Future Continues Reign At The Top With Self Titled Effort (Album Review)

A businessman once rapped “Ya reign on top was shorter than leprechauns” talking about his competition. The landscape of hip-hop has changed dynamically over the last decade. We cycle through trends faster than a spinning rim at a stoplight (double entendre, don’t even ask me how). Hip-hop will see an artist rise to the top and fall to obscurity in no less than 18 months. The churn and burn nature that we’ve created as fans is toxic for artist development as we only celebrate established names.

Kendrick Lamar Shakes Up The Super Bowl With Bold Drake Diss And Surprise Guests

Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl 59 halftime performance was nothing short of legendary, leaving fans buzzing with surprise cameos and bold moments that took his long-running feud with Drake to new heights. Kicking off with an unreleased song snippet and followed by “Squabble Up” from his latest album GNX, Kendrick immediately set the tone for a game-changing performance. Fans eagerly waited to see if Kendrick would play his diss track Not Like Us, especially with Drake's ongoing lawsuit against him and his label for defamation and harassment. Lamar's performance included an unexpected appearance by SZA and a quirky cameo from Serena Williams, along with Samuel L. Jackson’s comedic interruptions, all building the suspense around the Drake drama. In the middle of his performance, Kendrick turned up the heat, looking straight into the camera and directly addressing Drake with his famous lyrics, “I heard you like them young," as fans held their breath. Despite the tension, Kendrick censored himself when it came time to call Drake a "certified lover boy" and avoided saying “pedophile,” which had been widely speculated. Social media lit up with mixed reactions, with some fans mocking the performance as a "mid mashup" and others noting the intense hostility toward Drake. With the hashtag #KendrickBowl trending, it’s clear that Kendrick’s performance was a cultural moment that pushed boundaries—but has he gone too far, or is this just another chapter in hip-hop history? Only time will tell, and Drake has yet to respond.

0 seconds of 2 minutes, 37 secondsVolume 0%

00:00

02:37

At one point Future was going to fall into this category of trendy rappers who fell off. He became polarizing in rap debates with no middle ground: you either loved his sound or thought he was gargling marbles in the studio. He rose to stardom with Pluto and was written off for Honest two years later. Just as Future was about to get the 10 count, he rose from the canvas and battled back. We witnessed him evolve with the help of DJ Esco and Metro Boomin. His run of mixtapes from Monster through DS2 is compared to Lil’ Wayne’s mixtape run in the mid-2000s as one of the best ever.

Artist evolution is difficult to achieve due to fans. If you begin to experiment with different styles you’re labeled a sellout but if you keep repeating your sound you’re “getting stale”. Fans are fickle and we don’t know what we want. Future’s self titled album borders the line of evolution while still pleasing his contemporary fan base. Future starts off catering to his die hard fans with ‘Rent Money’, a record produced by DJ Khaled, Chef Tate, & The Beat Bullies. This is vintage Future at his finest, rapping about having sex with all of our girlfriends while being as disrespectful as possible (“I just lit my wrist up, I need some more attention”). He even throws jabs at Scottie Pippen near the end of the song: “I make the blogs with ya b***h cause I’m ruthless” and “I just slam dunked ya b***h hall of fame” to be exact. Pippen isn’t the only one to catch strays as the skit at the end of ‘Draco’ targets an artist that has made a living biting Future’s style (Desiigner) and a trio of rappers from Atlanta that are hot right now (Migos).

If you’re new to Future’s music it can be difficult to experience his lyrics because the majority of his music sounds like it’s made for a party. The first half of the album feels as if Future is fine doing this type of music; most of the production runs together and it’s tiresome. Just when you think Future has been hitting the B button to stop evolving into his next form (Pokemon for the win) he takes it to the next level starting with ‘High Demand’. The production style changes and we get more of an inside look to Future. The next string of songs are all like this with Future pouring his heart out in regret. ‘Outta Time’ is a good example of this with its second verse: “I’m gettin’ frustrated and all for us/You see I bought the Bentley truck for us/I put in some hours every single night…f****d on the girls, n***a more than twice”. Not to make excuses for him but it’s evident Future’s feeling remorse for his bad decisions as he covers up his emotions with buying jewelry at the end of the song.

Records like ‘Scrape’, ‘I’m so Groovy’, and ‘When I Was Broke’ are all great looks inside Future’s soul and help tell the story of a man who went from selling drugs (from as early as Snoop’s Doggystyle album according to ‘Might as Well’) to having it all. Future is a fun album but it suffers from a bloated tracklist, mainly due to the first half all sounding like a thirty minute song. The skits are infrequent and don’t add much value to the album but they’re fun to hear if you’re listening in full. No matter if you like sad and introspective Future, the party version, or the disrespectful version, there is enough for new and old fans alike on Future. It’s going to be another big year for the ATLien and it looks like his reign at the top is going to be a lot longer than many expected.

Repeatable: ‘Rent Money’, ‘Scrape’, ‘I’m so Groovy’, ‘When I Was Broke’

Skippable: ‘Good Dope’, ‘Draco’, ‘Massage In My Room’

By Joe Coad