Future is lightyears ahead of his time. Since touching down in 2012 with his Epic Records debut album Pluto, the Freeband Gang founder has continued hustling as an artist. The sloppy, melodic flow Future introduced on Pluto has been used by virtually every trapper who’s poppin’ today, and U.O.E.N.O. it. Throughout the past twelve months, Future has kept the spotlight on him by hosting various mixtapes, scoring humongous features on Ace Hood’s “Bugatti” and Lil Wayne’s “Love Me,” and of course recording new material for his sophomore album, Honest. Despite his mainstream success as the industry’s #1 hook master, Future never planned on making a pop album. “We’re gonna go so hood and so underground on ‘em,” he told Rolling Stone earlier this year. Raised by the streets, Future still has plenty to shout about.
Listening to Honest feels like zooming through an Auto-Tuned space portal at 200 MPH. It’s thrilling to say the least. This experience begins with the adventurous “Look Ahead,” and carries through the retrospective album closer “Blood, Sweat, Tears”. However, similar to Future's first album, there are a few tracks on Honest that just miss the mark and don't mesh cohesively with the rest of it.
Out of the many standout tracks on the LP though, perhaps the most animated of them all, is “T-Shirt” produced by Nard & B. Future practically screams on the record, as if grabbing all his doubters by their shirt collars. “SEE HOW CONSISTENT I AM? SEE HOW PERSISTENT I AM?!” He shouts, “I WOKE UP IN THAT BUGATTI, WENT AND BOUGHT ME THREE LAMBS.” The madness continues on the next track, “Move That Dope”. The Mike Will-produced track has a bassline that’s about as ridiculous as Lil Wayne’s I Am Not A Human Being II hit, “Rich As Fuck”. It’s too bad that Future got outshined by Pharrell on his own track, because his highly slept on yam-flipping verse was on point.
“My Momma” is another banger with slapping bass. Future entertains his audience by switching his flow up multiple times in one verse, something that he does exceptionally well on this album. Wiz Khalifa’s verse feels somewhat out of place and is definitely lacklustre, but his final four bars cap things off on high note, so the rest of the verse may not even matter: “I wouldn’t advise you to fuck with me/ If you get fly you look up to me/ Probably get high just because of me/ T.G.O.D that’s my company.”
The sonically tropical “I Won” featuring Kanye West is another one of the album’s highlights. Both artists rap about their beautiful fiancés, and Future shows off his singing talents. It’s a nice change of pace. The next track, “Never Satisfied,” is the “Beach Is Better” of the album. Even with a Drake feature, the song fails to reach two minutes in length. It’s a bit disappointing, but not enough so to kill the vibe.
Another impressive beat on the album belongs to “Covered N Money”. ATL producer Sonny Digital went bananas on this one. The self-titled hook, which simply repeats “I’m covered in money I’m covered in money” (a tactic used through out this album) is sure to get stuck in your head for days. Another really catchy song is, of course, the highly anticipated “Benz Friendz” with Andre 3000. The extremely rare ‘Dre feature shines like a diamond compared to all the other guest features on the album, and the two display their musical chemistry, leaving us wanting more.
Future further cements his own lane within the rap game on his second LP. His signature syrupy, stuttering style has been perfected and sounds better than ever. His confidence has reached a new peak as well: “GODZILLA AIN”T GOT SHIT ON ME NIGGA!” To be honest, who does?
Drop a comment, what did you think of Honest?