Live Review: A$AP Ferg

A$AP Mob used to be all about A$AP Rocky, but A$AP Ferg (aka Darold Ferguson, Jr) now rivals him as a rap superstar, impressively guesting on SBTRKT's avant Voices In My Head alongside Warpaint.

The Harlem, New York, MC is touring Australia for the third time — incongruously, with the regional Groovin The Moo. The night before 2015's festival launch in South Australia, he's staging a side-show at the venue formerly known as the Hi-Fi Bar. The Fergster sure has a mixed audience — we spot urban kids, indie hipsters and Allday lookalikes here.

First up, DJ Paper Diamond, from Colorado via Los Angeles, drops EDM-fuelled yet gutter trap — it's somewhere between Just Blaze and DJ Carnage. He sneaks in Calvin Harris' poppy Summer and Ginuwine's '90s R&B classic Pony. Near the end, Diamond spins his original banger, Wylin, with Loudpvck. Some homeboys get daggering.

A$AP Ferg, in stylish leisurewear, bounces on stage at precisely 10.30 pm — making history for not only international rappers, but also the Hi-Fi, where schedules are regarded with the same suspicion as public transport timetables. He's joined by a DJ, who abruptly ends tracks with gunshot sounds, and Marty Baller — not so much a hypeman as side-kick. Indeed, Ferguson is the Trap Lord. Live, even more than on record, he's a charismatic and dynamic MC — and this showman cheerfully and confidently chats to punters.

Ferguson may seem ubiquitous in hip hop but, solo, he's just aired the one artist album, 2013's Trap Lord, and mixtape, November's Ferg Forever. His tracks, though sing-songy, can bleed into one with their sub-bass beats, the rapper putting a NYC twist to ol' skool Southern trap. Nonetheless, his crowd are hardcore fans — and turnt up. Early, Ferguson performs lesser-known songs such as Trap Lord's Dump Dump — plus the Mob's Hella Hoes.

It's midway when he pulls out his best record, the percussive Let It Go — tonight more 'party' than gothic. Ferguson's show is fast and furious with no loss of momentum. But there are playful moments. The MC does the (not ironic) Ja-Rule off his mixtape. The New Yorker also hosts a mini-rap contest and, while he seeks a femcee, two nervous male candidates appear on stage — one, a bit retro Slim Shady.

Ferguson dedicates his current tour to A$AP Mob's late mentor, Steven "Yams" Rodriguez, who accompanied him to Oz in 2014. Ferguson's hits are saved for later in the hour-long set — Work, Shabba and Hood Pope. But he bows out with his recent Carnage collab WDYW.