Album Review: A$AP Ferg - Always Strive And Prosper

Ferg remains the strongest member of the A$AP Mob.

This album is further proof. Psycho is compelling. Beautiful People combines the rage of a slave's descendant with the approachability of swelling strings and instrumental bleep bloops. World Is Mine is compact, neat, exquisite; a macaron, not a Snickers bar. Only saccharine lead track Strive is tone deaf. When someone as sophisticated as Ferg sings earnestly, "Get of your arse and create your life 'cause you're wasting opportunities," it comes off as sarcasm. And if the track's a bit of a joke, Missy Elliott's guest verse is the punch line. Tonal missteps aside, Strive is defined by restraint, subtlety, nuance. In the main, it is a triumph.