A$AP Rocky's mom wanted him to be with Rihanna.

Renee Black encouraged the 37-year-old rapper to split with a girlfriend so that he could strike up a romance with the Diamonds hitmaker - whom Rocky met during rehearsals for a performance at the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards, but did not start dating her until 2020.

In a teaser for the new episode of the NYT Podcast, which drops on Friday (16.01.26), he said: "My mother used to say s*** like, 'I know you like this girl that you're with right now' - I ain't going to say no names - 'but I want you with Riri.'

"I used to be like, 'Mom, why do you keep saying that? Yeah, like that girl don't even, like, want me like that. Like, we cool, Mom. That's just my friend. Chill.' [She replied], 'I'm telling you, she real.'

"And mothers know best. I'm thankful that she was put in my life at that time because I think any time prior to that, you know, I don't think I was ready for something like that. You know, I don't think she was either."

The star - real name Rakim Mayers - had previously dated the likes of model Kendall Jenner, 30, and singers Rita Ora, 35, and 35 year old Iggy Azalea.

But he gushed that 37 year old Rihanna - who reportedly dated stars, including rappers Drake, 39, and Travis Scott, 34, as well as 51-year-old actor Leonardo DiCaprio - is the "very special woman".

Rocky added: "It's just like we were on the same page. 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. She was always my boo, you know what I'm saying? Like I always f*** with her."

Rocky and Rhianna - who have become one of music's biggest power couples - are not married, although he fueled speculation that the pair may already have got hitched as he referred to himself as a "loving husband" during an October 2025 interview with The Perfect Magazine.

The Praise the Lord rapper - who has sons RZA, three, Riot, two, and daughter Rocki, four months, with the Umbrella singer - said: "Being a father and a partner and a loving husband in my family is what makes me really, really happy."

And talking about the status of his relationship with Rihanna, Rocky told Elle in September that year: "How you know I'm not already a husband? I'm still not gonna confirm it."

In April 2022, Rihanna admitted she originally planned to get married first and then have children.

The nine-time Grammy award winner - who recently joked about having a fourth child with Rocky - added to Vogue: "I always thought it would be marriage first, then a baby, but who the f*** says it has to be that way. I'm certainly not gonna let that get in the way of me being a mom."