Exclusive: A$AP Ferg Talks New Album, Father’s Harlem Legacy And Pushing Hip-Hop Forward

A$AP Ferg is ready for his close-up. 

Becoming one of the more recognizable names in the A$AP Mob has been no easy task for Harlem-made rapper A$AP Ferg. Not only does he have to tiptoe in and out of the shadow of the group’s most famous member, A$AP Rocky, he has to differentiate himself from the rest of the collective which has 1o other members.

Yes, strength is in numbers. But being in a clique so deep [with each person sharing the same moniker] can also be a hinderance. Fortunately for Ferg, he has found a way to not only standout in his own crew, but in Hip-Hop period.

His debut album Trap Lord gave us two hits with “Shabba” and “Work” and went on to become one of the surprisingly better albums of 2013. The feedback even shocked Ferg to a degree. He won the Rookie Of The Year Award at the BET Hip-Hop Awards but didn’t go because he didn’t think he was going to win.

Fast forward to now, A$AP Ferg expects to win at everything. He has his own adidas shoe and a successful clothing line. His new album Always Strive And Prosper strays from the youthful braggadocio of his debut, and veers more into his personal life and growth as a man and artist.

As he gears up for a European tour this summer, A$AP Ferg is poised to make the A$AP brand even bigger by making himself bigger too.

Find out more about Ferg in our exclusive Q&A on the next page.

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Photo: Jason Goodrich/RCA

HipHopWired.com: Hope you don’t take this the wrong way, but you actually surprised a lot of people with how solid your debut album Trap Lord was. You have a lot of big features on Always Strive And Prosper. Are you looking to surprise again?

A$AP Ferg: I wasn’t trying to surprise anybody. I’m just a person who loves creating art. Whether it’s with different genres of music or experimenting within Hip-Hop, I just love to make music. I’m interested in pushing the culture forward. So when you hear me do that, that’s me just trying to bring something to this culture. When I created Trap Lord, that was a younger me, an aggressive me, a confused me. I was trying to figure out who I was. We gave you A$AP Rocky and he made his mark. Coming in second behind him, I was like, “Who am I going to be?” So, I sat back and saw that A$AP wasn’t in the clubs, so I said, I’ll be in the clubs. I am a more energetic person than the rest of the crew, I’ll do the wild stuff, I’m the partier. I make the music for that tone. When Ferg walks in the room, the party has started. You heard that on “Work” and “Shabba.” I kinda got set in those ways though. I was scared to give people Ferg, I was only giving them “trap lord.” But on this album, I’m giving you Ferg, my DNA, my history.

HHW: Yes. We definitely heard some experimentation with “Strive,” the song you have with Missy Elliot. Can’t say that is something we were expecting.

Ferg: I want to bring something new to the table. Sometimes music can feel like you’re going to the same restaurant. After a while you’re going to start asking, “When you gonna bring some new dishes out or add to the menu?” You can go to your reliable spot, but I consider myself an avant garde restaurant. My menu is going to be exciting all the time. I know how to curate a great atmosphere. If you want to go have a quick hit, go to the chinese restaurant. But if you want something special come to my place.

HHW: You worked with producer Da Honorable C.N.O.T.E. and Future on the first single “New Level.” On paper, that may look like a try at an instant hit. It wound up coming out sounding unforced and dope though. But can you see how one may think that isn’t “experimenting” but riding the “trap” wave?

Ferg: I think off rip, people know I’m not wave rider. I’ve never made a song that sounds like anything else out. All of my songs sound different from each other. The beat doesn’t sound like a “Down South” beat to me. It didn’t sound like a trap beat either. It actually reminded me of Batman when I heard it, very theatrical, very big. I didn’t have that song on the record yet when I finished it. I had the love songs and the innovative songs, but “New Level” was the big intro that I needed. And why not have Future on it? He is a great friend of mine. He’s brought me out at his shows, he was on Rocky’s album, he’s always been close to the family. I figured he would sound good on the song. I did the sung by myself before I gave it to him, and it was great. But he put cherry on top. And it’s a cherry on top that he’s one of the best out right now.

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HHW: You mentioned that no two of your songs sound the same. Which is true. How much thought goes into that? At times, it sounds like you’re trying not to bore yourself.

Ferg: I think that’s just my style. It was a problem for me growing up. Even with fashion. I was wearing the throwbacks and baggy jeans, but then I wanted to wear slim jeans and wild haircuts. I used to struggle with wanting to do that all of the time. But then I just started dressing how I felt. So now I do that with my music too, I do what I feel. When I wake up everyday, I dress how I feel.  I am a curator and an artist. I’m naturally going to go off how I feel. Same thing when I do with fashion and art, I do with music. I was looking at a documentary with Andre 3000 in it. He came out wearing cornrows, then he came out wearing a turban, then he came out with wigs. He was always expressing how he felt. And you can’t tell me that Andre 3000 is not one of the best to ever do it, he always surprised us. [Outkast’s] “Bombs Over Baghdad,” “Hey Ya,” he kept evolving. That’s what I want to do, keep evolving. Anyone who is a pioneer gets laughed at and ridiculed at first, but people learn to love and respect it because you’re bringing something to the table. The guys that’s doing everything that everybody doing, they probably won’t be here next year. I’m going to be here forever.

HHW: Which one would you say is the center of your creativity? Art, fashion or music. Which one of those sparks the next?

Ferg: I don’t think there is no differentiating it. With clothing, it’s harder to create because of the money it takes to create the garments, as opposed to a rap, which you can create in your mind or with a computer over a beat, it’s easier to do. But I feel like it’s all the same to me. But the special thing about music is that it is easier to come up with ideas, flows, lyrics about my life because it’s true and I just put it on a bomb beat. I can do that way faster than I could buy a canvas and paint or go design clothes then go find a way to mass produce it. But with music, you can make one song and send it around the world. I love the music because I get to project my art faster.

HHW: You have a lot of features on this album. Some may say that features are good, others think that they can be a crutch or fishing for a hit. Why did you go this route?

Ferg: I didn’t do that on purpose. I really wanted to have less features. But God just kept blessing me. I was in Los Angeles working and people just kept coming in and out. Plus, the features that I have aren’t overpowering. It ain’t like you’re hearing a feature heavy album, it’s really about me, it doesn’t go off topic at all. It all goes with the storyline of my life. When you see that me and Chris Brown have a song together, it’s because I met him when I was making my belts and selling clothes before I was rapping. So that goes with the storyline too. We have a skit talking about that. It’s not that I’m trying to make a hit, I was just fortunate to work with my friends on this album.

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HHW: Tell us how the Chuck D collaboration on “Beautiful People” came about?

Ferg: This proves that he loves the youth. A$AP is the youth, he’s f*cking with what’s happening. He’s on “Beautiful People” with my grandmother. He respected the song, and he respected my mind so he’s not on something that he wasn’t fucking with. We connected when I bumped into him at a restaurant, his daughter recognized me and introduced us. The crazy thing is that I wanted and needed him on that song and I spoke it into existence because I bumped into him two days after I had that thought, he just appeared. He sent the vocals back so fast, like within a week. I was like, “Wow, he’s not being complicated or nothing.”

HHW: You also had a song with Bone Thugs-N-Harmony on Trap Lord. Are you making it a point to work with veteran artists everything you come out?

Ferg: I’m not purposely doing it, I’m just vibing. I’m fans of these people and I want to pay homage. I feel that in order to make history, you have to study history, know your history and create history, with history. These guys created legacies, I want to be among those names. I want to stand next to Jordan and Kobe. When you align yourself with these pillars you become one yourself. It’s like when rich people hang out with rich people, or broke people hang out with broke people. I don’t want to be with the broke people. {laughs} I want to be an artist who made moves.

HHW: What kind of tone did you want to set with the production on this album, who did you work with?

Ferg: The production is very special. I basically had DJ Khalil spearhead the whole album. We created the whole sound together. He brought in a orchestra and an opera singer. We was just jamming and funking like Parliament and James Brown or something. I was just freestyling and having fun. Then I had younger producers like Phili come in. Then I had Clams Casino come in and place a mic in these jam sessions. Not recording on the computer but from the actual room, so you are getting the vibes live as they happened. He would take those things and loop them and make beats with them. That’s how we made “Psycho” and “Beautiful People.”

HHW: You had a lot people going crazy and waiting for the full version of “Psycho” to drop when you teased it at the beginning of the “Let It Bang” video.

Ferg: Yeah, that was on purpose. Those are two very strong songs on the album. “Let It Bang” and “Psycho” are about my uncle Psycho. My uncle used to look up to Ol’ Dirty Bastard, so I figured I might as well have his son pay him in the video.

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A$AP Ferg and His Father Darold Fergeson/Tumblr

HHW: Since you brought up family. Talk to us about your father. Fellow Harlem resident Cam’Ron has spoke on him in interviews, saying he was a G.

Ferg: What ever you see in me, he was the original. He came from South Carolina when he was a kid and was self-made. He became a prominent figure in Harlem through helping the community and doing events for kids. He had three businesses; the clothing store he was mostly known for, a restaurant and a game room. He helped a lot of people coming up. He designed the Bad Boy logo and showed Puff around Harlem and introduced him to a lot of people. He helped Russell Simmons make the cologne for Phat Farm. He did the Uptown Records caps for Andre Harrell. He worked with Teddy Riley. He was the person to go to if you need shirts printed. These record labels, when they were coming up, they couldn’t walk into these Jewish factories and get a gazillion shirts made. So they went to my father. Plus he was getting you the shirts with the glow in the dark paint, the glitter. Prints on the sleeves and on the back. He was being innovative. He became known around the world and the industry.

See that’s the thing about me. None of this rap sh*t is new to me. Living this lifestyle and flying everyday, that’s different. But as far as being around celebrities and seeing money and lavish things, I grew up in that. That’s why I can be innovative, because I’ve seen all of that already. All of the things kids are praising, getting the Jordans and all of that, I did that already. I want to see something new. I’m getting bored, we got to turn it up. My father was a king. Ask anybody in Harlem about Ferg Sr., everybody is going to have something good to say about him. He either did something for them or gave them money when they came home. He was like a Bumpy Johnson, he helped his community. He’s why I am the way I am.

HHW: You were out on tour with G-Eazy earlier this year. Talk to us about that experience.

Ferg: That was dope. It wasn’t my core or demographic, but I feel like I grabbed a lot of new fans. Now when I go to these cities people recognize me more. They tell me they came to see G-Eazy but loved my show too. It’s important that we stay connected with these kids. Because when you think about it, A$AP been in the game for about four years. The people we came in with, they’re grown now just like us. I need to start reaching out to the younger generation and let them know what’s going on because they are going to be making moves in this world. I’m going to keep my core, but always pay attention to the next generation too. I keep an open door policy.

HHW: Explain the front and back album covers.

Ferg: I am getting baptized. I actually lost my A$AP championship ring doing that shoot. A$AP Rocky and A$AP Yams gave me this A$AP championship ring the night we rocked Madison Square Garden. It had diamonds, my face on it, “Trap Lord,” everything. I lost it during the baptism. I guess that’s symbolic in a way, saying it’s my rebirth, or God telling me not to cherish things. The whole baptism thing is just the rebirth of who Ferg is. It’s a new day for me to get more hands on and letting these kids know what’s cool and giving them all of me and not just one side of me.