New York’s rap scene has been popping long before people started getting “sturdy” to Cash Cobain. Let’s rewind to the 1970s—an era where afros and bellbottoms reigned supreme—and hip-hop first emerged in The Bronx.
DJ Kool Herc (who basically invented hip-hop while throwing a birthday party), Run-D.M.C. (who made “Run’s House” a popular song and rap reality TV show), and the Sugarhill Gang (whose song “Rapper’s Delight” was the genre’s first commercial hit) helped shape hip-hop into the widespread version we know and love today.
With that foundation laid, more iconic NY rap crews popped up like Wu-Tang Clan (featuring legends like Method Man and RZA), the tough-as-nails G-Unit (with 50 Cent and The Game), and The Diplomats (starring Cam’ron and Jim Jones, who made pink fur coats look cool).
The Diplomats didn’t know then that their grind would light the way for the next major crew, not just in Harlem but worldwide. Enter A$AP Mob, who took the blueprint laid by their New York forebears and carved out their own lane in both music and fashion.
But fast forward to today, and FERG, in a shocking plot twist of his own, says there’s nothing left to see here. Looks like the Mob’s next move is to call it a wrap.
Ferg says A$AP Mob is done
In September 2020, A$AP Illz (the OG A$AP Mob member who’s clearly not afraid to speak his mind) went on Instagram to announce that FERG — no longer rocking the A$AP —was officially out of the crew.
Despite the online flame-throwing, FERG told The Breakfast Club in November 2024 that he reached out to Illz, and the beef was squashed. He also clarified that there’s still love between him, Illz, and A$AP Rocky.
“I would say that me and Rocky, we talk every now and then … I always check on his well-being, but we so busy just doing our own thing. He got two kids and he’s making music and got his career. This is exactly going the way we wanted it to go. I got my land over here, you got your island over here. We big pillars and then when we come together it gets crazy,” FERG said.
It doesn’t look like love is enough to get the group back behind the mic.
While at the Toure Show, the rapper discussed his newest project, DAROLD, his role as an MC, and how his childhood shaped who he is today. However, he also had plenty of time to set the record straight about where A$AP Mob stands today.
“I don’t think that there is A$AP anymore. I think it’s a thing of the past. From the music point, you think about me and Rocky who did the music and all of that. Of course it was built off the backs of Barry and Yams and all of that, but we are the faces. I feel like if we not making no music and putting out no new timestamps, then there’s no A$AP,” FERG explained.
Fans quickly mourned the “end of an era” online but also celebrated the Mob’s legendary run since the early 2000s.
When was A$AP Mob created?
The A$AP Mob, a Harlem-based crew of rappers, fashion designers, and record producers, was born in 2006 when A$AP Yams, A$AP Bari, A$AP Illz, and A$AP Khan decided to make noise, both literally and figuratively. They later added A$AP Rocky, FERG, A$AP Nast, and A$AP Twelvyy. It was A$AP Yams, though, who’s been largely credited as the visionary behind the group.
The group released their first mixtape, Lords Never Worry, in 2012 as a free digital download. Along with verses from A$AP Rocky, FERG, A$AP ANT, and more, there were guest features from other hip-hop greats like Jim Jones and Flatbush Zombies. Critics weren’t exactly handing out gold stars (looking at you, Pitchfork), but A$AP Rocky and FERG were clearly the MVPs of the Mob.
The Mob tried to build on this momentum by announcing in August 2013 that their debut album (titled L.O.R.D.) would be coming in October. However, it was delayed numerous times (sounding a little too familiar?).
Sadly, we’ll never know what L.O.R.D. sounded like. In September 2014, A$AP Yams officially announced the album was scrapped— RIP —but teased new music from A$AP Nast and A$AP Rocky. Rocky dropped At.Long.Last.A$AP in May 2015 and A$AP Nast appeared on several Mob singles, including “Money Man” and “Walk on Water.”
While everyone was having their Beyoncé moment and doing solo adventures, a sudden loss in the group would have them all together as one big family again.
What did A$AP Mob accomplish?
In January 2015, A$AP Yams passed away due to an accidental overdose. Over a year later, A$AP Mob released Cozy Tapes: Vol. 1 Friends, the project Yams had worked on before his passing. A$AP Rocky explained that the project was inspired by Yams’ “Black Book,” a mysterious composition notebook that seemed to hold the blueprint for A$AP Mob’s world domination.
“It’s a composition notebook with Raekwon holding an Elmo doll, a Supreme sticker, and Biggie’s picture with the afro as a baby. Inside, it got plans of what [Yams] wanted to do for 2015 and who he wanted to fuck with, who he wanted us to fuck with, what artists he was interested in…He wanted everybody to move cohesively. Everybody had the same vision, but he was the voice of reason,” Rocky told Genius.
The tape received solid reviews. The verses included Mob members like FERG, A$AP Rocky, and A$AP ANT, along with features from Offset, Playboi, Tyler, the Creator, Lil Uzi Vert, and more.
The album’s cover features a baby picture of Yams (graciously supplied by his mother) as a tribute to their late co-founder.
Working on Cozy Tapes was also a way for A$AP Rocky to channel his grief into something positive, honoring Yams’ spirit while celebrating his legacy. “He left good energy, that optimistic shit, that ambition. That be happy with nothing [mentality], be grateful for something. He could’ve had a dollar to his name and still be cool and lit,” he also told Billboard.
The group didn’t wait long for a sequel, dropping Cozy Tapes Vol. 2: Too Cozy in August 2017 to solid reviews once again as people began questioning what was next for the collective.
The tape spotlighted the Mob’s heavy hitters—A$AP Rocky, FERG, A$AP Nast, and A$AP Twelvyy—but it didn’t stop there. The project was packed with features from Frank Ocean, Playboi Carti, Lil Uzi Vert, and ScHoolboy Q.
“The vibe was just showing the unity, what we got and the brotherhood. We just wanted to display that with our music. What you want to see in a band, what you want to see in a group, that feeling you got when you listened to G-Unit, Dipset, Wu-Tang Clan, that’s what you’re getting right now,” A$AP Rocky told XXL in August 2017.
How did A$AP Mob fall apart?
After they dropped Cozy Tapes Vol. 2, though, it seemed like everyone scattered to do their own thing. FERG released his second mixtape, Still Striving, in August 2017. A$AP Rocky released his third studio album, Testing, in May 2018. The group never reconvened to make another group album and seemed focused on their individual careers.
“We came together as a collective, and we loved it. We’ve grown into these different entities. But we came together to do something positive and create opportunities for ourselves, our family, and our friends. So we killed it. We did that for 12 years,” FERG said recently on the Toure Show.