Interview: ASAP Mob Talks Rocky's Third Album, Durag Techniques, and Which Member is the Coziest

On the night of the crew's 'Cozy Tapes Vol. 2' release, Complex caught up with the Mob.

ASAP Rocky at Cozy Tapes, Vol. 2 Listening Session
Complex Original

Image via Razak Ologunebi

ASAP Rocky at Cozy Tapes, Vol. 2 Listening Session

The second installment of the Cozy Tape series dropped last week and ASAP Mob, as a collective, are finally starting to come together. From the beginning, Rocky and Ferg have been the Mob's breakout stars, boasting a series of hits and platinum and gold albums. Then, after those careers were up and running, the crew lost its founder, ASAP Yams, during the rollout of Rocky's sophomore album At. Long. Last. ASAP. However, in the aftermath of the tragdy, it seems like losing Yams made the crew stronger, closer, more focused on their music. ASAP Twelvyy finally dropped his long-awaited project 12, Ferg released Still Strivin' a year after his second album Always Strive and Prosper, and Rocky is set to drop his third solo album later this year, or at least that what he told us at the Cozy Boys, Vol. 2: Too Cozy listening session.

Both Cozy Tapes are more polished than the crew's first mixtape, Lords Never Worry. The second version, properly titled Too Cozy, features Chief Keef, Key!, new Mob members Playboi Carti and Smooky Margielaa (a 15-year-old from the Bronx), Lil Yachty, Gucci Mane, Schoolboy Q, Joey Badass and Pro Era, Flatbush Zombies, Jaden Smith, Quavo, and Frank Ocean. In short, all their friends, as the first tape was aptly entitled.

Complex had the pleasure of talking to the Mob during a break as they ate Chinese food and smoked trees and caught up on everything from durag-wearing techniques, their favorite songs on Cozy Tapes, Vol. 2, and which Mob member will be dropping next.

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How do you tie your durag? What's your favorite technique?
Ferg: I just follow the line in the middle of my head, I flip the front...

You keep the cape out?
Ferg: Yeah, I let the cape out
Lou: Gotta let cape fly.
Ferg: But you gotta have the silk durag, you can't get the silk durag everywhere.

You used to have dope durag content on imnotatoy.
J. Scott: [Laughs.] It's very rare that you mentioned that. The durag was the mascot for imnotatoy, for the hood. We needed that, it was like Superman.

Who's the coziest in the Mob?
Ferg: J. Scott.
​Rocky: J. Scott.
Lou: J. Scott, definitely.
Ant: J. Scott.
Ferg: Yo, his socks, he be having...
Lou: He has glitter socks on right now.
J. Scott: Me and Rocky got the cozy socks.
Lou: Michael Jackson socks.
Rocky: Too cozy.
J. Scott: Very cozy, very relaxed. My homegirl did them. I don't have a lot of jewelry but I have these socks twinkling and glistening.

How hard is it to make a compilation tape like this with all these features?
Ferg: It's not hard at all, it's like a community.
Ant: It's family, bro. We're not gonna do songs with you because somebody says: "Yo, collab with this one, or it sounds nice." You gotta be cool with us, you gotta smoke blunts with us, we gotta get hoes together.

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You responded to a tracklist post on Twitter.
Ant: It was bogus. It had Travis Scott, Tyler, the Creator, Rich da Kid, mad random people. Everybody. [Laughs]

What made you guys wanna make another Cozy Tape so soon?
Ant: To keep the momentum, basically. We wanted to keep our foots on niggas necks. Cozy Tapes, Vol. 1 was music from when Yams was still alive. I remember gone off the Ac with Yams recording "Young Nigga Livin'".
Lou: That was a crazy two weeks. [Laughs]

Twelvyy and Ferg just dropped, y'all got the Cozy Tapes. So, who's up next?
J. Scott: We took over August.
Ferg: Still Strivin' out right now, Cozy Tapes tonight, Twelvyy is out right now. It's a takeover. We took over August, and in fact, we doing this every August.

What happened to Wavy Wednesdays?
Rocky: Niggas kept taking the songs down, so we giving y'all Cozy Tapes.
Ant: Honestly, niggas don't appreciate ASAP's music, that's why we haven't been dropping like that.

Why do you feel that way?
Ant: We create a lot of waves out here. Every year we create waves. I don't wanna say nothing, I don't wanna get into that. Complex be misleading people with y'all titles. I don't fuck with that at all. I'm on to all y'all, I'm not doing that today. I'm on my Joe Budden shit.
[Whole room bursts into laughter.]
Lou: Complex will praise you one day, and the next they'll talk so much shit about you. They be like, "Yo, this shit is crazy." The next you know they're talking about, "He got caught up doing this, that," making you look crazy.

Is there another Cozy Boys mix coming soon?
J. Scott: Yeah, we were just talking about that. We're gonna do another "BBQ Music" when BBQ season comes. It's about to get cold, so we're gonna do another "Cuffin' Music."
Lou: Cuffin' Music was a Valentine's Day mix for all the suckas out there. [Laughs.]

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Key!, you got something coming out soon?
Key!: Hey, man, Live Slow, Die Old coming out before we go on tour, hopefully.
J. Scott: Let's get it. A-Town.

What's the hardest track on the tape?
J. Scott: "Please Shut Up"
Ferg: The song with Chief Keef on it.
Lou: "Blowing Minds"

When are we getting that Rocky third album, though?
Rocky: A.S.A.P. It's about to drop.

Before the year is over?
Rocky: Yeah, for sure. For sure

How would you describe the sound? A.L.L.A. was a little bit more psychedelic. It was a little more left than your prior stuff.
Rocky: It was ahead of its time. That was abnormal then, but in the near future, now in the present, it's going to be normal, trust me.
Lou: Yeah,  it was ahead of its time. It's what people are doing now.
Ant: It's about creating waves and leaving the waves sometimes.

That's what Yams used to say. Provide waves, don't ride them.
J. Scott: Gotta provide them.
Ant: People are gonna take the wave regardless, but sometimes you gotta provide the wave and leave it there. And sometimes you can't go back to it because everybody done ran the wave down the wall. Then they forget about the originator. It gets shaky when it comes to that.

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