A$AP Ferg Reveals He Was Molested As A Child By A Neighborhood Old Man At a Swimming Pool
A$AP Ferg revealed that he was sexually assaulted as a 9-year-old by an older man in his neighborhood, and is using his voice to raise awareness surrounding the abuse males endure.
The rapper spoke about the shocking incident on his newest studio album, 'Darold' in a song called "Pool" — the same place the incident took place.
Per Ferg — real name Darold D. Brown Ferguson, Jr. — he was molested with "everybody around" while trying to enjoy a day at the pool as a young child. The daunting moment left him feeling "weird" and even led him to thoughts of taking drastic, fatal action against the perpetrator.
During an interview with 'The Breakfast Club,' the rapper detailed how hip hop unites "religions and cultures," while asking listeners why artists can't talk about "real" life situations while the mic is still on.
"A lot of people talk about being on 'demon time' and they don't talk about the demons," Ferg began. "Why we can't talk about the real s**t on camera?"
Charlamagne Tha God — who empathetically admitted he was also molested — asked the musician whether it was difficult to write his track "Pools" to which he clarified that he was "touched."
"It was an incident that happened in a pool when I was a young kid and everybody's around and everything like that," the 36-year-old explained. "For me, it was weird and it was one second, but I was like, 'Why?' " said Ferg, who admitted that the man was "much older" than him.
The Harlem native revealed that he eventually told a cousin who was his age, before finally telling his mother, who was devastated. He found the courage to tell her after seeing the premiere of 'Precious' years later in 2009 — a groundbreaking film which also involved assault.
"I told her on the train, and she was just like, 'What?! For real? When — I'm sorry!' Like... she just felt like a bad mom," he explained to the hosts. "We going to the pool, we going to the park... you just never know. Weirdos can just creep up in the mix, and you can't hold your kid by you 24/7.
"Everywhere, I feel like this s**t is going on and people are not just gonna talk about it," he added. "I'm like, 'What am I talking about?' I didn't make that happen to me. That s**t ain't mine to be tryna' hold inside."
You can listen to A$AP Ferg's newest album "Darold" here.
