What a Time To Be Alive wasn’t just the name of Future and Drake’s much-anticipated, but just-kinda-ok EP, it was practically the tagline to the movie that was Hip Hop in 2015. Genre-bending, record-breaking and straight up Strangely absent from all this was A$AP Ferg, a recent up-and-comer who laid low until the very end, dropping “Tatted Angel” earlier this month and now, “New Level” featuring Future.
Debuted on Ebro Darden’s Beats 1 radio show last night, the track is a certified banger, but not without its mishaps. Ferg’s always had a way with words ("Used to be sleeping on itchy beds / Bed bugs in the motel, now your bitch give me head”), but his cadence bogs the track down until Future comes in sounding more manic and, for lack of a better word, alive than ever. Ferg redeems himself with an out-of-nowhere third verse that puts his upcoming sophomore album, Always Strive and Prosper, on the list for one of early 2016’s most anticipated releases.
Listen to the radio rip of “New Level” below.