What’s in the Drop?! Ferry Corsten Presents What The F

Published in

RCRDSHP

5 min readMay 20, 2022

In more than thirty years, Ferry Corsten’s career has taken him to all different corners of the electronic music landscape. He will showcase a cross section of this rich creative journey in an upcoming tour of live shows called What The F. To mark the occasion, he’s teaming up with RCRDSHP on a drop of the same name.

Ferry Corsten Presents What The F features the Dutchman’s original music as well as well as brand-new edits of remixes by the likes of Above & Beyond, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, and Ummet Ozcan. It also includes artist cards that offer a look at Ferry Corsten aliases like Gouryella and System F as well as moment cards with exclusive content from his tour life. The stunning artwork in every collectible makes it an experience not to miss.

Never one to rest on his laurels, Ferry makes it a point to remain on the forefront of electronic music with every release. Keeping so current means that many of his newer fans don’t realize just how deep his roots even go.

The Early Years

Ferry Corsten first became interested in dance music at age nine or ten thanks to a Dutch radio program called ‘The Soulshow’. Three years later, he’d saved up enough money to buy DJ decks. By 1990 he was producing his own music, initially alongside John Matze, René De Ruyter, and Robert Smit under the name Spirit Of Adventure.

The group released a self-titled album on Hithouse Records in 1991. After that, they worked together on a techno record titled ‘Illustrator E.P.’ that they released as The Tellurians through the label See Saw. Ferry reinvested everything he earned from these records into his studio, and it wasn’t long before he began releasing music as a solo artist.

Ferry’s first big turning point came with the 1996 release of ‘Don’t Be Afraid’ under his Moonman alias via Sci-Fi Records. The EP’s title track was the first of Ferry’s to land on the U.K. Singles Chart at #46. Donning his System F moniker in 1998, he delivered another key single: ‘Out of the Blue’ on his own Tsunami record label.

Ferry then met Dutch superstar Tiësto, who at the time worked at the record store where he shopped. The two started a trance project called Gouryella that would go on to achieve worldwide fame at a time when the genre was rapidly growing in popularity.

In the years since, Ferry has released multiple certified platinum records. He has appeared in the DJ Mag ‘Top 100 DJs’ list every single year since 2004, when he was voted in at #5. In April of 2022, he was even knighted by Willem Alexander of the Netherlands for his indelible role in Dutch music.

What The F

Just like the concept shows of its namesake, Ferry Corsten Presents What The F highlights the classics studding Ferry’s storied career by examining them through the creative lens of his fellow electronic music superstars.

Included in the drop are remixes of Ferry’s 2003 singles ‘Holding On’ and ‘Rock Your Body Rock’ by Above & Beyond and Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, respectively. ‘Life’ and ‘Radio Crash’, both of which Ferry delivered in 2008, have also been reimagined—the former by Patrick Place, and the latter by Ummet Ozcan. Ferry Corsten’s 2012 track ‘Ain’t No Stopping’ has also been remixed by none other than Sunnery James & Ryan Marciano.

The drop includes brand-new music from Ferry himself as well. The track ‘Pulse’ first appeared his mobile phone game of the same name, but until now it has never seen an official release. ‘You Can’t Stop Me’ will debut first as a RCRDSHP-exclusive track before releasing on traditional music platforms later.

Free NFT

Ferry understands that the emerging NFT landscape can seem intimidating to newcomers. He wants to give his fans — and anyone else for that matter — a free NFT so they can get started and see what his drop is all about. Get yours here!

Challenges/Rewards

Even more exciting rewards lie in store for those who get serious about collecting. For starters, Ferry is giving out guest list passes to all ‘What The F’ shows (see the full list of shows here)! To enter, you must showcase any artist card from this drop on your profile page. If the ‘What The F’ show isn’t in your city, forty players will get a Zoom meet and greet with Ferry to listen through the pack.

Five lucky players will also get to participate in a virtual one-on-one session with Ferry! To be eligible, you must collect and hold all common release, release plus, and moment cards in this drop.

Have you ever wanted to add merch signed by Ferry Corsten to your IRL collection? That can be arranged. The first twenty-five lucky players who burn a ‘Ferry Corsten Cap’ merch card will receive an actual, physical baseball cap signed by the man himself!

Last but not least, one lucky player will be awarded an exclusive, single-mint mythical collectible of the digital audio tape (DAT) of Ferry Corsten’s 1999 top 40 hit ‘Out Of The Blue’ — which played no small role in kicking his career into high gear. This super-rare prize is reserved for the player who single handedly purchases the most packs from this drop.