It’s always nice to give back when you can. This should especially be the case when you’re rich and famous. With all the excess wealth piling up, it’s important to think of people who aren’t nearly as financially privileged. With A$AP Rocky, he knows what it’s like to be down and out. Now, as one of the most successful artists working today, he’s looking out for others.
In a January 2026 interview with Jimmy Fallon, Rocky recalled going back to his stomping grounds in Harlem. There, he sought out his grandmother’s old apartment building and reflected on how he grew up in a shelter. Consequently, he wanted to donate to the less fortunate, but in a much more discreet way.
“Well, some people might not know much about my early days, my past, and my background. So I grew up in the homeless shelter system,” A$AP Rocky told Jimmy Fallon. “For me, when I look online and stuff, and I see TikToks of people doing things like donating to homeless people, it’s usually with a camera there. And for me, that’s a little pretentious.”
A$AP Rocky Recalls His Days Living at a Homeless Shelter
To be able to help cover rent “feels amazing” for the Don’t Be Dumb rapper. Moreover, he remembered what it felt like when a volunteer took him to see a Harry Potter movie. As a big fan, it meant the world to him, but he assumed the person doing it for him and other kids must have been rich. Come to find out, it was quite the contrary.
“This particular weekend, Harry Potter had came out. I’m a huge Harry Potter fan, right?” A$AP Rocky recalled. “I couldn’t afford to go see the movie, obviously, due to circumstances at the time. And this lady, whom I never met, she just, you know, came through and they took about like ten of us kids. And each person had an adult to, you know, pay for their way.”
After the woman clarified that she was trying to make ends meet herself, A$AP Rocky wanted to know why she would help when she’s struggling herself. The answer was simple, and it stuck with him for years afterward. “‘Why would you take your little bit of money to take me to the movie theater and stuff like that?’” He asked at the time. “She was like, ‘Because it just feels great to do something like that, you know?’ And I was just like, ‘People do that?’”
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