A$AP Ferg is using his platform for good. The rapper first revealed a partnership between his clothing brand Traplord and socially conscious streetwear company Uniform in April. On Aug. 18, he released a documentary chronicling his first trip to Africa to support the partnership, which aims to provide children in Liberia with school uniforms.
“I always wanted to help the less fortunate,” Ferg says. “I also wanted to design clothes. When Child Liberty with Uniform introduced the idea to me of selling garments and doing philanthropy work, it spoke to me. Sell nice clothes and part of it can go toward helping somebody’s life and putting kids in school to further their education so they can get further in life.”
During his two-week trip, Ferg visited West Point, Monrovia in Liberia, which was quarantined during the Ebola outbreak in 2014. “Some of the highlights were basically walking through West Point and meeting the people, how happy they were, how beautiful the people there were and how cool their society was. Despite the poverty that was there, it still was happy people.”
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Ferg says he actually had a somewhat negative educational experience, as school caused him a great deal of anxiety. “I used to be carrying a bag because, not to get graphic, but I used to throw up in the bag because I had bad anxiety every morning because I would stay up so late studying,” he says.
His mother financed his Catholic school education, and he had to wear a uniform, which “wasn’t fun.” He did enjoy math class and gym, where he “got to show that I had the latest Jordans or whatnot.”
“Uniforms [for Liberian kids] have a different meaning because they can’t go to school unless they have a uniform,” he adds. “Even when they’re out of school, they still wear uniforms because it makes them feel good. They feel like they dress for success.”
Ferg believes everyone — including the fashion community — should use their platforms for good. “Everybody has a responsibility to pass along knowledge because we live and then we die,” he says. “We don’t want all the knowledge we have to die with us. Why not plant a seed in somebody else’s head to blossom into something great?”
“A$AP Ferg in Liberia: Where Stars Are Born” is now available on Tidal.
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