STILL STRIVING
A$AP Ferg
A potpourri of features is served up; the new A$AP Ferg has arrived.
This is the rapper’s third album.
Pros:
Hype, similar sound of first album
Cons:
Not memorable, same old thing, features not fully utilized
Recommended for:
Just run through the album and put your top 3 favorite tracks on your pre-club playlist
So why do you listen to Ferg? Trynna’ get pumped up? Get rowdy? A$AP is gonna deliver some heavy tracks. He’s not Kendrick. Everyone knows that, and he knows that. Also, he’s not trying to be K Dot. So let’s reassess. He is hype music.
A$AP couldn’t quite recapture the success or excitement of his smash hit “Work REMIX”. Moreover, if you are an up-and-coming rapper that cranks out a chart-topper, the pressure gets turned up. The truth is Ferg has not stood the test of time well. His album following Trap Lord was a miss. Now, imagine you are A$AP Ferg after his second album. You touched stardom, and have successfully created a track that is crystalized in the retrospective sense of early 2010’s bangers. Then you released a slumping second album that couldn’t halve the success of your first. What do you do?
Following basic strategic technique, many people would go back to what worked. #Backtothebasics. To be frank, it kinda’ always works. His latest album sounds a lot like more like his first than did his sophomore release. Some tracks you full on ought to turn down your analytical side and turn the volume nob to 100. Tracks such as “Trap And A Dream”, “Rubber Band Man”, “Mad Man”, and “Nasty” deliver. A$AP has the ability to toss in some fun melodic elements and interesting flows to his tracks. Such elements were present in the tracks I mentioned above.
However, the album is lacking in originality in a broad sense. A flip through this album will give you 3 or 4 fun tracks. The rest will dissolve in your memory. But wait; there are so many features though. Yep- Ferg couldn’t get out all the good stuff. There is certainly an art to bringing out the best in collaborating artists and features. If Ferg would have cut the weaker half of the alum’s features and filled in himself, the work would have seen a major improvement.
Often times during a reivew I would want to pull out the best and worst lines of the album for a rapper. But considering the nature of Ferg’s art, that would miss the point. Instead, I’ll finish my thoughts with where I started. A$AP Ferg dug himself into a bit of a career hole. He had a successful first album, his second showed some change but was not well received, and now he has somewhat returned to his original format. It seems that his peak popularity hype is already a thing of the past. If he changes things up again and it doesn’t go well, then his career is a 14 year old dog, offering only a warm presence and memories of more exciting, good times. On the other hand, he could continue to run around the same loop, loosing momentum with each new album. If he continues to follow the “stick to what works” mantra, he will make good money, play some fun medium-sized shows for years to come, and eventually burn out. But hey, we all love some hype, and all wish him the best.
No hate-
Best track: “Nasty (Who Dat) ft. Migos”
5.5/10
