Looking to the future. A$AP Rocky opened up about the values he intends to raise his children with in an interview published two weeks after welcoming a son with Rihanna.
“I will always remind my [future] children to never lose their imagination, even as adults, no matter what. I actually love to watch cartoons,” the rapper, 33, told Dazed Magazine in an interview published on Monday, May 30. “I hope to raise open-minded children. Not people who discriminate. And I’m not trying to describe a saint, but realistically, I just want a cool child with cool parents.”
He continued: “Things like diversity and versatility are important, and they’ll be embedded in the household.”
Fatherhood has also made Rocky think about his own family and the importance of legacy, which he reflected on during his trips to Barbados with Rihanna, 34, ahead of the birth of their child. “It was honestly so unbelievable. I had family there that only came up [to New York] once every five years, family I only spoke to over the phone my whole life,” he explained about returning to the island where his late father grew up. “You remember those one-dollar, five-dollar phone cards? I was raised to know about my heritage, but I was missing the actual experience. I didn’t get to experience it until I was an adult. It was one of the most surreal experiences I’ve encountered in my lifetime.”
Earlier this month, Us Weekly confirmed that the “Work” singer had given birth to a baby boy on May 13 in Los Angeles.
She debuted her baby bump in January, while walking through the streets of Harlem, New York, with Rocky on a snowy day. Later that week, Rihanna gave her social media followers another glimpse at her growing belly. “How the gang pulled up to black history month,” the then-expectant star captioned a February Instagram photo taken in her bathroom.
The couple’s pregnancy announcement came nearly one year after Rocky talked about relationship publicly for the first time, describing the Fenty Beauty founder as “The One.”
“[It’s] so much better when you got The One. She amounts to probably, like, a million of the other ones. I think when you know, you know,” he gushed to GQ in May 2021. When asked if he could see himself having children with Rihanna in the future, the New York native responded, “If that’s in my destiny, absolutely. I think I’d be an incredible, remarkably, overall amazing dad. I would have a very fly child.”
Rihanna, for her part, was also hoping to start a family one day. “She can’t wait to be a mom!” a source told Us in February. “She’s embracing her pregnancy body and sees it as a beautiful thing. She’s been taking care of herself and her growing baby. ASAP is attending to her every need, definitely treating her like a princess.”
The insider added: “Rihanna’s going to be an amazing mother. She’s had some practice already with her nieces and nephews.”
One month before their son’s birth, Rocky was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport after returning to the U.S. after a trip to Barbados with the “Umbrella” singer. The “Pesos” rapper was detained in connection with a November 2021 shooting and was later released on bail. Neither he nor Rihanna have publicly commented on the arrest. His court date is currently set for August 17.
