- Shooting outside Rihanna’s home was ‘f***ed up’ and ‘unprovoked’ for Rocky’s family
- Despite incident, Rocky feels free and unafraid in his own city
- Describes joyful moments with Rihanna during childbirth, aims to keep kids grounded
A$AP Rocky has provided his first-ever comments about the shooting that took place outside of Rihanna’s Beverly Hills mansion.
The Don’t Be Dumb rapper is VIBE’s Summer 2026 cover star, sitting down for an interview with the mag about his career, his life as a family man, and his relationship with Rihanna. During the conversation, he spoke out for the first time about the shooting that happened outside of his longtime partner’s Beverly Hills home, emphasizing just how frightening that moment was for their family.
“It was f***ed up. it was hurtful,” Rocky said when asked about his immediate reaction following the incident. “It was scary, all that s**t. you know? Somebody attempted at me and my family. That s**t was just f***ed up and it was unprovoked. It was out of nowhere.”
Rocky went on to comment about the current state of celebrity culture, insisting that even before the internet, fans have always found ways to get close to their favorite public figures.
“Nah, bro. They’ve been on that before I was even famous, bro,” the rapper argued. “Robert DeNiro would land in London and you’d already have 30 fans at his hotel. Leonardo DiCaprio, f***ing whoever, Kanye … that was before internet. Fans that [are] real loyal fans, and stans [who] love you that much–they gonna figure out a way to get to you, welcome you.”
The Harlem native went on to add, “Sometimes they want a hug. They want an autograph, They want a ‘what’s up?’ They want a picture. They want simple s**t, you know And I don’t want that one incident to set a precedent.”
Rocky did acknowledge that the shooting has changed vertain aspects of his life, but he made sure to distinguish the incident from the behavior of his usual supporters.
“There are mentally challenged people out there, obviously,” he began. “And there are people who are mentally ill and s**t, and there are lots of people who are normal and are just fans. And that incident definitely had changed a lot. But it took away a lot of peace and happiness of being able to just be free. But in my own city, I do not feel afraid or threatened.”
On a much happier note, Rocky also talked about the simple joys in life, opening up about how he and Rihanna spent the moments before she gave birth to their two sons, Riot, 2, and RZA, 4, and daughter Rocki, 8 months.
“It was just so exciting because you just don’t know what to prepare for,” he told VIBE. “You don’t know what’s to come, so the second and third time was really similar to the first experience. We were laughing while she was in labor, literally laughing and cracking jokes and s**t.”
Gushing over his life as a father of three, Rocky also shared how he defines fatherhood.
“Being emotionally present, emotionally available, receptive, still endearing, but not only that, loving,” he explained. “That’s easy. That’s me all day. That’s just me.”
But, regardless of how much love he gives his children, the rapper also wants to make sure that his offspring doesn’t take advantage of their unique position.
“I want to make sure that I teach my boys discipline and keep them grounded, keep them humble as much as possible,” he explained. “Because they could be considered nepo babies. I got to make sure they chill with their cousins, the rough cousins that’s going keep them on their toes.”