[Hip-Hop Music] A$AP Ferg - Always Strive and Prosper介紹（上） @ Jimmy's Ethiopia and Life Adventure

A$AP Ferg – Always Strive and Prosper

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Ok距離上次發文也過了非常久的時間，再加上最近感冒，所以遲疑了好一陣子，

就廢話不多說來談談這次要討論的最新專輯：A$AP Ferg – Always Strive and Prosper

相信這個名字對於熱愛HipHop音樂的各位可說是非常熟悉的一個，不論是初入塊領域的新朋友們，亦或者是已經聽了很久的老朋友們。

身為A$AP Mob的第二把交椅，A$AP Ferg這次可說是有逆勢看漲的趨勢，這張專輯有別於上一張Trap Lord，在詞曲方面都有些微的變化，可說是令人感到興奮啊。

先來談談這張專輯內跨刀參與的人吧。

Clams Casino，身為A$AP Mob的首席製作人，當然是先談到他的名字，同時他可是製作了對他來說為今年至今為此最屌的一首Beat，並用於”Psycho”這首歌。

剩餘的還有超大咖的Skrillex, Rick Ross, Future, Big Sean, Schoolboy Q, Chris Brown, Ty Dolla $ign…等人，可以說是匯集了當今圈內的眾多一線大咖參與其中。由此看得出來A$AP Ferg對於這張專輯的重視度，相信這強大的火力會是A$AP Ferg在往後爭取更高層級榮譽的強大後盾。

曲目列表(Tracklist)：

1. “Rebirth”
2. “Hungry Ham” Feat. Skrillex and Crystal Caines
3. “Strive” Feat. Missy Elliott
4. “Meet My Crazy Uncle (Skit)”
5. “Psycho” 6. “Let it Bang” Feat. ScHoolboy Q
7. “New Level” Feat. Future
8. “Yammy Gang” Feat. A$AP Mob and Tatianna Paulino
9. “Swipe Life” Feat. Rick Ross
10. “Uzi Gang” Feat. Lil Uzi Vert and Marty Baller
11. “Beautiful People” Feat. Chuck D and Mama Ferg
12. “Damn Not Again (Skit)”
13. “Let You Go”
14. “World Is Mine” Feat. Big Sean
15. “Phone Call With Breezy (Skit)”
16. “I Love You” Feat. Chris Brown and Ty Dolla $ign 17. “Grandma (Skit)” 18. “Grandma

第一首歌Rebirth似乎有帶出Ferg這次的氣勢的感覺，對我來說作為破題是非常好的一個擺放，有在宣告重生之意（誠如歌名），告訴大家Trap Lord不再是大家所熟識的Trap Lord，Ferg已經昇華到了更高的境界、層次，這次Ferg似乎要帶大家更加地進入他的生活和周遭的事物，當Lord轉生成Hood Pope（街頭教宗？街區教宗？Whatever如何翻譯，大家應該懂他想表達的意思吧）的時候，神變成人的時候，一切也就反樸歸真了。

在這首的編制上面，我認為在左右聲道的變化和音軌Fade Out的處理方面是令我覺得非常能展現這首歌表情的橋段，藉由左右聲道的切換和透過空間感的營造，彷彿真的有個聲音在耳邊告訴著我們該如何是好，可能是Ferg想告訴聽眾的，有個聲音告訴他，是時候該為周遭的人發聲了，就像是神派了個使徒到凡間的概念。（胡亂猜測啦，原諒我的胡言亂語）

"Rebirth"歌詞

If I die before I wake
At least I lived life my way
Hope that you remember me
Came up fast, bittersweet
Please prepare me mentally
‘Fore you take my song on MTV

Now that you’re no longer a lord that’s trapped
You have graduated to the Hood Pope
You have made it to represent your people
Show them another way
Be the voice of the people who couldn’t make it out the hood

Make sure my family good, my ma still in the hood
I ain’t rich like they think cause I copped me one mink
They think I got me a house with a big couch and a gold sink
With a model bitch with a gold ring, big ass fish in a fish tank
Haha, you laughing, just put me in my casket
I ain’t even into nagging, it's what it is, I’m passing

And though times is hard now, your success awaits them
I’m no different what y’all are saying
Ferg made it out? Well, I can play that game
You’re not exempt from the growing chain
Niggas forget who’s afraid to change
You’re the trapped lord, I will remain

Hood Pope, I’ma teach these confused folks how to maneuver
Through folks and attention, get you choked, you know
Slim model girls sniffing the coke
Fiend on the block sniffin’ the dope
I wanna help, I don’t know
Tell me the, antidote
How you hood and a pope
Conscious thinking, ghetto though
I’ll teach you how to build a grow tree
Life like a bike and pedal slow

Now you’re the voice of the guys on the corners
And the kids who have no direction, guide them
Through the trials and the tribulations
Teach them the world can be accumulated with patience

If I die before I wake
At least I lived life my way
Hope that you remember me
Came up fast, bittersweet
Please prepare me mentally
‘Fore you take my song on MTV

第二首歌Hungry HAM：

(如果有人不知道HAM的意思，除了“火腿”之外，它也是Hard As Motherfucker的簡寫。Jay-Z和Kanye West有首歌也叫“HAM”)

如果說Rebirth是在講述Trap Lord轉變為Hood Pope的話，那Hungry HAM便是Hood Pope向大家傳道解惑的第一課，透過講述Ferg的兒時和街區生活，透漏出他究竟是在什麼樣的狀況下啟發和成長。

這首歌開宗名義就說了Ferg的出生來自Harlem，對！沒錯！就是哈林區的143街—Sterlin Street。

從歌詞中我們可以聽出Ferg生長的街區非常的混亂，這也是可能導致Ferg想要奮發拼出一片天的原因，然而Ferg的家人並不是體諒他的做法，在他辭去工作後，媽媽甚至還發了火，但Ferg似乎毫不在意這些，畢竟他早已視自己是個饒舌歌手。（這種自信似乎存在許多歌手身上，Logic的歌也曾有過這種題材）

透過後半段的Im Horny橋段可以看出來，Ferg的慾望依舊不斷的膨脹當中，他的野心可說是不斷成長，可能也和他的生活環境有關。“性”是對於權勢的展現，透過想要“做愛”這點可以發現，這可能是在展現出他的野心，間接的和標題Hungry HAM相呼應。(以上純屬虎爛和胡言亂語)

Hungry HAM這首歌同時也Sample了Lyn Collins在1972年People這張專輯裡面的Think(about it)

歌詞（Lyrics）：

[Intro - Crystal Caines:]
See this is Harlem, these our streets
Hungry Ham, that’s all we eatin'
Them niggas out here shining, niggas out here dying
Cause we never got along
We all go getters, we go get it
Some gon’ fake it, half won’t make it
Get a chance to make it out, we taking it

[Hook - A$AP Ferg & Crystal Caines:]
Block, Hungry Ham
Cause that’s my block, Hungry Ham
Cause that’s my block, Hungry Ham
Cause that’s my block, Hungry Ham
Cause that’s my block, Hungry Ham
Cause that’s my block, Hungry Ham
Cause that’s my block, Hungry Ham
Nigga what’s your block? Hungry Ham

[Verse 1 - A$AP Ferg:]
Grandma used to call me Mickey Mouse but I’m no rat
On the block they threw a couple bullets, Warren Sapp
Seen my nigga’s family members buggin' off the crack
Your uncle smell like shit like he got garbage in his ass
I’m from 143rd, I come from Hungry Ham, ya heard?
Where the pigs'll lay you down and make a nigga bite the curb
Them kids is poppin’ Percs because they claim it cool they nerves
My crazy ass neighbors sprinkle HOO-HOO-HOO
Street name was Sterlin, smell like shit, vomit, urine
When my bitches come over they have the look of concerning
Like why he stand in the hallway with a milk carton and be lurking?
Why he jumping for joy when the whole building was just burning?
What about that nigga’s sash? Wore the socks on his hands
Purple coats in the summer, with the Glock in his pants
And he stabbed his own mama, how you do that to your fam?
Cause my block full of lunatics, call my shit Hungry Ham
Damn!

[Hook - A$AP Ferg & Crystal Caines:]
Block, Hungry Ham
Cause that’s my block, Hungry Ham
Cause that’s my block, Hungry Ham
Cause that’s my block, Hungry Ham
Cause that’s my block, Hungry Ham
Cause that’s my block, Hungry Ham
Cause that’s my block, Hungry Ham
Nigga what’s your block? Hungry Ham
Nigga fuck your block, Hungry Ham
Nigga fuck your block, Hungry Ham
Nigga fuck your block, Hungry Ham
Nigga fuck your block, Hungry Ham
Better wear your Glock, Hungry Ham
Better wear your Glock, Hungry Ham
Better wear your Glock
I’ll be back, nigga (BLAH!)

[Aunt:] Yeah Sharon, I don’t know what’s going on.
I seen your son on the corner and he was chillin’ with all of them-
[Mom:] Ooh, Darold...
[Aunt:] Yeah! Like he gon’ be a rapper or something like
[Mom:] Darold come home and get his ass beat!

[Verse 2 - A$AP Ferg:]
My auntie ask my mama, “did Darold quit his job?”
I seen him three days straight sitting on a car
My mama screaming, “Darold, c’mon, you ain’t quit yo job!”
Mama yes I did (Darold!)
My mama barking like doggies
In front of my aunt and my shorty
I tell her, " I am a rapper, " she suck her teeth and ignore me
All she see is my gold teeth, with a white bitch and some 40's
I’m getting fame on computers, she don’t think this shit is for me
I used to pray for more women, now I get dozens of oldies
When I be hittin’ it doggie, she bark like HOO-HOO-HOO
(Oh my, I’m horny!)
Only when you want sex you callin’ me
Tellin’ me how much you want me
But I think you’re full of baloney
I ain’t stressin’ you shorty, my shorty be stressin’ me, shorty
Claimin’ I’m messin’ with shorties and be undressin’ them shorties
I ain’t get no head from them shorties
Ain’t be in the bed with them shorties
Now what these condoms for?
And please don’t say these Magnums is for me

[Girl:] Are you serious, what the fuck is this?

[Bridge - A$AP Ferg & Crystal Caines:]
I'm-I'm-I'm-I’m from Hungry Ham, y'all ought to know
Better get your ass another plan if you want to blow
Can’t play this corner for no more summers if you get my flow
We catching meat, but y’all niggas is buns, HOO-HOO-HOO

[Hook - A$AP Ferg & Crystal Caines:]
Block, Hungry Ham
Cause that’s my block, Hungry Ham
Cause that’s my block, Hungry Ham
Cause that’s my block, Hungry Ham
Cause that’s my block, Hungry Ham
Cause that’s my block, Hungry Ham
Cause that’s my block, Hungry Ham
Nigga what’s your block? Hungry Ham
Nigga fuck your block, Hungry Ham
Nigga fuck your block, Hungry Ham
Nigga fuck your block, Hungry Ham
Nigga fuck your block, Hungry Ham
Better wear your Glock, Hungry Ham
Better wear your Glock, Hungry Ham
Better wear your Glock, Hungry Ham
Papi, why you throwing things? Hungry Ham
I’ll be back! (BLAH!)

第三首歌 Strive：

這首歌相較於前兩首的節奏和樣貌有了較為不同的感覺，整首歌的主旋律主要是透過輕快的琴聲串連起來，搭配Ferg和Missy Elliot各自唱述自己自己振作的過程告訴聽眾，只要肯努力，遲早各位也能拼出一片天，就像副歌中唱的：

You can be you today
You can be you tonight
Know you're feeling really great
It's gong be alright
I can see it in your face
And I know you wanna fly
So get off your ass
And create your life

勉勵有夢想的人們，不要在東想西想了，做自己就在今天，我們都有屬於我們獨自所有的才華，去開創自己的人生吧，航向未知的遠方吧！（好像海賊王…）

而Strive這首歌也Sample了1981年Alicia Myers的I want to thank you

Strive歌詞（Lyrics）：

[Chorus - A$AP Ferg:]
You can be you today
You can be you tonight
Know you're feeling really great
It's gong be alright
I can see it in your face
And I know you wanna fly
So get off your ass
And create your life

(Post Chorus - A$AP Ferg)
Cause you're missing opportunities
I know you're rich in opportunities
And you're missing opportunities
I know you're rich in opportunities
Oh, oh, oh

[Verse 1 - A$AP Ferg:]
Working in Ben & Jerry's, it was scary
My life vision was blurry
You got talent, why's you here?
I'm thinking, yeah, plus I am getting a belly
I remember mama screaming
You ain't gon be like your uncle Terry
Uncle Terry on the corner selling rocks
He don't care what you tell him
He a hustler, bad muddastrudda
Riding in a brand new Lex when he pull up
He got a hood bitch from the block in the winter
He pull up on her like, Baby give me sugar, mane
Man I wish I shoulda, coulda, woulda
Woulda put a hurting on her if I hit her with the wood up
She got me dreaming
When I get outta the hood, I'm a get me something better

[Chorus]

[Post-Chorus - A$AP Ferg & Missy Elliott:]
Cause you're missing opportunities
I know you're rich in opportunities
And you're missing opportunities
I know you're rich in opportunities
Oh, oh, oh

[Verse 2 - Missy Elliott:]
In VA, where I stay
They don't play, they'll tell you that to your face
Collard greens, candied yams, potato salad
Before you grub, better say your grace
Auntie Jean was kinda mean, but she had dreams
She used to sing like Tina Turner
She said, Bring my wig and bring my dress
My high heel shoes from a Sunday morning service
She said, I'll show y'all beginners
I'll still whoop that ass with a switch and a splinter
Pray for these tramps running round like a sinner
Missy wanna be a star? Well tell her she's a winner
Ayeeee, she a bad lil sumn
Love how she dance like Michael Jackson
Told me I would be number one
Just be yourself, don't be nothing like them

[Chorus]

[Post-Chorus]

SKIT- Meet My Crazy Uncle

第五首歌”Psycho”：

這首歌也是整張專輯最多人期待的重頭戲，畢竟是由首席製作人Clams Casinon所製作的嘔心瀝血之作。

整首歌的風格也不是Ferg以往大家熟悉的Trap風格，較為沈悶的節奏，搭配laid back在副歌後面的另一道小朋友音軌同時唱著副歌，給人一種內斂的感覺。

當中不斷出現穿插的銅管樂器吹奏也更將所謂的內心世界全市出來，帶給人認真情緒的感覺。

當中Ferg也不斷利用加強語氣的類似嘶吼唱法帶給大家一種Phycho的感受。甚至有網友聽完這首歌開始稱Ferg為“Phycho Lord”。

這首歌透過講述一個名為Uncle Phycho的虛擬人物，間接地反映出Ferg的內心世界和自我期許，甚至可能是人生。

Phycho歌詞（Lyrics）：

Ah, yeah
Ah, yeah
Ah, yeah
Ah, it was all at the park
Colonial Liquor was his odor
The fragrance of a rider soldier
ODB was his persona
Oh you want the power?

[Hook:]
I got an uncle and his name psycho
He had a dance and they scream "go psycho!"
He would dance, work out and fight your ass at the park
(For the bills, for the hundred dollar bills)
And he got two sisters preggo
He fucked the other one to get one jel-o
And he took both kids to the ghetto ass park
(On the hill, shit'll get really real)

He used to have the braids with the cuts in his body
Most stucked out, kept the hammer with his mommy
Grandma had the arthritis pain in her body
Kept the burner in the mattress, so her son don’t catch a body
Gassed and he danced, smoked crack with his posse
Front flipped through a building window, land in the lobby
He was cut like Bruce Lee but he didn't know karate
He came home bloody screaming "nobody can stop me"
Nobody can stop me, I'm the baddest survivor on this planet
Fifty niggas better kill me, nigga cause I will do damage
Checked out the psych ward, I am nothing to manage
My life cut deep, nigga I'm nothing to bandage

[Hook:]
I got an uncle and his name psycho
He had a dance and they scream "go psycho!"
He would dance, work out and fight your ass at the park
(For the bills, for the hundred dollar bills)
And he got two sisters preggo
He fucked the other one to get one jel-o
And he took both kids to the ghetto ass park
(On the hill, shit'll get really real)

Where they be drinking forty ounces
With the brown paper bags for the ounces
No matter what day you found his ass at the park
(Hungry Ham, fuck around and get killed)
When he got kicked out of his bitch crib
And he had nowhere to lizz-ive
Always find his ass on the benches laying at the park
After dark

Don't get it confused Uncle Psych, I love you to death
Just wanna get a couple of things off of my chest
Growing up you always was buck-wilding with stress
And though I'm older now, I don't know how to forget
I used to wear your Timbs around the house when you left
And if you had an open soda, I would finish the rest
Pretend I'm older, I like the liquor odor you left
Then put your camouflage vest on like I'm holding a tec
Then point it at the mirror like I'm holding your rep
Though that mirror wasn't me, but it was you I reflect
Wanted to be like you, jail tat on the chest
With the rugged cornrows and a stab on my neck

I'll rob shit like that you know, cause I'll rob anyone, I, I don't care. It was a 9 to 5 for me, you know. It was like a hobby to me, I was the gun man, I was the dancer, entertainer, you know what I mean? I did it all. Like I said I had a deathwish, I'll rob anybody. Aye hold up motherfucker you see I'm talking right?