A$AP Ferg Takes The Limelight At London's 100 Club
Published
Packed to the rafters with gold watches and snapbacks, Converse’s 100 Club Series continued last week at London’s legendary venue, with A$AP Ferg’s first show in the capital for a long while.
The prevalence of hip-hop crews is enjoying something of a renaissance in the music world at the moment. In the void left by posses such as RZA and Wu Tang Clan, numerous fake dawns arose in the shape of D12 and G-Unit before the new kids on the block – Odd Future, Black Hippy, and, in this instance, A$AP Mob – have taken the mantle and brought their prevalence to the mainstream Of these, success has been spearheaded by a single member (think Tyler, Kendrick, Rocky), which develops a sense of recognition and familiarity with each of the groups. True, it gives the other members a shadow from which to step from, but they’re doing so from a platform that other artists don’t have the privilege of. As part of Converse’s 100 Club Series, it was A$AP Ferg’s turn to stand-alone and display the talents he showcased on his critically acclaimed debut-album
Trap Lord. With DJ Martello shaking the room with the intro to ‘Dump Dump’, Ferg bound onto the stage and went about whipping the packed room into a frenzy with his cries for a mosh pit and endless crowd-surfs. The rapper, whose debut album featured collaborations with Onyx and Cypress Hill’s B-Real, then performed breakthrough single ‘Work’, telling the crowd “all she get is hard dick and some cheerios”.
Wanting to get things “turnt up”, Ferg was joined on stage for the rest of the gig by A$AP Nast, who linked the silence between tracks with freestyles and methodically went about his verses when Martello brought the backing music back in. On occasion, the gig followed a similar trajectory to that of iPod skipping at teenager’s party; new songs drawing wild reactions from the crowd before interest waned – only to be reinvigorated by the introduction of the next song. The biggest draws of the night came courtesy of ‘Goldie’ and ‘Wild for the Night’, A$AP Rocky tracks that Ferg and Nast sung over with faint hints of karaoke. In spite of these moments there was enough on show tonight from A$AP Ferg to suggest that he’s more than just a backing member of the A$AP Mob. Admittedly additional material is needed to plump up a headline set, but Ferg’s rapping, stage presence and humility are the perfect components for a star-to-be. 8/10
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