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A$AP Ferg Knows How To Party

Image by Amy Heycock (see more here)

The term ‘turnt’ is not one I use too often, but it is perhaps the best term to sum up watching A$AP Ferg last Thursday night. After torrential rain began to really rip Brisbane a new one, I can’t deny how difficult it was to change out of my ugg boots and go anywhere, let alone to a hip hop show – but alas, I got out of bed and went, and I am so incredibly happy I did so.

We arrived to an already heaving pit, with people getting down to the hip hop bangers Paper Diamond was dropping. The order of the night was to simply “get loose”; the eagerness of the crowd as infectious, the excitement palpable as Paper Diamond did his job well and hyped the crowd up to near breaking point. The whole set reached an almighty peak when he announced he was to play one final song, eagerly asking the crowd if we were ready for what was to come. If we were ready then, there must be a whole new term for how ready we were after he dropped the track, and Lil Jon‘s Get Low started. The bar lines turned into a second moshpit as everyone spat the lyrics out, arms flailing and booties dropping. This was going to be something else, and my body was ready.

The lights dimmed and the bass started to rumble, before spotlights wreaked havoc on our eyes like searchlights. With a metaphorical explosion, Ferg appeared flanked by his 2IC, Marty Baller. The pair smashed through track after track, jumping on platforms and swapping sides, giving all the love they were receiving from the crowd right back to them. Launching into a raucous performance of slightly offensive Dump Dump, things began to get very wild indeed, everyone beaming at each other as the fun continued.

With a slight touch of the brake pedal, Ferg slowed things down in a touching tribute to the late A$AP Yams. Turning the lights off, he asked the audience to raise their lighters and phones to honour his late friend (Yams died of a drug overdose in March). With the sombre tribute, Ferg dropped a few lines of freestyling, before getting deep with us and discussing racism, and the universal meaning of music. “Look around, we’re all different colours and we’re all here for the music,” he said. It was a brief insight into a side not often show from the A$AP Mob member, but one that showed there was more to the rapper than trap and bitches.

The slight reprieve from the reverberating bass didn’t last long though, and it was back to bouncing as he continued delivering old and new tracks, perfectly at ease with the chaos he was ensuing. Performing for a full hour including an encore, Ferg ended his set with my personal jam Shabba, which was an added extra highlight from an already standout set. There is more the Ferg than I think he gets credit for, and his ability to work a crowd is one of the best I’ve seen. This was his third time in Australia, and his experience as a live performer is clearly evident. If you have the chance to catch him live, he is definitely worth getting out of your ugg boots for!

A$AP Ferg is currently on the Groovin’ The Moo tour
Final GTM dates:

May 9 – Maitland Showground
Maitland, NSW

May 10 – Murray Sporting Complex
Townsville, QLD