A$AP Rocky is opening up about the unexpected person who helped steer him toward a life-changing romance with Rihanna, his mother.
During a recent appearance on the Jan. 15 episode of Popcast, the rapper, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, revealed that his mom, Renee Black, was the first to suggest he should date the global superstar long before their friendship turned romantic.
Looking back, A$AP shared that his mother was surprisingly direct about it.
“My mother used to say s–t like, ‘I know you like this girl that you with right now,’” he recalled, adding that she would then say, “‘But I want you with Riri.’”
At the time, he brushed it off, insisting they were just friends.
“‘Ma why you keep saying that? That girl don’t even want me like that. Like be cool, Ma. Like that’s just my friend. Chill,’” he remembered telling her.
But his mom didn’t back down. “‘I’m telling you, she real,’” A$AP said, before adding with a laugh, “And mothers know best.”
Their bond eventually evolved into a romantic relationship in late 2019, and since then, A$AP Rocky and Rihanna have built a family together.
The couple now share three children: RZA, 3, Riot, 2, and Rocki, who is just three months old.
For A$AP, the connection has always felt natural, even inevitable.
“It was just like we were on the same page,” he explained. “Born the same year. My dad is from her country. My family, when I go back, I get to see both sides of my family. It’s so many similarities, it’s just funny. We laugh about it a lot.”
Even before romance entered the picture, he admitted there was always something special there.
“She was always my boo, you know what I’m saying?” he said. “Like I always f–ked with her.”
Still, A$AP believes the timing mattered.
“I’m thankful that she was put in my life at that time,” he shared, explaining that neither of them was ready earlier.
Rihanna has echoed that sentiment, later saying the pandemic played a role in accelerating their relationship. “COVID sped up our relationship,” she told Interview Magazine in 2024. “There was no denying it… It just happened.”
In the end, it seems his mother saw the love story coming long before either of them did.
