A$AP FERG

One Liner: Real deal gangster rap with a ton of pretty good guest verses
Wikipedia Genre: Hip hop
Spotify Says Similar To: Vince Staples and Trinidad James (really? A$AP Rocky isn't the top one?)
Home: Harlem, NY (Hungry Ham!)

Poster Position: 5
Slot: ?

Thoughts:  I've been a big fan of A$AP Rocky for a while, and have generally liked Ferg's stuff as well, but I've never really dug into the deal with this posse of people using the A$AP name.  So, for your edification, here is the deal.  The A$AP Mob is a hip hop collective that came out of Harlem in the mid-oughts.  The original guys were ASAP Yams, ASAP Bari, and ASAP Illz, but since then the more famous members of the crew have been Rocky and Ferg, and then to a lesser extent, some other ASAPs.  Just because I think it is kind of funny, here are all of the ones listed on the Wikipedia page: A$AP Ant, A$AP Bari, A$AP Ferg, A$AP Illz, A$AP Lotto, A$AP Lou Banga, A$AP Nast, A$AP P on the Boards, A$AP Rocky, A$AP Snacks, A$AP Twelvyy, A$AP Ty Beats, A$AP TyY.  I think my favorite of those is "Lou Banga," because it makes me think of the guy who did that shitty song about getting a lot of different ladies names in his life, "Mambo No. 5."  Instantly, that guy's rapper name is a joke.
Anyway, so who is Ferg?  His real name is Darold D. Brown Ferguson, Jr.  Which is a hell of a name.  I can see why you'd want to make sure you granted that one down to your kid, Darold Sr. According to Wikipedia, he started clothing and jewelry lines before he started rapping, but then his buddy ASAP Rocky encouraged him to rap more and they joined this crew together. His first album was 2013's Trap Lord, which has the excellent and silly "Shabba."

Two things make that track amazing.  First, the chorus, which allows me to yell about having the right amount of gold chains and ONE GOLD TOOOF! like I'm shab-Shabba Ranks (a Jamaican dancehall guy from the 90's, the guy who sang that "Mr. Loverman" song).  Two, when he yells MASTER BRUCE! randomly in there, it has always been one of my favorite things of all time ever.  You should try yelling it along with him.  It will change your life.  Also, look at his eyes when he says that in the video.  Roger Rabbit shit.
That track is actually his second most listened to from that album (62.7 million), the top track is a remix of the song "Work," which was originally on a ASAP Mob mixtape, but that now adds in a bunch of stars (Rocky, French Montana, Trinidad James, and Schoolboy Q) and has just over a hundred million streams.

I mean, I get it.  Right now, you are wondering why I am pushing this kind of all-brags-all-the-time rap on you.  Well, sometimes, this is the good stuff.  You can't just watch Schindler's List every day, sometimes you need to watch Fast & the Furious 27 and have fun.  And on top of that, those kinds of posse cuts can be uneven.  I think Schoolboy, Rocky, and Ferg put in good verses there, but French Montana?  He's like an even worse Rick Ross.  There are a bunch of other good tracks on this older album, like the fun sing-along "Dump Dump," which allows you to yell a rude chorus about discovering carnal knowledge of someone else's young lady friend.  Overall, this is a good album of rap braggadocio.

Then, the 2016 album Always Strive and Prosper (stands for A.S.A.P. !  Look at what he did there?!) came out, and like that first disc, he uses a ton of good cameo appearances to load up the album.  On Trap Lord, he had A$AP Rocky, Schoolboy Q, B-Real (from Cypress Hill), Onyx, Waka Flocka Flame, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Trinidad James, and more.  On this new one, he gets Missy Elliott, Chuck D, Schoolboy Q, Migos, Future, Rock Ross, Big Sean, and others including Skrillex on one track.  The best of those is probably the Big Sean one. But the best two songs on this are both more of the brawny, tough guy brag rap that work well for this guy.  First, you have "New Level," Ferg's second most listened to track on Spotify and the one that stars Future as the guest.  Hell yes.

68.6 million streams.  Plus 59 million views on YouTube.  It's that beat, brawny and buff and ready to rumble.  A little ominous with the violins.  But definitely something to turn up loud and bob your head to as you churn your elbows around and show off your fancy bracelets. "Put these ni**as in the dirt!"  Too bad that Future has to smear his idiotic autotune all over the track, but I can forgive that for the pure joy of the chorus.  And then the second best track on the album is the one with Schoolboy Q, "Let It Bang," with 14.4 million streams.

BTW, the first minute of that video is not part of the "Let It Bang" song, for some reason they used a minute of the song "Psycho."  But hot damn, man.  I mean, Schoolboy's verse is freaking the real deal shit.  And overall, that who track is good stuff, tough, gangster stuff about hard ass uncles and taking care of business with the gun.  "Cologne and liquor was his odor, fragrance of a riding soldier, ODB was his persona, he was high on Mars (I think that is what he said at the end of that line), 40 ounce and then some marijuana, when grandma died from pneumonia, now his life a roller coaster, put that shit on God."  This is the good stuff, the story-telling-you-can-see-what-they-are-talking-about good stuff.  There are stinkers on this album, like the Rick Ross garbage on "Swipe Life," or the Lil Uzi Vert-assisted "Uzi Gang," or the crooning garbage with Chris Brown, but luckily we likely won't hear much of that in the fall because he'll be doing without those crap collaborators at the Festival.  I've just spent three days at work and several hours in the car letting these tunes bang, and I think this will be a really fun show to go see.

Recommend: Yes.