being chased by cartoonish “pig” police officers. Many have interpreted this as ill-will towards the Swedish justice system or speaking out against the many cases of police brutality in the United States. The climax of the music video shows Mayers and his posse fighting the police in a final “shootout” resulting in the police being turned into pork sausages.  

“Babuskha Boi” was written by A$AP Rocky and produced by German electronic dance music (EDM) producer, Boys Noize and A$AP Mob affiliated producer, Hector Delgado. The track features a heavy distorted 808 drum and a melody consisting of cowbells with a background of screams giving the it an eerie tone. 

The music video matches the uneasy tone of the song by using a colorful cartoon aesthetic to ironically depict violence and crime. According to Rolling Stones, the video itself is heavily influenced by a 1930’s comic strip and subsequent 90’s film, Dick Tracy in which a mafioso robs a bank with tommy guns. Like the music video the comic strip is also full of vibrant colors depicting true crime. 

In the chorus of the track, “The world is yours Scarface/I would like to dedicate this to the scar on my face,” Mayers relates himself to the fictional mob boss, Scarface. They both have scars on their faces, which Mayers got age 15 from being pistol-whipped. Mayers also delivers a bar, “I ain’t duck sauce since I became vegan,” which adds to the irony of the video, where he turns the policemen into pork sausages. 

It is unknown if this is a single to build hype up for a new album, following the mixed reviewed 2018 album “TESTING”. Let us know what you think about the new single by sounding off in the comments.