A$AP Ferg – “Harlem Anthem”

Scott Dudelson/Getty Images

A$AP Ferg – “Harlem Anthem”

Scott Dudelson/Getty Images

The last time A$AP Ferg released a solo track, it was for goofy promotional reasons. That song was a new version of “Moon River,” recorded with Elle Fanning for a commercial for the jewelry-retail giant Tiffany & Co. (Someone evidently needed to hear rapping over “Moon River.”) Today, Ferg has release another track for goofy promotional reasons. His new song “Welcome To Harlem” comes from the soundtrack of Uncle Drew, a new movie adaptation of a Pepsi ad campaign. (The same soundtrack also features the A$AP Rocky/Gucci Mane/21 Savage collab “Cocky.”)

Unlike that “Moon River” version, “Harlem Anthem” at least sounds like an A$AP Ferg song, not one specifically written for a commercial. It’s an energetic track, driven by a tumbling breakbeat and a few lush horn stabs. And while Ferg raps a lot more about basketball than he usually does, he does so with the same sense of excitement that he usually brings to his solo tracks.

But a few years into a long downhill slide from the entire A$AP Mob, and a week after Rocky released the messy and unformed Testing album, this song is not exactly going to turn things around for Ferg or his crew. Check it out for yourself below.

“Harlem Anthem” is out now at iTunes.

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