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A$AP Ferg Introduces Marty Baller to the World with a New Short Film

The Harlem rapper follows up his debut mixtape by filling in his backstory.

Marty Baller is starting to break through. His debut mixtape, MartyGraW, dropped at the end of last week, soon after the boisterous A$AP Ferg and Migos collaboration "I'm a Dog​" dropped on Noisey. Previously known for a supporting role in A$AP Mob, he's spent the last 18 months putting out promising tracks and preparing himself for something more complete and now, it seems, he's ready.

While MartyGraW showcases the rapper that Marty Baller is now, the rapper's life and story is still foggy. The short film of the same name, premiering on Noisey today, sheds some light on that. Produced by A$AP Ferg, it jumps back and forth between Baller's live shows, his videos, and slow motion close-ups of the artist and his Harlem neighborhood, all tied together by prayers and memories. "I'm going to continue to pray for him," we hear at the start. "He started out a little wrong, but by the Grace of God, God brought him back… I think he can go far."

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"This film basically explains who I am and how I grew up," Marty Baller wrote in an email to Noisey. "What I've been through and what I'm doing now. I was inspired to do this doc after I finished my mixtape MartyGraW, to give people visuals alongside the music. I wanted to show my neighborhood and highlight some the of people I grew up with."

A$AP Ferg also wrote about his thinking behind the video: "The reason why I decided to do this film for Marty is to introduce him to the world using the songs from his mixtape to help tell the visual story of his life. I wanted to give people more insight into Marty's life, which is very similar to mine but different in so many ways. Marty is also from the Hungry Ham but his route has been way different getting to this destination we call the The Big stage.'"

It's disorienting, switching between simple pianos and trap beats as it flickers in and out of shots, and it's all the more intriguing as a result.

Check it out below.

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