It’s been an amazing five year run for Future.
After stealing the spotlight on 2011’s infectious club banger, “Racks” (What ever happened to YC?), “The Astronaut” literally took off to the top of the charts. After world-wide acclaim; creating a sound that has already spawned Future-clones; dominating the airwaves, the charts, and the streets; his diligent work ethic churns out whole bodies of work in less time than it takes some artists to push out a single. He has the respect of his peers from all coasts, and is possibly the biggest artist in the game to receive no static from other artists. Well, there was a minor spat with Drake, but Aubrey quickly corrected the situation. Whether it’s his alleged street ties, respect for him as an artist or both cats don’t seem to want it with Future Hendrix.
As arguably the biggest rapper of this current decade, Future has delivered hit after hit. As the bangers have kept coming, the mixtapes and albums have been on a continuous roll as well, as if the whole rap game has been covered in codeine. Over time it’s hard to even remember what songs came from where because there is constantly a new album or mixtape being released.
All of that being said, what do we have to show for our half decade with the dirty Sprite connoisseur?
Is there any difference between a Future mixtape and an album? Not a whole lot. While his studio albums may have a few more polished, radio-friendly hits for the ladies like “Rich Sex”, the bulk of his albums still maintain the gritty vocals and trap thumping baselines that he has built his brand upon. His song lyrics on both formats read like the minutes from a Narcotics Anonymous meeting. Minus a couple of A-list album features, most of his music is created with the same producers and the same guests. While many can argue that he has merely perfected a sound and is giving his fans consistency like Curren$y, Gucci Mane, or Tupac, it could also be contested that his music lacks originality or depth.
What are your favorite lines from a Future song? What has he ever said that you had to rewind because of how brilliantly he articulated it? While we all have our own favorite “moments” on Future songs, chances are that his highlight on a track for you are most likely “cool” statements, with little to know rhyming whatsoever. Far be it for me to come off like a bitter backpacker who wants everyone to rap like its 1993 New York again. But, the fact that the biggest star of a genre that is built upon being lyrically proficient is so technically unsound is noteworthy if nothing else. Not only has Future given us recycled sounding beats, and subject matter, even his heavy use of auto-tune is stale at this point. Keep in mind: we are seven years removed from Jay Z’s 2009 anthem “D.O.A.” (Death of Auto-tune), the song that said enough was enough with the mechanical sound effects and mortally wounded the career of T-Pain.
By this point in his career, Drake was already well into being roasted for being sensitive enough to endorse fabric softener. Kendrick is only 3 ½ (ish?) albums into his career and he is already under scrutiny for making music that is too angry, too militant and not catering to the clubs and radio enough. Bloggers even lambasted Kendrick for not having much shelf life six months after its release. We didn’t even get to discover what the big songs were on Future’s Purple Reign mixtape (January 17, 2016) before he dropped his EVOL album about 2 weeks later (February 5, 2016). Meanwhile there has yet to be that inevitable backlash the smacks all artists who bask in the public eye for too long. Even a nasty public split with his son’s mother, R&B sweetheart Ciara, hasn’t been able to derail his onslaught on a Billboard charts.
Criticisms aside, nothing can be taken away from Future’s success and ability to connect with his audience. There are very few rappers nowadays who can say that they have the universal appeal that Future has in the streets and dorm rooms. He’s an artist that is equally respectable for men and women to play. Despite providing little details on his pre-fame personal life, his audience professes to connect with the pain in his music. The phenom known as Future has reportedly completed numerous other projects that are going to be released this year. In other words, there is no sign of him slowing down anytime soon. But considering his repetitious sound and subject matter, we have to wonder how long do we have before Future becomes old news?