“I lost so many niggas to the streets this year,” he opens on the affecting cut “ Feds Did a Sweep.” “I ain’t even talkin’ ‘bout,” he pauses to clarify. The highlights come when Future journeys into uncharted waters or deep into his own memory bank. And there are a few moments that completely lack Future’s patented dynamism and evocation, particularly “Good Dope” and “Scrape.” But even on autopilot, Future can churn out some truly high octane flows (“POA”), sweetly-sung gun ballads (“ Draco”), and some pleasant surprises (like the hum-heavy throbber “I’m So Groovy”). In bringing all these previous personas together, he creates an album that’s mostly retreads. There are bits and pieces of nearly every part of his past here, but replicating his brightest moments is a hit or miss proposition. The ballad “When I Was Broke” harkens back to the romanticism of Honest or “Turn On the Lights.” “Flip” is reminiscent of 2013 one-offs like “Finessin’” with warping synths and cracked vocals. A song like “Poppin Tags” is “Commas”-esque and “Super Trapper” is forged in the image of 56 Nights’ “Trap Niggas” both are indicative of Super Future, lining pounding 808 bass with clustered raps. But it doesn’t do anything past Future projects haven’t done already, and ironically it doesn't tell us anything new about Future.Įven under these circumstances, FUTURE is true to form for Future in both content (the first lines rapped are “Got the money coming in, it ain’t no issues/I just a fucked a rapper bitch, I should diss you”), and the sounds he chooses to channel. FUTURE is meant as a Future exhibition, a portrayal of his many sides-superstar, romantic, heartbreaker, hedonist-which have previously only been showcased in flashes. The alter egos have characterized much of his output, giving names to his various aesthetics. The Atlanta rapper has funneled most of his music through three personas: Super Future, Fire Marshal Future, and Future Hendrix (he explained them as the hitmaker, the party packer, and the rockstar, respectively). FUTURE, in many ways, unmasks Future: he’s a creature of habit. Both nonstop motion and overindulgence are in his DNA. Perhaps for Future, prolificity is about excess, not just because it’s a flex, but because it always requires giving more of oneself-almost too much. His new self-titled album is the first in a pair of projects released in a seven-day span. His Purple Reign tape introduced some moving new deep cuts to his catalog but was modest by his standards and he rushed out EVOL a month later for an Apple exclusive. Since then, his music is either chasing those highs or stuck in cruise control. His work ethic, long a point of personal pride, paid big dividends across an excellent mixtape trilogy ( Monster, Beast Mode, and 56 Nights) in the run up to his commercial peak with Dirty Sprite 2 and his cash-in collaboration with Drake, What a Time to Be Alive. Since 2011, he has released at least two projects every year, often three or more. Future is certainly a prolific artist, though it is getting a bit excessive.
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