Johannesburg- A$AP Ferg was excited to see how "dope" South Africa was when he landed here for the first street culture festival, Capsule, happening on Saturday in Newtown.
The rapper, famous for the 2013 trap hit song Shabba, was hosted at the Mall of Africa Sportscene branch on Thursday.
“My friends have told me about how fly this place is and that the hip hop scene is dope down here,” he said.
The media briefing was MC’d by Vuzu Entertainment’s Nomuzi Mabena.
#CapsuleSA @ASAPferg and @Nasty_CSA out here for the Capsule Festival. @ReporterStar pic.twitter.com/TaCfewN0tf
— Nokuthula Zwane (@Zwane_2Li2Ls) September 14, 2017
Event sponsors Sportscene brought the event to the country to celebrate urban culture, something the streets of Joburg are filled with. Mabena said the event would be "epic", catering for both children and adults.
There will be art installations, a beer garden, boot customisations and food stalls. Two stages will feature more than 30 big acts and new artists.
Hip hop star AKA will join Kwesta and NastyC on the main stage. Nasty C, who was at the briefing, said it was a great honour to be one of the headliners.
HIP SCENE: Rapper A$AP Ferg addresses the media at the press conference for the Capsule Festival. Picture: Itumeleng English
Mabena said the younger generation now was all about kids doing alternative things and using the internet to "get themselves out there".
A$AP Ferg, real name Darold Ferguson, released his latest mixtape, Still Striving, last month.
“This time around I added more producers on the beats, giving new people opportunities, and I got to chill with my friends while we were at it. I did five tours last year.”
A$AP Ferg said the process of making the mixtape was a natural one. “People would pull up and kick it. We joked with each other and still managed to get in three to four songs with each session. I was in the moment.”
The New Level hitmaker said he also had a lot of newcomers on the mixtape because he wanted to make contemporary art. “Where I am from, New York City, there isn’t a lot of artists repping the city.”
A post shared by Kedibone Modise (@kedi_modise) on Sep 14, 2017 at 8:04am PDT
He said it was a "huge deal" to be performing in the country for the first time.
“Yo’ll can keep me here. I always get hyped when people know the words to my songs; then I get caught up and forget the words myself. That makes me feel like I am home and able to get real on stage.”
He said he wanted to make the most of his short time here and see new people and places.
"I want to make the best out of this opportunity and take new sounds back home.”
@mane_mpi