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Listen Up! A$AP Ferg Pulls No Punches On GQ Podcast

GQ’s Podcast Airplane Mode recently features A$AP Ferg and he had plenty to say about his late bandmember Yams, books  and other topics.
“It’s like your fame can become bigger than you in a way,” A$AP Ferg says to Airplane Mode host Clay Skipper. “When the smoke clears, you have to remain you.” Ferg joins the GQ mental wellness podcast to discuss his personal strategies for keeping his mind right in the chaos of fame and success. For one, exercise: “I try to run everyday. That’s the goal, if I don’t run I feel weird,” he says. The craziness of fame has turned him into a routine-oriented person. “It’s so easy to fall off track and eat whatever and just be living this lifestyle [on the road]…but you gotta be militant and keep yourself in line, and aligned because you could fall off…Aligned, be centered, be balanced.”

 

He says he tries to fit in 15 minutes of meditation every morning. He also refuses to touch his phone for the first half hour of his day. He’s glad that mental wellness is becoming mainstream in the hip hop community: “I think that stigma is changing. You got Meek Mill talking about PTSD, you got like 21 Savage talking about PTSD, and Charlemagne opening up about his anxieties and s— like that…” Still, he looked to those who came before him to pave the way. “First I’ve heard Jay-Z, he said he went to therapy. And I was like, ‘Wow, okay this is actually not a bad thing to try.’ Because I was so stressed last year that I wanted to actually sit with a professional and ask them if this is normal.”

 

Ferg speaks about A$AP Yams’ death, and watching his weakness for drugs. He also goes into self-help books that he’s studied: ‘Art of Seduction.’ It’s by Robert Green. I’ve read all Robert Green books. Art of War, The 48 Laws of Power. And The 50th Law because 50 Cent got a book with him as well.” He also addresses the last conversation he ever had with his father, and the things he learned growing up in Harlem.

 

The rapper has a positive outlook on life: “There’s no problems, there’s only solutions,” he says and dives deep into his dedication to staying aligned. “I never thought I would be getting this deep on GQ.”

 

Listen to the full episode here.