The A$AP Mob isn’t really a mob, you know.
“Mob” denotes unruliness, panic, chaos and lawlessness in an unorganized mass. Nothing could be farther from what this Harlem collective actually is, because the so-called “mob” has a leader.
His name is A$AP Rocky and even though he wasn’t around for the founding of the group, he has served as the Mob’s figurehead and brains since hitting it big with his Live. Love. A$AP mixtape in 2011.
However, if Lord Flacko isn’t careful, one of his subjects might snatch the crown right off of his pretty motherfuckin’ head.
Rocky underling A$AP Ferg came barreling onto the scene with his single “Work” in 2012 and picked up steam with the mixtape-cum-debut album Trap Lord. With the release of his new mixtape Ferg Forever at the end of last month, Fergie has officially caught up with Rocky in terms of releases offered (if not in critical acclaim). If Rocky doesn’t move, and do so quickly, he may find his former disciple running right past him and grabbing the reins of the A$AP empire.
Read on to hear the case for and against the potential rule of Fergenstein. Then let us know who your vote would go to.
PRO: PROXIMITY
Music lovers are a fickle beast and hip-hop fans doubly so. The simple fact is Ferg has released an album and a mixtape since A$AP Rocky’s last release. If the A$AP Mob plays a show, “Peso” might get the crowd hyped but “Shabba” and “Fergsomnia” make them push to the front.
Rocky faces a genuine threat of being left behind by his charismatic underling, especially if Ferg finds another hit on the scale of “Shabba.”
CON: INERTIA
Call this the “conservative argument.” Rocky will stay the leader because he has always been the leader. Full stop.
Ferg won’t see any need to upset the apple cart when it’s Rocky’s leadership that put the group on in the first place. Right now, Lord Flacko pulls the strings and if the system is working, why fix it?
PRO: ARTISTRY
Long.Live.A$AP was a great album but it lacked the avant-garde streak that ran through Ferg’s debut. Trap Lord was something different, something challenging.
Where Rocky released an album full of unshakeable hooks and big name collabs, Ferg dropped an album that started with cinematic strings, sparse drums and basketball taunts and only got weirder from there. Trap Lord is a rollercoaster of goth-rap, running his typical gangster talk and materialism through a filter made of Bauhaus B-sides.
If Kanye does Death Grips and recent superhero movies have taught us anything, it’s that modern consumers like their pop culture bleak, which bodes well for Ferg. Rocky revels in the light reflected off of designer necklaces, Ferg likes to play with the dark deeds that gangsters do to afford them.
CON: COMMERCIAL VIABILITY
“Shabba” was big, but it was no “Fuckin’ Problem.” For whatever reason, Ferg hasn’t quite reached the level of Rocky in terms of units moved.
Lord Flacko is a known entity outside of the rap world with an album that debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. If you add in Rocky’s big-time features from names as far afield as Skillex and his extracurricular activities in the worlds of fashion, design and business, he wins this one in a walk.
PRO: FUN
Ferg and Rocky are both technically gifted rappers with an inborn love of the way words sound. They fully understand that the bouncy, ping-pong appeal of internally rhyming lines like “Butter pecan Puerto Rican, she freakin’ the deacon.”
In fact, both rappers have a reputation for using their technical abilities and charisma to mask the fact that they don’t have much to say. Without the need to outdo each other in lyrical depth, the duo seem to have crafted an ongoing competition to see who can drop the most fun verse. For our money, Fergie holds the belt right now for his “Two bad bitches in my vehicle, yellow hood rats like Pikachu” verse on the “Shabba” remix.
They were very few people who could outdo that verse in 2013, let alone people in Ferg’s peer group.
CON: ACCLAIM
A$AP Rocky’s status as the leader of the Mob has led to more than just hit songs and record deals. Not only is he a critical darling among hip-hop writers and the indie-rock set alike (Pitchfork gave his debut the “Best New Music” tag), he’s been recognized on the big stage as well. As unlikely as it might seem, “Yeah I like to fuck, I got a fuckin’ problem” netted A$AP Rocky a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Song last year.
Whatever project he comes with next will likely garner the same level of critical adulation and for good reason. Rocky might not have anything as weird as “Hood Pope” in his catalog, but he also doesn’t have any whiffs on the scale of “Dump Dump” and “Bonnoroo.”
Consistency is like catnip to music critics, so as long as Rocky churns out reliably good music, he’ll have the tastemakers behind him.
What do you think? Will Rocky be top dog of the A$AP Mob into the foreseeable future? Or is Ferg ready to take the helm?