HHW: Tell us how the Chuck D collaboration on “Beautiful People” came about?
Ferg: This proves that he loves the youth. A$AP is the youth, he’s f*cking with what’s happening. He’s on “Beautiful People” with my grandmother. He respected the song, and he respected my mind so he’s not on something that he wasn’t fucking with. We connected when I bumped into him at a restaurant, his daughter recognized me and introduced us. The crazy thing is that I wanted and needed him on that song and I spoke it into existence because I bumped into him two days after I had that thought, he just appeared. He sent the vocals back so fast, like within a week. I was like, “Wow, he’s not being complicated or nothing.”
HHW: You also had a song with Bone Thugs-N-Harmony on Trap Lord. Are you making it a point to work with veteran artists everything you come out?
Ferg: I’m not purposely doing it, I’m just vibing. I’m fans of these people and I want to pay homage. I feel that in order to make history, you have to study history, know your history and create history, with history. These guys created legacies, I want to be among those names. I want to stand next to Jordan and Kobe. When you align yourself with these pillars you become one yourself. It’s like when rich people hang out with rich people, or broke people hang out with broke people. I don’t want to be with the broke people. {laughs} I want to be an artist who made moves.
HHW: What kind of tone did you want to set with the production on this album, who did you work with?
Ferg: The production is very special. I basically had DJ Khalil spearhead the whole album. We created the whole sound together. He brought in a orchestra and an opera singer. We was just jamming and funking like Parliament and James Brown or something. I was just freestyling and having fun. Then I had younger producers like Phili come in. Then I had Clams Casino come in and place a mic in these jam sessions. Not recording on the computer but from the actual room, so you are getting the vibes live as they happened. He would take those things and loop them and make beats with them. That’s how we made “Psycho” and “Beautiful People.”
HHW: You had a lot people going crazy and waiting for the full version of “Psycho” to drop when you teased it at the beginning of the “Let It Bang” video.
Ferg: Yeah, that was on purpose. Those are two very strong songs on the album. “Let It Bang” and “Psycho” are about my uncle Psycho. My uncle used to look up to Ol’ Dirty Bastard, so I figured I might as well have his son pay him in the video.
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