Gallery, ReviewDitch This MagazineMarch 06, 2020gallery, live, melbourne, Review, A$AP Ferg, Kwame, A$AP Mob, Sarah Rix, 170 Russell

A$AP Ferg + Kwame @ 170 Russell 04-03-20

Gallery, ReviewDitch This MagazineMarch 06, 2020gallery, live, melbourne, Review, A$AP Ferg, Kwame, A$AP Mob, Sarah Rix, 170 Russell

review & photos: Sarah Rix @sarahrix

Review

*“… about as turnt up as one could hope for on a Wednesday night.”*

Part way through A$AP Ferg’s sold out show in Melbourne, I had a Principal Skinner moment. “Am I out of touch?”, I wondered, as I looked around the room at the sea of people shouting out Ferg lyrics like they were bargaining for the last rolls of three-ply.

Unlike Skinner, I haven’t quite settled on if it’s the children who are wrong – I am only fairly confident I will never try and verse any of them at rap karaoke.

All this is a long way of saying that the A$AP crew most definitely has its fans, and they were about as turnt up as one could hope for on a Wednesday night. Ferg’s is the type of music you imagine him writing (charitably, of course) at the request of a Harlem strip club. It’s big on the bass, slinking but urgent – a clarion call to spend it if you got it; preferably on some Hennessy, please and thank you, c/o “Yamborghini High”. It’s bombastic and confident, and much like a strip club, everyone seems to be super into it, and you can’t begrudge them for that.

Opening the night was a genuinely enthused set from Sydney’s Kwame. He explained that four or five years ago, he had gone to a Ferg show and Ferg had asked if anyone in the crowd could rap. Against his own judgment, Kwame’s friend volunteered him. He got up on stage, a video went viral, and he’s now found himself opening for Ferg’s Hidden Festival sideshow (coming off the back of A$AP Ferg’s 2019 release, Floor Seats.)

Kwame’s material is not unlike that of his hero’s: endlessly flashy, and rich in energetic party bangers. Treating the stage like he had something to prove, he riled up the crowd with tracks like the aggressively delivered “WHO DAT” and “CLOUDS.”, which he stop-started to ask for the Asian crew’s participation.

Lyrically, the content is still light (see: “Where that after party?” chant) because you’re there for a good time, not a philosophical one. Still, it was a nice, earnest energy. Kwame’s at the stage where he’s enjoying himself, and that’s fun to watch. Previewing a new song, set to drop this Friday, he rapped: “ I do this shit in my sleep”, later jumping into the crowd for its triumphant ending as the crowd shouted his name.

By the time A$AP Ferg’s DJ hopped on stage – quickly settling into his spot behind the decks – the crowd was bordering on feral. Drinks were getting thrown, bodies were bouncing off of one another, and phones were at the ready; anticipation palpable.

It’d probably be a suitable point to drop in the fact that A$AP Ferg was not very ASAP with his stage time, but let’s assume that’s already been done and it’s a rap show, so why would you expect anything less? ANYWAY. After an extended set from the man behind the decks, to which the road keenly shouted along the lyrics, Ferg bounded on – settling into the audience energy like a seasoned pro.

It seemed honest when Ferg told the mass of bodies that it was his favourite show of the Australian tour. The room was full of A$AP Ferg fans, quick to supply him with a do-no-wrong ego-boost. I mean, he was even making orange Crocs and socks work, so… it’s clear that confidence comes from somewhere.

“It’s hot as fuck in here,” he let the crowd know following “The Mattress”, off 2017’s Still Striving, cueing up the “Butt Naked” follow-up – its jungle beat quickly morphing into a hi-hat, then the emphatic thwack of “WAM”.

If you tried to survey the crowd for the set highlight, it’d be a hard task. People were having a time, carrying the chorus to “Jet Lag”; joining Ferg on the recently released “Value” as he chanted the words “trap lord”; and abiding by his request to get the ladies on the shoulders for “Ride” (see: my above note that Ferg makes music for strip clubs.)

There was also moments of reflection, with Ferg leading the crowd through a moment of silence for the late A$AP Yams.

At times, the bombast slips into Nelly and Ja Rule territory; bringing up the early aughts rap on tracks like “Dreams, Fairtytales, Fantasies”. It’s music designed for big festival stages, and to be shouted along by groups of friends who have been steadily tipping them back. That said, if you took a drink every time Ferg told you to put your hands up, you’d have no idea which way was up.

Of course it’s the hits that he’d cap off his set and his seventh visit to Melbourne with – “Shabba”, “Work”, and four-times platinum “Plain Jane” sending a sweaty crowd into the night.

Out of the New York crew, Ferg has certainly cemented himself as one of the A$AP Mob’s most recognisable members, finding favour for his big swinging confident party tunes. He’s undoubtedly influenced by Harlem, but Australia’s long had a history of gritty rap enthusiasm. And it must be a good feeling for Ferg to know that whatever he does, it’ll still be ravenously eaten up by people thousands of miles away.