Throughout the years, I’ve enjoyed some hip hop music released by the ASAP Mob (stylized as A$AP Mob). Regarding the name of this New York City collective, one source states:
The “ASAP” name was always understood as the familiar acronym for “as soon as possible”, but it has also been explained as a backronym for other ideas including “Always Strive and Prosper”, “Assassinating Snitches and Police”, and “Acronym Symbolizing Any Purpose”.
I appreciate the latter backronym, because my service in the Marine Corps (1996-2007) provided plenty of exposure to acronyms bordering on the absurd. Thus, an all-purpose backronym is something I find humorous. Yet, I digress.
Although I’ve appreciated the music of other ASAP Mob members, I mainly enjoyed the content of FERG (formerly A$AP Ferg) and A$AP Rocky. Regarding these two group members, one source reports:
Just last month [January 2025] FERG brutally confirmed that ASAP Mob is a ‘thing of the past’. ‘Well I don’t think there is A$AP anymore,’ FERG explained.
‘It’s not a Cozy Tape out — a new one — or it’s not an office. It’s not a record label. A$AP Worldwide is not a record label. I think it’s a thing of the past. I think people hold on to the legacy that we created and those things.’
‘When you think about A$AP I think, from the music point, you think about, like, me and Rocky,’ he continued.
‘People who did the music and all of that. Of course, it was built off the backs of Bari and Yams and all of that, but like we’re the faces. So I feel like if we not making no music and putting no new timestamps then there’s no A$AP.’
Despite the dissolution of the group, I’ll continue valuing music released by the collective at the height of its success. Besides, I’ve witnessed the formation, rise, and fall of many hip hop groups throughout my lifetime. All matters in life are impermanent and uncertain in this regard.
Moreover, I look forward to future projects from FERG and A$AP Rocky, given that as of February 18, 2025, the latter reportedly received a “not guilty verdict at his trial on two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm.” Congratulations for prevailing in that case.
According to one source, not all Acronym Symbolizing Any Purpose Mob members have been as fortunate, due to alleged addiction, legal matters, and death that surrounded the collective. When thinking of the ASAP Mob, I’m reminded of groups from my own past.
Anyone who remains familiar with the content of my blog likely knows at this point that I was friends with a number of gang members in my youth. When residing in Aurora, Colorado, I was introduced to predominately black members of a Crip set (faction of a gang) in fifth grade.
Once they stopped jumping me after school, we became friends. Then, when residing in a children’s home in eighth grade, I befriended a fellow resident who’d been quoted into a predominately Mexican set of the Crips.
When out of the children’s home and placed with a family who attended the same church services, I gravitated toward a multiracial renegade Crip set that was allied with all-Mexican members of the Sureños. I also made friends with mostly black members of the Bloods.
Additionally, some members of my biological and family-by-marriage association may or may not have been cliqued up with various sets. Surprisingly, I even discovered a few military police with whom I served in the Marines who were said to have had ties to gangs of various sorts.
Because I was never formally affiliated with any particular gang, I wasn’t considered an off brand member to have been deemed as a threat. Thus, my “untouchable” status with those gangbangers to whom I was most closely bonded allowed me to understand their lifestyle.
Similar to how the ASAP Mob formed, rose, and fell, I observed many members of gangs who went through a similar cycle. When contemplating this matter through the perspective of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), I’m not self-disturbed.
This is because I practice unconditional acceptance. I’ve known set members who’ve been in and out of incarcerated status. I’ve also known gangbangers who died as a result of their chosen lifestyle. All of this I tolerate and accept without use of unhelpful conditional beliefs.
Furthermore, I’m grateful for having course-corrected by making healthier decisions about my own life. Now, I look at FERG and A$AP Rocky and hope the same for them. While the ASAP Mob wasn’t a gang, at least not to my knowledge, I wish well these two rappers of the group.
Apparently, they’ve been able to achieve improved outcomes which weren’t attainable by their former group members. As such, Acronym Symbolizing Any Purpose can now relate to Any Success Attainable Persists. This is my hope for FERG and A$AP Rocky: success. One.
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