![]() “I wanted to make it the documentary of my life,” Ferg says of the record. This time, the only role Ferg played was himself, the real Darold Ferguson, a driftless teen who worked his way out of a job at Ben & Jerry’s and into rap’s top tier. The old adage about never judging a book by its cover should also apply to rap album tracklists because, despite its generic packaging, Always Strive was one of the most revealing, vividly written rap records in recent memory. We’ll never know how many listeners never even made it through the Skrillex cameo on the second track. On the surface, that sophomore outing looked like the last thing anybody wanted from an A$AP Ferg album, a commercial compromise that swapped out his debut’s rag-tag assortment of collaborators for a roster of A&R-approved sure things like Chris Brown, Big Sean and Rick Ross. That fantastical persona was such a perfect platform for Ferg’s wild imagination and oddball charisma that it came as a shock when he abandoned it completely for his second album, 2016’s Always Strive and Prosper. Even more fascinating than that sonic backdrop, though, was the larger-than-life character the Harlem rapper created for himself, the Trap Lord, a wrathful, all-powerful deity, equally weird and menacing. Like the best releases from New York’s fashion-minded A$AP Mob collective, A$AP Ferg’s 2013 debut, Trap Lord, was a striking aesthetic statement-dank yet immersive and peppered with strange, celestial production flourishes. 12, with openers Playboi Carti, Key! and Cozy Boys. A$AP Mob headline The Rave on Thursday, Oct. ![]()
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