A$AP Ferg says Missy Elliott is one of his “biggest inspirations in life,” praises J Dilla.

During a recent appearance on NPR’s Microphone Check, A$AP Mob lyricist A$AP Ferg touched on a number of topics including Missy Elliott being one of his inspirations, being a current student of J Dilla, and his thoughts on racism.

In regards to racism, the Harlem, New York rapper revealed that in his opinion, it no longer exists. He then explained that it’s classism and who has “the biggest money,” that takes precedence in today’s society.

“Racism been over,” A$AP Ferg said, according to NPR.org. “It's the old people that keep on holding on to it. We don't hold on to that s—-. We don't know racism. We all like having — like my brother had white — my little brother had white girlfriends. And that's regular…I think that's classism. I don't think it's racism…Like, who got the biggest money. So we gon' keep these — we gon' oppress these people. They don't get nothing. And it's a pyramid. That's how the pyramid work. You need — everybody plays a position. You need all of these soldiers or whatever to keep the big man up there. I want to be the big man. I don't want to be like these guys holding the big man up.”

Prior to sharing his thoughts on the absence of racism, A$AP Ferg referred to fellow rapper Missy Elliott as one of the “biggest inspirations in life.” He also revealed that at this particular moment he’s more concerned with absorbing knowledge from Missy than hopping on a collab with the rapper.

“She's been one of my biggest inspirations in life,” he said. “Way before I was rapping, I was looking at Missy videos and loving her music. And just the visuals, I never imagined that I would one day be doing music and, you know, dope visuals like that as well. So just for us to share that moment with one another, that was the biggest thing for me…I'm not pressed to do music or nothing like that when it comes to these type of artists that I look up to because I have to — you have to understand I'm not — I have to just jump in the passenger seat when I'm with Missy or Timbaland and just learn. You know what I'm saying? Cause they got a lot of knowledge for me to absorb. So, I don't want to just be so quick to get a song done and then just keep bouncing with life. I want to enjoy this — I want this moment to last forever.”

Another artist discussed during Ferg’s interview with Microphone Check was the late J Dilla. The New York City wordsmith admitted that he’s “still studying the guy,” but also praised the producer for his innovativeness.

“Well, I'm still a student when it comes to J Dilla,” A$AP Ferg said. “I'm still getting into his art and everything. But people say he was a master at mixing and looping beats, like before you had all of these new programs and everything like that. So I just love that about him. Like, he was real innovative and he was pushing the culture in that way. But I'm still studying the guy. And I'm very very curious to know what everybody love about him.”

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