A$AP Ferg’s Adidas Collaboration Draws Inspiration From an Absent Mob Member

For the hip hop artist, the work is therapeutic. 

A$AP Ferg is a pretty well-connected artist, so when Adidas was looking to partner with a new member of the A$AP Mob after teaming up with A$AP Rocky, they turned to Ferg. The result? An Adidas Skateboarding capsule collection featuring three tees and a sneaker set.

“I just wanted to do something for [A$AP Yams] and tribute something to him in a different way.” Ferg told Maxim down in Miami at Art Basel for his celebratory launch of the collection. Yams, who died in January, was a founding member of the Mob.

“[The process] really wasn’t different for me because when my father passed away I just went into this painting mode three days after he passed away just to kind of use it as a therapeutic tool,” he said. “Rocky actually owns one of them. I took it back to that release, to that sort of therapeutic method of painting”

A former collaborator with Pacsun, Ferg ended up creating a painting of Yams which was then printed on the shirt. The full capsule was titled “Traplord” based on his mixtape.

“[Making art] definitely calms me down because I live a very fast life,” he explained. “I’m a hip hop artist, but when you’re doing this type of art it’s just you and that canvas and that paint. You know, while I’m doing it I get to think and reflect on old memories and look to the future. I can just go anywhere on the canvas and that’s what I did painting that Yams masterpiece.”

In addition to the collaboration, which sold out on the Adidas website but is still available in part at Pacsun, Ferg hosted an exclusive exhibit titled ‘Always Strive and Prosper’ featuring photos of A$AP Mob by Brock Fetch. Ferg will release his sophomore album of the same name in January.