New York rapper A$AP Ferg is really in work mode. The hip-hop star recently chopped it up with Apple Music personality Zane Lowe to dish on new music, Kobe Bryant‘s death, working with Kanye West and more. Peep some of the best quotes from the Q&A below:
On “Value” “This is … We in a time of, like, self care, and people healing, and it’s more conversations brought up about that,and just people valuing themselves. And the actual name of the song was just the beat name. It was self-titled. My boy Razjah Beats, who, he worked on my first album, Trap Lord, we created this sound which we call, like, jungle slash tribal trap-type music. We got, like, the drums and it’s going crazy. You can hear it on, actually, the only song that Yams ever got on-Which was “Let It Go.” My first song and intro on Trap Lord. And, uh, we just brought that sound back and, um, you can hear me in the hook saying, “Look at me now.” And it’s kind of, like, celebrating yourself. Everybody gonna be in the club and scream, “Look at me, look at me, look at me now.” You know what I’m saying? ‘Cause you looking at where you came from, and your trials and tribulations, and where you’re at now.
On Kobe Bryant: “You know what’s crazy? Rest in peace to Kobe Bryant. I can’t continue the conversation without saying that. I was supposed to actually fly in to, um, L.A. the day he passed away, and actually go to Calabasas. And you know, he, he died in the area of the studio I was supposed to go to, so it just … it was a damper. You know, some people, we just don’t picture passing. I just didn’t know he would go, or even go in that way, so, you know, uh, God bless him and his family. Like, you know, it was the Grammy’s and everybody was excited to come out to the Grammy’s, but it was just like- Everybody was trying to smile through it all, but it was a tough time. You could tell on everybody’s face.”
On New Album: “I got an album on the way. It’s- it’s a collaboration album with one of your, uh, favorite, and most biggest producers in the whole world. I can’t say the name yet, because – I can’t say the name yet-But this is the best music, um, I’ve ever made, like, I ever made, like… it’s- it’s insane. But, until- until then, like, I’m gonna be dropping music, and content on my YouTube channel-I was gonna drop, uh, like, very rare footage of like me being inside my house, whiling out, free-styling, working in the studio. That… like, I’ve been through, like for the last couple years, because you know I have this very like private life, and I don’t really let people in, so it’s like I wanna start letting the world, and my fans know, like-What Ferg has been up to, and I’ve been like really bad with like putting out content. Like, I just wanna put out mad content And not overthink anything.”
What’s Coming In 2020 + Working W/ Kanye West: “Man, you’re gonna expect so much music. I’m overthinking everything. I’m all overthinking. Like, I want everything to be perfect, but it’s those imperfections that create new worlds, and, like, I have so much music that I wanna share with the world. I’ll be thinking, like, man I need to put it out with a project. I need to be a visual, just add it there. But I’m like, people just want the music. They really do. Because the visuals are a huge em, uh, embellishment, and that’s all part of the creative marketing of things, but the music, man. And I just feel like, you know, I’ve got, like, so much songs that I’m sitting on. You’re gonnahear some vintage Ferg. You’re gonna hear some new Ferg. I actually been in the, in a studio with Kanye for the last, the last three days. It’s been good. It’s been … That’s, that’s, like, when I was going to Calabasas, that’s who I was working with. It’s been amazing. Like, to see his journey and, and to see this new person he’s becoming, and just kind of being able to assist him with that. [We’re]Just making music and just having, like, a lot of conversation. We talk most of the time. Sometimes we go to the studio and just talk, and talk – If it wasn’t for Kanye and Pharrell being in hip-hop, I would probably know how to do it, but they showed me how to just fully immerse in yourself and be yourself. Like, we never seen anybody do it in a different way besides those guys in my generation, so they inspired me. We just have conversations about that, and, you know, me going to his, uh, his studio where he creates, like, all his mock ups, and shoes, and He’s working on his couture line. I’m immersed in his world, and That’s what I wanna take it to. That’s the level that I aspire to take it to, so … It’s crazy. Like, it’s a amazing experience.”
On A$AP Yams: “You gotta, you gotta keep it moving. You gotta keep it pushing. I do what I feel like Yams would have wanted me to do. I think I- I’ve exceeded past his expectations, you know, rather mine’s, and, we just gotta keep pushing to make this, this A$AP name and his brand as big as possible And extend. You know, I’m working on signing artists and producers myself, so it’s like, I’m just … I think I’m working beyond what he thought, you know, I came in the game to do.”
On Dubai + Vietnam: “I just came back from Dubai about a week, and some change ago, and they had… they was planting seeds in the clouds for rain. Like, Dubai has rains now. They wanted seasons, and shit like that, and it was a full-on flood, like, I couldn’t get to my hotel-they’ve got a caller, and she can be like, “Yo, I don’t want it to rain, because it would- it would rain.” So, it rains in Dubai, and also, I’ve been to, uh, Vietnam, and I’m the first rapper to ever perform in Vietnam. That was crazy, because like, you know, there’s like an upstairs, and a downstairs. Downstairs, they was just playing techno music, and, you know, EDM, and stuff like that. They’re not even really playing hip-hop music like that. We have impact over there, but it’s not big yet. So, like to be the first rapper to- to perform there, I felt like Run DMC, or some sh*t.”
