Written Before Listen
This is surprisingly my first ever Future album review. After numerous feature appearances, Young Thug releases and other trap releases. I’m coming into this album with mixed expectations so I might get a great trap record, or I might get what we have gotten from Future in the past 2-3 years or so. Without further ado, let’s get into it.
Production
Future brings the usual suspects on producer duty here. 808 Mafia shows up on a couple of tracks. The opening track is one of those beats and it’s probably one of my favorite beats with the sample and bouncy trap rhythm. “Puffin On Zooties” on the other hand is one of the sleepier tracks on the record that I don’t remember anything about it. “The Way Things Going” has things I like going about it but there are also things I don’t like there. I like the drum break and drum fills that backdrop the instrumental but the chords are super generic and the guitar is super fake. Southside returns for a couple of tracks himself. The second track is his first appearance from him and the song is extremely comatose. The same thing could be said with the track “Voodoo” which is just plain awful. We have Wheezy on “Chickens” and that turns out to be one of the more entertaining beats and a good attention grabber because, with a record like this, we need beats that are exciting to keep people listening and this song is surely one of those. The main producer on this album though is ATL Jacob. We get “Keep It Burnin” which showed up on Donda 2 but here, the mix and verses are more refined. We then get “For a Nut” which is another great beat and lyrics aside, this track is really enjoyable in and out. My favorite beat on this album is probably “Holy Ghost” with its sinister loop, haunting choirs, and bouncy rhythm. The other beats on here are good, but nothing caught my attention. I will say this album comes with its strengths as beats go.
Features
With a modern trap record, features are key. Not even Future can listen to 48 minutes of Future. The first feature that appears is Kanye West and as I said earlier, this is a more refined version of the track from Donda 2 and god damn, Kanye brings one of his best features in a minute. I like the flows, I like the energy, and I like the chemistry he and Future bring. We get the unholy trio of Future, Gunna, and Young Thug on “For A Nut” and god damn this thing is relentless. This is a battle of who can sound hornier on a track and…I think Young Thug won that battle. We have two Drake features and I can say how bad “Wait For U” is, but the track “I’m On One” is kind of a revisit to their collaboration in 2015. Do I enjoy it? I think Drake carried the song but Future is the one that sounds tired on this. On “Chickens”, we have EST Gee who does a solid job and he fits the vibe of this song. The last feature I’ll talk about is Kodak Black on “Voodoo” and I honestly think it’s just annoying for every second the song runs for. I was never a fan of Kodak’s singing style and despite him sounding better than usual, it’s a mixture of grating and boring. Overall, I think the features gradually just get worse on the album, and after Kanye, it doesn’t start on the strongest note.
Vocal Performance
One thing that make Future entertaining throughout his rise was his delivery. It was never super over the top, but it had the energy that only Future could bring. He never really went outside his comfort zone but his comfort zone is what made his music enjoyable. He was eccentric enough to stay in the limelight, but he made sure that most people focused on the beats more than the lyrics, because well…we know about the lyrics.
Songwriting
Now to the fun part. So Future’s lyrical mishaps and toxic behavior are sometimes laughable, but it’s also concerning. Right away, the opening track has the lyric “Oh, she doesn’t like girls, bet this money make a bitch so gay”… what the fuck? “Digging in hеr back, pull out my money, make a bitch bust a nut”, I mean whatever floats your boat. Here’s another thing, there are numerous tracks where Future is like “oh girl I want you back” and stuff like that, but there would be a track right after where he says “Call me Michael Phelps for swimmin' in your bitch face”….like Future, you’re almost 40. I feel like you should’ve matured by now. I’m not completely against these lyrics, but he’s done it for so long, and the more he does it, the more concerning it is.
Favorite Tracks
Let me get this out of the way, I’ve liked Futures music in the past. I think DS2 is a great project and “Sup Mate” with Young Thug has been in heavy rotation for too long. With that being said, there are a couple of tracks I did enjoy. I liked the opening track a good amount and the redone version of “Keep It Burning” is worth the listen as well. I also think “Holy Ghost” is a full banger. Other than those tracks, This is kind of what I expected.
Verdict
Well, this is what we got. I think we have what we expected from Future but I think this might be an uprise from what he dropped in 2020. I think Future still has it in him to drop a solid project again, but today is just not the day.
4/10