eMusic Review 0
The designated wild card of the A$AP Mob pays tribute to misanthrope rap heroes
A$AP Mob is a decidedly modernist version of a rap crew. They rep high fashion and veganism; they give equal time to obscene strip club raps and borderline horrorcore. But they’re also ardent hip-hop fanatics, and any student of the game knows a real rap crew needs both breakout star and a wild card. A$AP Rocky has taken on the role of the former and A$AP Ferg has played the latter with aplomb. You could call him an “impressionist” rapper rather than “impressionistic,” in that he can sound like damn near anyone — on his respective standout guest spots from Live.Love.A$AP and Long.Live.A$AP, he flowed like a sing-song screw rapper (“Kissin’ Pink”) and Cookie Monster (“Ghetto Symphony”).
Trap Lord is a Ferg’s first commercial release and goes for comprehensiveness rather than cohesion. You get 13 tracks with about as many different styles — Ferg flexes a melodic slow flow on “Hood Pope,” double-time Midwestern spitting on “Lord,” fake patois on quasi-hit “Shabba,” just to name a few. This versatility can work against Ferg; there are times on Trap Lord where you can’t figure out when it’s actually him.… read more »
