Denzel Curry Talks 'Great Relationship' with A$AP Rocky and Ferg, Overcoming Past 'Grudge' on New Album (Exclusive)

"Me and Rocky [were] trying to work together for years, to be honest," Curry tells PEOPLE

Denzel Curry knows that lines previously drawn in the proverbial sand of hip-hop are not always set in stone.

For his latest full-length offering, King of the Mischievous South Vol. 2, the artist, 29, tapped a slew of high-profile collaborators to help deliver the 15-track project. However, two names that appeared among that star-studded list of features would have stunned fans privy to the innermost workings of rap beef 10 years ago: A$AP Rocky and Ferg.

But according to Curry, "Me and Rocky [were] trying to work together for years, to be honest."

Related: A$AP Rocky Updates Fans on Rihanna's Upcoming 9th Album: 'She's Working on It'

Rewind to the late 00's and early 10's, and Denzel Curry was a member of the Florida-based rap collective known as Raider Klan, famously headed by rapper and producer SpaceGhostPurpp. Just over a thousand miles to the north in Harlem, New York City, A$AP Rocky, Ferg and the A$AP Mob were establishing their names in rap as well.

SpaceGhostPurpp and Rocky actually collaborated in their early days, with the former producing Rocky's breakout song "Pretty Flacko." According to Rocky's 2012 Complex cover, there was a span of time where he was even "sharing dinner plates" with SpaceGhostPurpp, who "used to live in my house. My mom took care of him."

With both groups honing in on similar visual and auditory aesthetics, it was only a matter of time before issues between two entities vying for similar attention in the same space came to the forefront.

Any potentially brewing creative tensions seemingly boiled over when SpaceGhostPurrp accused Rocky and Ferg's affiliate, A$AP Twelvy, of jumping fellow Raider Klan affiliate Matt Stoops in New York City in 2012, setting the wheels in motion for years of back-and-forth arguments, both on and off social media, between SpaceGhostPurpp and Rocky.

From the moment that divide began, members were essentially made to choose sides in the beef, but Curry notes that he and Rocky attempted to remain cordial despite the latter's tension with SpaceGhostPurpp.

"I was supposed to be on the original Cozy Tapes Vol. 2 on 'Bahamas,' " he reveals of his and A$AP Mob's shelved 2017 collaboration. "But [Rocky] took me off because me and Purpp got cool [again] around that time, and then me and [Rocky] had a talk and I was telling him like, 'Bro, your problem with Purpp is not your problem with me, so you shouldn't have took it out on me. You should have just hollered at me.' And he was like, 'Yeah, I know. My bad,' this that third. And we got cool."

Years after the air was settled from his "Bahamas" verse being shelved, Curry says he ran into Rocky while in the studio working on King of the Mischievous South Vol. 2.

"I remember Rocky coming in straight from the gym hooded up, so nobody knew it was him," he recalls. "And I'm like, 'Who the f--- is this guy with these pretty ass teeth?' And it just turns out it was Rocky. And he was like, 'Damn, Curry, what's happening? How you been?' He was like, 'We was doing good.' And I was like, 'Man, we working on this s---.' He heard the song and he was like, 'Oh s---. Well, I'm finna go home. I'm finna get changed and I'll come back.' "

That chance encounter gave birth to HOODLUMZ, the two's collaborative track on Curry's new album, which also features PlayThatBoiZay. "It was a good time," Curry shares of the recording process.

Related: Rihanna and A$AP Rocky Make Surprise Appearance at Las Vegas Puma x F1 Collection Launch

Similarly to Rocky, Curry states that he and Ferg maintained a cordial relationship for years despite the ongoing beef between Raider Klan and A$AP Mob, with Curry joining Ferg on his 2018 "MAD MAN" tour and the two ultimately joining forces on the former's new album for the viral "HOT ONE," which also features TiaCorine.

In the interest of letting bygones be bygones, Curry notes, "We ended up having a great relationship and I'm cool with Ferg to this day. That's my boy. And we was able to show, put the energy back together and show what could have been as opposed to still having that grudge."

As for fans wondering why Rocky and Ferg were placed on King of the Mischievous South Vol. 2 and SpaceGhostPurpp wasn't, Curry plainly states, "Purpp kept trying me, so no, he was not getting on the record."

However, he teases that a forthcoming deluxe version of the project will still tap into his Raider Klan roots. "You may not get Purpp on this record, but you are going to get a Key Nyata. You are going to get maybe a Slim Guerilla or Amber London," Curry reveals.

For the rapper, the reasoning behind releasing "HOODLUMZ" with Rocky and "HOT ONE" with Ferg was "celebrating the underground" as well as "showing what could have been if Raider Klan and A$AP was never beefing with each other and would've never had that feud."

"It could have saved and could have brought a lot of careers up on the forefront to this day," he shares.

King of the Mischievous South Vol. 2 is out now.

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