And to think we all thought A$AP Rocky was the weird one when the crew first emerged. Rocky, to his credit, somewhat broke the mold of what an up and coming Harlem should look like. Part of his charm was his confidence, it made his transition into a star seem natural. Of course he would be a superstar, you knew that the first time you saw the "Peso" video. Ferg went about things a little differently. The first time we got a taste of Ferg was when he delivered an awful verse on "Kissin' Pink" and made it the worst song on Live.Love.A$AP. He was bad, didn't let on to his current creativity, and seemed like a weed carrier that we would be forced to listen to as Rocky's career progressed.
That's why Ferg's 2013 album Trap Lord wasn't the best, but easily the most surprising project of that year. It was an absolute mess of manic yelling and head-smack beats that miraculously worked thanks to its tendency to sound like it would explode an any given minute. But the story was the eccentric nature of Ferg that breathed personality into the album. The dude couldn't sing worth shit, but he did it anyways, he likely knew damn well that he couldn't hang on a track with Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, but he did it anyways, and right when I thought that the album was weird enough to warrant a Kool Keith feature...well, that didn't happen, but there were guest appearances from Onyx and B-Real, which were weird as hell in their own right. It didn't make Ferg a great rapper, but it separated him, assuring that he wouldn't be another faceless body in the A$AP Mobb. Trap Lord was refreshingly weird, but on Ferg Forever, he's graduated to O.D.B. levels of insanity.
It doesn't always work, Ferg's debut mixtape has its fair share of duds, but it occasionally yields magic. "Fergsomnia", my favorite on the album and easily one of the most ridiculous songs he's ever released, features a berserk synth loop, while Ferg, well he just goes insane, as his yelping almost reaches a squeak. Its a level of intensity that we've never seen from Ferg, and Twista's verse is just phenomenal as well. Ferg Forever also reintroduces the many faces of our host, as "Jungle" sounds like four or five different rappers made contributions. Somewhere in the schizophrenia, though, is a serious side that is most prominent on "Uncle", a track detailing the deteriorating relationship between him and his family member. Now, if you've read the review to this point, you already know that Ferg isn't someone you're going to head to for deep, meaningful lyrics, but that doesn't mean you should completely write it off when he decides to get serious. "Uncle" is one of the most engaging songs on the whole nineteen track tape, and only expands Ferg's versatility. But that's just one of the countless experiments. Just two tracks later, Ferg is on a song called "Now" calling himself "Ferginator" while giving a spot on impersonation of a 90s southern party rapper. And then there's a song called "Reloaded Let It Go" that features M.I.A. and Crystal Caines, who's verse is interrupted by an out-of-nowhere sample from Disney's Frozen soundtrack. I swear I can't make this shit up.
Ferg Forever and all of its flaws are, if anything, confirmation that his music is only going to get weirder from here. It could easily be half of its length, and he'd probably be in a much better economical position if he hired someone to turn down any of his attempts to make songs like "Bonnoroo". I don't even know if that's something he cares about, though. There's a fair share of legitimately great songs on here, but his willingness to create interesting ways to suck is really what sets Ferg Forever apart. There's good and bad, and the bad is always entertaining. And honestly, how can entertainment ever be that bad of a thing?
Rating: 3.5/5