ASAP Ferg

Darold Durard Brown Ferguson Jr. (born October 20, 1988), known professionally as ASAP Ferg (stylized as A$AP Ferg), is an American rapper from New York City's Harlem neighborhood.

He is best known as a member of the hip hop collective A$AP Mob, from which he adopted a record deal with Polo Grounds and RCA—the same labels that helped launch ASAP Worldwide.

Two years prior, the group's cohorts ASAP Rocky and the late Asap Yams effectively negotiated their own respective deal.

Darold Durard Brown was born on October 20, 1988, in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City to Trinidadian parents.

Ferg was raised in Hamilton Heights.

His father, Darold Ferguson, owned a small Harlem boutique and printed shirts and logos for record labels; including Bad Boy Records and performers Teddy Riley, Heavy D and Bell Biv DeVoe.

Before starting his music career, Ferg initially aspired to start his own clothing line.

Inspired by his father, who died of kidney failure, Ferg launched clothing and jewelry lines at a young age and attended art school.

In 2005, Ferg began launching the "Devoni Clothing", that he designed and distributed high-end belts, which have been worn by Chris Brown, Swizz Beatz and Diggy Simmons.

By 2009, he started developing an aggressive, trap style of hip-hop.

"Trapping means hustling," he explained.

"I went from painting to making clothes to rapping. I always put myself into everything I do one hundred percent. It doesn't matter what I'm working on. I want to perfect everything I do. Success is the only option. They call me 'Trap Lord' because my hustle game is impeccable."

Friends since high school, A$AP Rocky recognized that Ferg had an "impeccable hustle game" and pushed Ferg to continue rapping as much as possible.

They later joined the hip hop collective A$AP Mob, from which they both adopted their respective monikers.

Since 2010, they collaborated on various songs such as "Get High," "Kissin' Pink" and "Ghetto Symphony", the latter being from Rocky's chart-topping major label debut, Long. Live. A$AP (2013).

Outside of music, Ferguson founded the street fashion brand Traplord in 2012, which was namesake for his debut album.

Ferg's debut single "Work", produced by Chinza and Fly, appeared on the A$AP Mob mixtape Lords Never Worry, released on August 28, 2012.

The song's music video quickly earned over 2 million online views and was dubbed one of the "50 Best Songs of 2012" by Complex Magazine.

Ferguson's debut studio album, Trap Lord (2013) peaked within the top ten of the Billboard 200 and received positive critical reception, also marking his first entry on the Billboard Hot 100 with its triple platinum certified-lead single, "Work (Remix)" (featuring ASAP Rocky, French Montana, Schoolboy Q, and Trinidad James).

In 2013, he was named "Rookie of the Year" at the BET Hip Hop Awards.

On January 10, 2013, he announced Trap Lord would be the title of his debut album.

When speaking on his debut album Trap Lord, Ferg said: "I hope people take the good and the bad from what I've got to say, I've seen so much shit in my life. There were times I ducked bullets at a basketball game, and then I went to a fashion show. I've experienced depression. I've experienced triumph. I've experienced hate. I've experienced love. I learned how to be independent. I made it out of the hood, and now I want go to the top."

On January 10, 2013, it was announced that he signed a record deal with RCA Records and Polo Grounds.

On May 14, 2013, the remix to "Work", featuring fellow American rappers A$AP Rocky, Schoolboy Q, French Montana and Trinidad James, was released to digital retailers.

On June 2, 2013, while revealing Trap Lord would feature guest appearances from hip hop groups Bone Thugs-n-Harmony and Onyx, Ferg announced that the album would be released on August 20, 2013.

The album debuted at number 9 on the Billboard 200 chart, with total album sales of 46,000 copies in the United States.

On October 15, he was named "Rookie of the Year" at the 2013 BET Hip Hop Awards.

However, he was not there to accept the award as he did not think he was going to win.

In 2014, Ferg appeared as a featured artist on the track "Hands on Me" by Ariana Grande, from her second album My Everything.

The album was released on August 22, 2014.

On February 25, 2015, Ferg released the video for the single "Dope Walk", a track from his Ferg Forever (2014) mixtape in which he coined a viral dance of the same name.

Composed entirely of iPhone footage shot during New York Fashion Week, the video starred fashion model Cara Delevingne and featured cameos from a host of other celebrities, including Kris Jenner, Kanye West, Diddy, Alexander Wang, Russell Simmons, Justin Bieber, Beyoncé, Rihanna, A$AP Rocky, Jeremy Scott, Les Twins, and Haim.

Ferg told Rolling Stone, "With 'Dope Walk' I wanted to bring back kids dancing and having fun again. That's how it used to be in Harlem. I remember everybody Harlem-shaking and 'Chicken Noodle Soup'-ing. Those were some of the most fun and memorable times in my life."

In late 2015, Ferg directed the music video for rapper Future's "Thought It Was a Drought".

In an interview with The Source, Ferg stated that his "...new album is my best work yet. I put my all into it. I always tell people I really don't know what I'm going to do after this album, because I'm bearing so much truth with this album."

In April 2016, Ferguson released his second studio album, Always Strive and Prosper to similar reception.

The following year, Ferguson released the commercial mixtape Still Striving, which was preceded by the single "Plain Jane" (remixed featuring Nicki Minaj).

On April 22, 2016, Ferg released his second studio album, which is titled Always Strive And Prosper.

In 2020, Ferguson released the single "Move Ya Hips" (featuring Nicki Minaj and MadeinTYO), which peaked at number 19 on the Billboard Hot 100—becoming his highest-charting single—while marking one of the largest downward movements in the chart's history the following week.

In 2021, Ferguson signed a management deal with Roc Nation.