Review Summary: Always Strive and Prosper is an extremely personal and jiggy record from Ferg
From interviews and articles written about A$AP Ferg lately, the Harlem emcee seems determined to make music that can accurately portray his eccentric personality. And although a trite sounding yet often genuine aspiration for an artist to make, it is a very different thing to actually release an album that accomplishes it. Ferg’s new record
Always Strive and Prosper is a quirky and personal meditation of the rapper’s journey from the blocks of Harlem to musical acclaim. Not to mention this is an extremely fun listen.
From the onset of the album Ferg makes a transition musically with opener “Rebirth,” a bouncy track featuring unexpected chopped and screwed vocals, an inner monologue and the rapper’s proclamation to become a vanguard for social change. Compared to
Trap Lord, Ferg diverges from his gritty musical persona in favor of a more upbeat, synth oriented sound. This is seen on the buoyantly electronic Skrillex produced “Hungry Ham.”
What really sets this album apart from any previous A$AP Ferg release is the level of lyricism and personal depth the rapper has brought into his music. The track “Psycho” is a sincere portrait of the rapper’s uncle. Throughout the track Ferg manages to sound both empathetic and painfully aware of his destructively violent relative who had left such a large impact on Ferg as a child. The beautifully haunting saxophone embedded in the background of the chorus helps those personal moments resonate much more. After the somber atmosphere of “Psycho,” the album transitions into the rollicking viciousness of “Let It Bang.” Again you’ll find reflections on Ferg’s family (
Grandma hid that hammer in her mattress from my uncle) and a certified street-banger with an absolute murderous Schoolboy Q verse.
Throughout
Always Strive and Prosper, the thematic thread of family and social change are intertwined. From the social message of self-love despite the problems of the ghetto on “Beautiful People” (which features a lovely, angelic chorus) to “Grandma,” the album closer where we find Ferg thinking about his grandmother and his wish for her to have seen what he has made of himself.
Yet despite the numerous personal moments and vulnerability on this record, Ferg still harbors an affinity for turn-up anthems. The Future assisted “New Level” is of course a banger, as well as the minimal “Yammy Gang” and “Uzi Gang.”
Always Strive and Prosper is the bridge between the grimy lyrical content hinted at on Trap Lord and Ferg’s flavor for pop trap experimentation. Ferg allows his diverse sonics stray enough from the album’s center enough to be engaging without losing an ounce of consistency.
Yes, this album has faults like “Strive,” albeit catchy is too bubblegum pop for Ferg to be taken seriously and the meandering Big Sean feature “World Is Mine” and the diluted, misplaced Chris Brown assistance on “I Love You.” Despite these hindrances they don’t detract away from all the things that Ferg has done right on this album. Ferg manages to marry the rich tapestry of self-reflection on fame, family and his role as an artist into a meaningful work.
If he has not already donned the role already, Ferg could potentially be the better rapper technical wise and lyrically in A$AP Mob.
Always Strive and Prosper shows real depth of Ferg as an artist.
Update: June, 16, 2016
Now that a couple months have passed, clarity has blessed me with a more perceptive listening of
Always Strive and Prosper. Although originally singing praise for the album, even believing the record to be a masterwork of music from an extremely interesting artist, I had been delusional about it all. In reality, this album is extremely disappointing. What had made Ferg such a mesmerizing presence on
Trap Lord is subdued here, replacing the grimy and dark character aesthetic for shinier, commercial appeal.
What was the Harlem rapper’s purpose on this album? What I had labeled as a practice in self-reflection and self-communication turned out to be just plain cookie-cutter generics, a poorly handled grab at fame and audience. Not really an album but more of a playlist guided by corporate stooges who think they know what actual music listeners want to hear. From the bouncy club theatrics of "Strive" to the Chris Brown feature, the majority of this albums feels like a brittle facade or manufactured mirage.
“Hungry Ham” has an annoying hook, its Skrillex produced beat flat and repetitive compared to his other bombastic electric rapid-fire endeavors like “Wild For the Night,” an impressive radio takeover on part by A$AP Rocky. Here it seems like a cheap knock-off. “Strive” of course is still too radio obsessed. “New Level” works on the simple level of hard-hitting banger but every listen you kinda forget Future is even supposedly on the song. Even worse “New Level” is just another example of a complete directionless hijacking of a popular trend in rap. I actually liked the song when first hearing it but in the context of the album, it’s just filler material, neither providing the benefit of the record’s thematic thread nor illuminating any creativity on part by Ferg. That is what
Always Strive and Prosper supposedly wants to accomplish. That is the guiding light Ferg sets forth on album opener, “Rebirth.”
Those same familial narratives are what make “Psycho,” “Let It Bang” and “Grandma” so enjoyable to hear. There are other personal asides sprinkled through various tracks but nowhere near this emotionally satisfying. You get a peek into the crazy and beautifully rendered atrium of Ferg’s heart and mind as a storyteller, whether these stories happen to be sinister, tragic, nostalgic or aggressive. Each one is fully detailed and I wish there were more of those moments.
When this project first dropped it stayed on repeat until a week passed, then quickly faded to my musical periphery. Besides a couple of tracks, I lost all interest in this record.
On those first few listens I got caught in the hype, excited at the prospect of new music by an artist I admire, drunk off the chance to hear new music even which may have made me reluctant to throw shade at an album deserving of criticism. Once waking to sobriety, it became clear this is not a very good album. A part of me understands why this album is trying to be commercial: Ferg wants to step outside the shadow of A$AP Mob front man and rock star A$AP Rocky. Except this isn’t really the best path for Ferg to take. He does not belong to the mass populace; he should remain a perennial cult favorite for those who are blessed to know the more quirky counterpart inside rap’s coolest hip-hop collective. I still believe Ferg has the potential to be the best rapper lyrically in the Mob once he discovers personal vulnerability is his greatest strength. Sadly
Always Strive And Prosper does not give us this.
