In a new interview with The Wall Street Journal‘s WSJ Magazine, ASAP Rocky finally addresses his experiences in Swedish jail in detail, including sharing his thoughts on the assistance he received from Donald Trump. In Rocky’s eyes, the experience was frustrating — he characterizes his time in Swedish detention as excruciatingly boring — but ultimately helpful, as, “All these old folks know who A$AP Rocky is now. It’s hilarious. Old folks be like, ‘That A$AP Rocky kid ain’t too bad, huh?’”
Although there were reports that the White House was angry that Rocky never thanked Donald Trump for making calls to the Swedish government on his behalf, Rocky reiterates he did thank Trump and recounts the contents of their conversation here. “[Trump] called me shortly after I came out,” Rocky says. “He was just like, ‘How you doing?’ I was like, ‘I’m good.’ I thanked him, and that was really it. Cordial.”
Of course, it was also reported later on down the line, as Rocky’s name repeatedly cropped up during Trump’s impeachment hearings, that some in the US government wanted to see him convicted for political purposes. When asked about whether he thinks Trump had political motivations for helping him, the Harlem rapper seems ambivalent: “That’s a very big possibility,” he says. “I was just thanking whoever helped me when I was in that shit. I wasn’t concerned with anyone’s motivations.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Rocky describes Swedish prison as populated largely by people of color, talks about the process of crafting his new album, why he does psychedelics, and says he’s “scared of hits.” which kind of explains Testing. Read the interview in full here.
