MUSIC
A$AP Rocky & A$AP Ferg Get Back to Their Roots on “Wrong”
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With a little help from Harry Fraud on production, the A$AP lords sound so right that it's “Wrong.”
Published on April 28, 2017

Last Fall, Harlem’s A$AP Mob released their first collaborative effort since 2012, the ebullient Cozy Tapes Vol. 1. True to its subtitle, “Friends,” the brief project was jam-packed with guests from outside of the Mob, including but not limited to Juicy J, Key!, Wiz Khalifa, Onyx, Skepta, Playboi Carti, Lil Uzi Vert, Lil Yachty, and Tyler The Creator. It was a fun, house party-style compilation, but if there was one weak aspect, it was that we missed out on the chemistry between A$AP’s core members.

The Mob just shared the first track from the second installment of Cozy Tapes, and it’s an answer to our prayers. “Wrong” is classic A$AP, from Rocky and Ferg trading bars, to a hazy beat by a local hero, Harry Fraud. Too often Vol. 1 got watered down by out-of-towners and mismatched collaborators-- this track, on the other hand, is very much in the A$AP wheelhouse.

“Wrong” sounds like it could feasibly be an outtake from either Rocky’s breakthrough project, LiveLoveA$AP, or Ferg’s, Trap Lord. Just as they did on their early tracks together like “Kissin’ Pink” or “Shabba,” the charismatic duo act as the money-makin’ Manhattan version of Outkast, with Rocky’s straightforward, workmanlike rapping comparable to Big Boi’s, and Ferg’s more unhinged flows locating him as the André 3000 of the pair. (Side note: on 2013’s “Ghetto Symphony,” they themselves made that comparison, but with the roles reversed. We’ve never understood that and would love an explanation). Harry Fraud, meanwhile, acts as a stand-in for day-one A$AP producer Clams Casino, who concocted similarly lush, syrupy soundscapes for Rocky’s first few releases.

Hopefully Vol. 2’s subtitle is Family, and The Mob gets a chance to kick styles between themselves, rather than relying on high-profile guests for a visibility boost. You know A$APs Twelvyy, Nast, and Ant (who had two, two, and three appearances on Vol. 1, respectively) are looking for more opportunities to shine than they were given last fall. We don’t yet have any details on Vol. 2, but with no solo A$AP projects in the pipeline as it stands now, it could be arriving sooner than later.

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Patrick Lyons
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Patrick Lyons is a music writer based in Portland who is equally enthralled by black metal and Southern rap-- catch him making maddeningly eclectic choices on the aux cord.
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