Future

January 9, 2020 at PST

Life Is Good (feat. Drake) - Single

1 Trackfalse

April 28, 2022 at PDT

I NEVER LIKED YOU

I NEVER LIKED YOU, the first Future project since his and Lil Uzi Vert’s Pluto x Baby Pluto and his first solo outing since 2020’s High Off Life, was likely titled to cause a stir. Future has been a poster boy for the kind of toxic romantic engagements that turn well-intentioned social media users into self-certified relationship experts since about the time of his split with one-time fiancée Ciara. But rather than defend his lifestyle choices in earnest or make a case for himself as misunderstood, he drops an album whose title posits him as either a vindictive lover or a victim of a betrayal. But Future is nobody’s victim.

With I NEVER LIKED YOU, he's more likely a master of marketing. The album has far less to do with the rhetoric that surrounds his dating life than it does the MC’s lifestyle, drawing open the blinds within a single bar of “HOLY GHOST”: “I was in my big truck, my wrist up, getting my dick sucked.” The MC sounds as happy as ever across I NEVER LIKED YOU, lamenting only—in the rare instance that he laments—a perceived lack of credit for his stylistic influence (“I'M DAT N***A,” “PUFFIN ON ZOOTIEZ”). There are two instances, however, wherein his influence is wholly undeniable: “I’M ON ONE” and “KEEP IT BURNIN,” where Drake and Kanye West each take a turn paying tribute to one of their most cherished collaborators, rattling off volatile non sequiturs in classic Future style.

16 Tracks

July 16, 2015 at PDT

DS2 (Deluxe)

The hiss of liquid poured over ice, an eerie Metro Boomin guitar line, and a hypnotic rhyme—“Dirty soda, Spike Lee, white girl, Ice T, fully loaded AP”—that sounds like an arcane magic spell: That’s how Future opens his exquisitely toxic third album, right before he casually drops the year’s most twisted footwear-related flex. DS2 was released during the peak of summer 2015, back when the rapper’s buzz had never been bigger, thanks to the runaway success of his recent mixtape trilogy (Monster, Beast Mode, 56 Nights). The triumphant DS2—announced the week before its release—would serve as the capstone of Future’s antihero’s journey, one that he spells out on the fiendish “I Serve the Base”: “Tried to make me a pop star/And they made a monster.”

The paradox of DS2—short for “Dirty Sprite”—is that it’s an album of wall-to-wall rippers dedicated to all sorts of depraved pleasures, over the course of which one begins to suspect its protagonist is having very little fun. “Best thing I ever did was fall out of love,” Future croaks on “Kno the Meaning,” an oral history of his comeback year. And while heartbreak has clearly done wonders for his creativity, the hedonism seems to be having diminishing returns: Never before have dalliances with groupies or strip-club acid trips sounded more like karmic punishments.

As a result, the lifestyle captured on DS2 is better to listen to than to live through, thanks to massive-sounding beats from a murderer’s row of Atlanta producers—including Metro Boomin, Southside, and Zaytoven—that range from “moody” to “downright evil.” Still, whether or not Future sounds happy on DS2, he does have plenty to celebrate: After all, in less than a year he’d flooded the market with enough top-shelf music to sustain entire careers. As he points out during the conclusion of “Kno the Meaning”: “My hard work finally catching up with perfect timing.”

18 Tracks

May 14, 2020 at PDT

High Off Life

For someone who spent the better part of his career celebrating the chaos his drug use enabled, the title of Future’s eighth studio album, High Off Life, reads like an attempt at a rebrand. But it isn’t. For one, he’ll claim to still very much be getting “high off” drugs. But further to that, life as Future knows it is the same high-octane carousel ride it’s been since he began telling us his story, spinning continually through declarations of invincibility (“Touch the Sky,” “Solitaires,” “Trillionaire”), reflections of past trauma (“Posted With Demons,” “One of My,” “Pray for a Key”), encounters with beautiful and exclusive women (“Too Comfortable,” “Outer Space Bih”), and, yes, heavy drug use (“Trapped in the Sun,” “HiTek Tek”). Future on High Off Life is who he told us he was on the title track of his second album, Honest: “I'm a rock star for life, I'm just being honest.”

21 Tracks

July 5, 2018 at PDT

BEASTMODE 2

Future delivered BEASTMODE 2, the sequel to his 2015 mixtape, to Apple Music with a short, sweet message: “Luv, Pluto.” The greeting-card sign-off harks back to his 2012 debut album, Pluto, and while the prolific rapper has since released five solo albums and many collaborations, BEASTMODE 2 indeed feels like a reward to those who’ve been following along since the start. Like its predecessor, the melodic, piano-filled, nine-track mixtape is entirely produced by fellow Atlantan Zaytoven. But while both mixtapes celebrate his successes, they also share an underlying darkness, detailing addiction and despondency. “Damn, I hate the real me,” he sings on the solemn final track.

9 Tracks

April 28, 2022 at PDT

I NEVER LIKED YOU

I NEVER LIKED YOU, the first Future project since his and Lil Uzi Vert’s Pluto x Baby Pluto and his first solo outing since 2020’s High Off Life, was likely titled to cause a stir. Future has been a poster boy for the kind of toxic romantic engagements that turn well-intentioned social media users into self-certified relationship experts since about the time of his split with one-time fiancée Ciara. But rather than defend his lifestyle choices in earnest or make a case for himself as misunderstood, he drops an album whose title posits him as either a vindictive lover or a victim of a betrayal. But Future is nobody’s victim.

With I NEVER LIKED YOU, he's more likely a master of marketing. The album has far less to do with the rhetoric that surrounds his dating life than it does the MC’s lifestyle, drawing open the blinds within a single bar of “HOLY GHOST”: “I was in my big truck, my wrist up, getting my dick sucked.” The MC sounds as happy as ever across I NEVER LIKED YOU, lamenting only—in the rare instance that he laments—a perceived lack of credit for his stylistic influence (“I'M DAT N***A,” “PUFFIN ON ZOOTIEZ”). There are two instances, however, wherein his influence is wholly undeniable: “I’M ON ONE” and “KEEP IT BURNIN,” where Drake and Kanye West each take a turn paying tribute to one of their most cherished collaborators, rattling off volatile non sequiturs in classic Future style.

22 Tracks

September 24, 2015 at PDT

What a Time To Be Alive

Recorded in six days, this mixtape might not have been given the time to alchemise two of hip-hop’s dominant personalities into game-changing sounds, but it does have the spontaneous, energising snap of a mutually appreciative high-five. It’s largely shaped from the icy, mid-paced trap Future trades in but Drake brings bullish sparkle to “Jumpman” and “Big Rings”, while both MCs sound invigorated by their partnership as they slam the haters, confess their own doubts and, on “Plastic Bag”, salute the hard work of strippers.

11 Tracks

October 19, 2017 at PDT

SUPER SLIMEY

Future and Young Thug are kindred spirits, but working together has been rare, usually coming at the behest of a third party. As two of Atlanta's most prolific and creative MCs, they share a fearless approach to melody and intonation, and on SUPER SLIMEY, both relish the chance to run with someone on the same level. SUPER SLIMEY is dense with bars. The turbo-charged "Three" is as much duel as collaboration, and on “200," they split their respective verses between singing and rapping, with very little stylistic overlap. But when Future somehow finds new ground with his sleep-deprived rasp on "Group Home,” it becomes clear these rappers have stretched their voices in just about every direction possible.

13 Tracks

January 17, 2019 at PST

Future Hndrxx Presents: The WIZRD

SuperFuture. Fire Marshal Future. Astronaut Kid. Pluto. Hndrxx. These are just a few alter egos of the MC born Nayvadius Wilburn, taken up across a decade-long career as one of Atlanta’s most prolific and inventive voices. As a presentation of yet another identity, Future Hndrxx Presents: The WIZRD—the rapper’s seventh solo album—is less a wholly separate Future than one highlighting elements of them all.

Future reaches back into his own catalog from the outset: “Tryna run a billion up until my ankle pop” line from opening track “Never Stop” recalls 2011’s “Championship Music,” where he raps, “Money coming in from every angle/Paper chasing, running to it tryna break my ankle.” Over the woozy, Tay Keith-produced “Temptation,” he alternates between a conversational flow and the R&B vocal runs he leaned into on 2012’s Astronaut Status mixtape. “Call the Coroner” and “Stick to the Models” are as dark as they are celebratory, chock-full of the unabashed nihilism that made 2014’s Monster so powerful.

On the Wheezy-produced “Krazy but True,” Future alludes to the rationale behind continuously refining his style: “I’m God to you n****s/I work too hard just to spoil you n****s/You need to pay me my respect/Your socks, rings, and your lean/The way you drop your mixtapes, ad-libs, and everything.” It’s a very gentle ear-flick to the many MCs who’ve borrowed styles and ideas from a man who identifies as The WIZRD. Fortunately, his Future Hndrxx Presents: The WIZRD project includes only original, homegrown ingredients.

20 Tracks

September 19, 2024 at PDT

MIXTAPE PLUTO

Over the course of his decade-plus in the spotlight, Future has allowed his many alter egos a turn at center stage. There’s Future Hendrix, the soulful hippie for whom 2017’s HNDRXX is named, and The WIZRD, a nickname given by his uncle and the namesake of 2019’s Future Hndrxx Presents: The WIZRD. Super Future represents him at his catchiest, where Fire Marshal Future shows the rapper at his most lit (as in, the fire marshals are going to have to shut the club down). But it’s been a while since we’ve seen Pluto, the character associated with his earliest projects, including 2012’s Pluto, the debut studio album that revealed him as a secret romantic and unexpected hitmaker.

That eerie, pink-lit house on the cover of MIXTAPE PLUTO, Future’s first solo release of 2024, is none other than the Dungeon, the Georgia studio from which some of history’s most vital and inventive rap music emerged, from Goodie Mob to Outkast to Future himself. The basement studio was owned by Rico Wade, Organized Noize producer and Future’s older cousin. When Wade died at 52, Future posted a poignant message to Instagram: “This life wouldn’t b possible if it wasn’t for my cousin. Love u forever.”

Across the album’s 17 featureless tracks, Future pays tribute not only to his uncle and mentor, but also to the era from which he emerged. “SKI,” “MJ,” and “READY TO COOK UP” deliver elevated updates on his narcotized rasp circa 2011’s Dirty Sprite, 2012’s Astronaut Status, and 2013’s underrated F.B.G.: the Movie. (“READY TO COOK UP,” in particular, feels like a high-end sequel to Dirty Sprite’s haunting title track: He might pull up in a helicopter, but he still knows how to use a Pyrex.)

But it’s his soulful side that shines on tracks like “SURFING A TSUNAMI,” a shimmering hallucination of mermaids and giant waves, or on “OCEAN” when he croons, “So many tears, I could fill up an ocean.” And on the heartbreaking “LOST MY DOG,” he mourns a friend who died from a fentanyl overdose: “His mama tried to raise an angel, turned out gangster like his daddy/We share the same pain, so I knew he wasn’t happy.” It’s further evidence for Future as one of our greatest living bluesmen.

18 Tracks

February 23, 2017 at PST

HNDRXX

Forever the over-indulger, Future dropped his fifth and sixth albums in the span of seven days in early 2017. Both FUTURE and HNDRXX debuted at No. 1, making the Atlanta rapper the first artist to release two chart-topping albums in consecutive weeks. But what’s even more remarkable about these back-to-back hits is the way in which they serve as companion pieces and counterpoints: While FUTURE hones in on the grimy trap bangers he’d proved he could write in his sleep, HNDRXX is lush, introspective, and occasionally even…sweet?

To fans who’d become accustomed to the antihero persona Future crafted on such mid-2010s hits as Monster and DS2, the softer side of Future likely came as a shock. But those who’d been listening since 2012’s Pluto knew the rapper had a sentimental streak: After all, this is the guy who once warbled about searching for his soulmate with a flashlight.

HNDRXX allows Future to indulge his more romantic impulses. It’s also a showcase for one of his most fan-beloved alter egos: Future Hendrix, a figure the rapper describes as something of a rock-star Casanova with a penchant for the psychedelic. Though HNDRXX’s opening suite of songs wallow in some leftover bitterness, Future Hendrix soon shows up, as the album gives way to love-drunk crooners that shimmer like sunlight on an infinity pool—and reveal a rapper who’s ready to move on from all the hurt. On the island-inspired “Incredible,” the former Mr. Toxic Masculinity USA tries out hot yoga and texts cute emojis to his new partner, while the gently trippy “I Thank U” looks back on a former relationship with gratitude instead of spite. Scattered in the mix are a few bids for the mainstream airwaves, including a pair of cutesy duets with Rihanna and Nicki Minaj. Just a few years earlier, Future had sworn he was a monster, not a pop star. But who says we can’t have it all?

19 Tracks

November 3, 2016 at PDT

Used to This (feat. Drake) - Single

1 Trackfalse

June 20, 2019 at PDT

Out the Mud - Single

1 Trackfalse

October 18, 2018 at PDT

Future & Juice WRLD Present... WRLD ON DRUGS

If Goodbye & Good Riddance was Juice WRLD’s coming-out, his mixtape with Future, WRLD ON DRUGS, details the decadent after-party. Gone are the woeful feels that propelled the late Chicago rapper into the emo/hip-hop stratosphere. In their place are euphoric end-zone celebrations with his new BFF, the godfather of the current wave of Auto-Tuned rap crooners cosigning one of his upstart scions. Together, they formed a potent tag team whose melodic styles complement and often play off each other. They go boast-for-boast on “Fine China” and count stacks with Young Thug on “Red Bentley.” Songs like “Oxy” and “Ain’t Livin Right” echo the nihilistic tone set by Goodbye tracks “Lean Wit Me” and “Black & White.” And when the intoxicants wear off, Future is left with bleary-eyed moments of clarity (“Afterlife”). Then on “Hard Work Pays Off,” the two tally the wins and losses and toast with plastic cups.

16 Tracks

November 30, 2021 at PST

Me or Sum (feat. Future & Lil Baby) - Single

1 Trackfalse

April 11, 2024 at PDT

WE STILL DON'T TRUST YOU

Card-carrying members of the #FutureHive remember where they were on the two consecutive weekends of February 2017 when rap’s reigning king of gorgeously toxic masculinity dropped a pair of albums that nailed the yin and yang of the whole Future thing. The first one, simply titled FUTURE, exemplified his singular breed of haunted club crushers, like “Mask Off,” a Metro Boomin joint that became his highest-charting single at the time. Hot on its heels was HNDRXX, named for his softer, trippier side, a buoyant return to the romance of his Pluto-era hits. Both albums debuted at No. 1 and felt like a return to form for a rapper who’s had more thrilling returns to form than just about any other rap star of the past 15 years. A similar feeling floats on the breeze with the release of WE STILL DON’T TRUST YOU, Future’s second collaborative album with Metro Boomin in less than a month.

From the spacey and vaguely French disco pulse of the Weeknd-featuring title track, you get the sense that WE STILL DON’T TRUST YOU is the HNDRXX to WE DON’T TRUST YOU’s FUTURE—a balmy sunrise after a dark night of the soul. That feeling is confirmed by the shimmering bacchanalia of “Drink N Dance” and the Brownstone-sampling “Luv Bad Bitches,” an instant addition to the canon of Future’s best love songs (“I like good girls, but I love, love, love bad bitches!”). Metro’s productions have rarely sounded prettier, and Future Hendrix fires on all cylinders, reminding you that for all his red-eyed “fuck love” bangers, at his core he’s a romantic. Kendrick Lamar’s surprise verse on WE DON’T TRUST YOU reopened the “Big Three” debate floor; with WE STILL DON’T TRUST YOU, it’s time to start seriously considering the idea of the “Big Four.”

25 Tracks

September 23, 2021 at PDT

Too Easy - Single

1 Trackfalse

March 30, 2015 at PDT

March Madness - Single

1 Trackfalse

March 25, 2021 at PDT

Hard for the Next - Single

1 Trackfalse

May 27, 2021 at PDT

Nobody Special - Single

1 Trackfalse

November 14, 2019 at PST

Last Name (feat. Lil Durk) - Single

1 Trackfalse

October 27, 2014 at PDT

Monster

The first in a trio of album-quality mixtapes released in a five-month blitz between fall 2014 and spring 2015, there’s a solid argument to be made that Monster is Future’s most pivotal project. By the mid-2010s, the wild vocal experiment and infectious, post-Lil Wayne pop-rap that defined Future’s first few years had begun to stagnate. And despite the crossover success of his first two albums, the ATLien’s staying power seemed uncertain.

Then came Monster, which was released just before Halloween, and which featured gruesome cover artwork that accurately reflected its contents. Monster is a primal scream from the id, and a total rejection of complacency. The tape’s wounded, snarling songs were born from heartbreak (Future’s engagement to R&B star Ciara had recently imploded). But Monster was also a pronouncement of the kind of artist Future wanted to be: not a pop star, but an antihero.

And while Monster marks a return to form, it also vaults Future to a new tier of artistry, rechristening him as the king of the toxic-rap banger. “Radical” groans to life like the yawn of an ancient hellmouth, while “Gangland” presents the rapper as a red-eyed vigilante whipping a Hummer through enemy turf. The Monster squad of producers—which includes Nard & B, Southside, and ascendant newcomer Metro Boomin—understood the assignment: Make beats that sound downright sadomasochistic.

But for all his insistence that he’s doing just fine on a diet of spite and chemicals, it’s Future’s vulnerability that gives the tape its power. “Throw Away” starts with two minutes of disaffected hedonism until the beat switches to reveal a shattering breakup ballad, with Future’s voice cracking as he wonders if his ex still thinks about him. Then there’s the closing track, “Codeine Crazy,” a TM88-produced masterpiece of lean-drenched anhedonia that could just as easily be called a blues song. It’s a crushing and catchy reminder of Future’s monster talents.

13 Tracks

February 16, 2017 at PST

FUTURE

It feels right that Future’s first self-titled release allows his different personas to grab the mic: Depending on the track, he’s the party starter, the ladies' man, the hustler, or the hedonist. FUTURE pays homage to the ATL rapper’s roots (and now-legendary string of underground mixtapes) with plenty of 808 boom, warped synths, and jittery rhymes. When his lyrics look back on the experiences that shaped him—especially with tracks like “Feds Did a Sweep” or “When I Was Broke”—it's a hypnotic glimpse into the mind of Atlanta’s trap king.

20 Tracks

June 6, 2019 at PDT

SAVE ME

Since at least the days of Future's Monster mixtape, his fans have feared that the self-destructive tendencies he rapped about would be his undoing. Myth-making or not, his catalog is steeped in a brand of nihilism so reckless that some of the fun of listening stems from anticipating just what he might say next. The answer this go-round, though, is a request for help. Or maybe just an acknowledgment of his issues.

SAVE ME, the seven-song EP that follows Future’s last full-length (January 2019’s The WIZRD), is a tallying of the MC’s misdeeds but less a formal apology than an extended moment of vulnerability. He details his issues with substance abuse on “XanaX Damage,” and then womanizing on “St. Lucia” and “Government Official.” He confesses a seemingly insatiable ego on “Please Tell Me,” but makes time to detail just how good a potential lover would have it riding with him on “Shotgun.” He’s distorted his voice on closer “Love Thy Enemies” in a way that makes it sound like he’s rapping from the center of a codeine haze, but the detail with which he recounts the intricacies of a failed relationship seems like it could have only come from a sober mind.

7 Tracks