Denzel Curry Talks 'Great Relationship' with A$AP Rocky and Ferg, Overcoming Past 'Grudge' on New Album (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

A$AP Rocky (left); Denzel Curry; Ferg.Photo:Jim Spellman/Getty; Todd Owyoung/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty; Cindy Ord/WireImage

Jim Spellman/Getty; Todd Owyoung/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty; Cindy Ord/WireImage

Denzel Curryknows that lines previously drawn in the proverbial sand of hip-hop are not always set in stone.

For his latest full-length offering,King of the Mischievous South Vol. 2, the artist, 29, tapped a slew of high-profile collaborators to help deliver the 15-track project. However, two names that appeared among that star-studded list of features would have stunned fans privy to the innermost workings of rap beef 10 years ago:A$AP Rockyand Ferg.

But according to Curry, “Me and Rocky [were] trying to work together for years, to be honest.”

Denzel Curry performs in Leeds in August 2024.Matthew Baker/Getty

Matthew Baker/Getty

SpaceGhostPurpp and Rocky actually collaborated in their early days, with the former producing Rocky’s breakout song “Pretty Flacko.” According to Rocky’s 2012Complexcover, there was a span of time where he was even “sharing dinner plates” with SpaceGhostPurpp, who “used to live in my house. My mom took care of him.”

With both groups honing in on similar visual and auditory aesthetics, it was only a matter of time before issues between two entities vying for similar attention in the same space came to the forefront.Any potentially brewing creative tensions seemingly boiled over when SpaceGhostPurrp accused Rocky and Ferg’s affiliate, A$AP Twelvy, of jumping fellow Raider Klan affiliate Matt Stoops in New York City in 2012, setting the wheels in motion for years of back-and-forth arguments, both on and off social media, between SpaceGhostPurpp and Rocky.

Denzel Curry in New York City in July 2024.Dia Dipasupil/Getty

Dia Dipasupil/Getty

From the moment that divide began, members were essentially made to choose sides in the beef, but Curry notes that he and Rocky attempted to remain cordial despite the latter’s tension with SpaceGhostPurpp.

“I was supposed to be on the originalCozy Tapes Vol. 2on ‘Bahamas,’ " he reveals of his and A$AP Mob’s shelved 2017 collaboration. “But [Rocky] took me off because me and Purpp got cool [again] around that time, and then me and [Rocky] had a talk and I was telling him like, ‘Bro, your problem with Purpp is not your problem with me, so you shouldn’t have took it out on me. You should have just hollered at me.’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, I know. My bad,’ this that third. And we got cool.”

Years after the air was settled from his “Bahamas” verse being shelved, Curry says he ran into Rocky while in the studio working onKing of the Mischievous South Vol. 2.

“I remember Rocky coming in straight from the gym hooded up, so nobody knew it was him,” he recalls. “And I’m like, ‘Who the f— is this guy with these pretty ass teeth?’ And it just turns out it was Rocky. And he was like, ‘Damn, Curry, what’s happening? How you been?’ He was like, ‘We was doing good.’ And I was like, ‘Man, we working on this s—.’ He heard the song and he was like, ‘Oh s—. Well, I’m finna go home. I’m finna get changed and I’ll come back.’ "

That chance encounter gave birth toHOODLUMZ, the two’s collaborative track on Curry’s new album, which also features PlayThatBoiZay. “It was a good time,” Curry shares of the recording process.

Denzel Curry (left); A$AP Ferg.Matthew Eisman/Getty; Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty

Matthew Eisman/Getty; Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty

Similarly to Rocky, Curry states that he and Ferg maintained a cordial relationship for years despite the ongoing beef between Raider Klan and A$AP Mob, with Curry joining Ferg on his 2018 “MAD MAN” tour and the two ultimately joining forces on the former’s new album for the viral “HOT ONE,” which also features TiaCorine.

As for fans wondering why Rocky and Ferg were placed onKing of the Mischievous South Vol. 2and SpaceGhostPurpp wasn’t, Curry plainly states, “Purpp kept trying me, so no, he was not getting on the record.”

However, he teases that a forthcoming deluxe version of the project will still tap into his Raider Klan roots. “You may not get Purpp on this record, but you are going to get a Key Nyata. You are going to get maybe a Slim Guerilla or Amber London,” Curry reveals.

For the rapper, the reasoning behind releasing “HOODLUMZ” with Rocky and “HOT ONE” with Ferg was “celebrating the underground” as well as “showing what could have been if Raider Klan and A$AP was never beefing with each other and would’ve never had that feud.”

“It could have saved and could have brought a lot of careers up on the forefront to this day,” he shares.

King of the Mischievous South Vol. 2is out now.

source: people.com