For a rapper who deals almost exclusively with standard trap topics-- drugs, violence, brotherhood, and sex-- Future's in his feelings a considerable amount of the time. His caterwauling, damaged voice has become one of the most emotive instruments in music today, saturating every bar with his current state of mind and often making his mixtapes feel like extended mood pieces. Triumph, struggle, regret, love... they all have their place on at least one of Future's nine solo tapes.
Back in November, we already ranked eight of these tapes, and now with the addition of Purple Reign, we're looking back on their distinct characteristics, as filtered through a definitive song from each. By "definitive," we don't mean best, but rather the defining track, the one that's most indicative of where Future's ass was at at the time of the tape's release. For an example, it's pretty tough to say anything else on Monster tops the epic "Codeine Crazy," but its sorrow and remorse don't accurately represent the breakup-fueled rage and nihilism of many of the other tracks.
As we did with the ranking of the tapes, we're only counting projects where Future delivers 50% or more of the vocals. That means no Free Bricks, FBG: The Movie, WATTBA, etc.
1000: Life Of A G
1000: "Life Of A G"
From the first song on his first tape, Future was letting us know that he'd be something different in the game. The year was 2010, and auto-tune was still most associated with T-Pain, Kanye West, and Lil Wayne, all of whom used it for purposes far removed from street rap (remember, this was the same year Weezy dropped Rebirth). Here comes Future rapping bars that you could envision coming out of Jeezy's mouth, and yet he's doing it with melody, even before the huge chorus hits.
"Life Of A G" represents the midpoint of 1000, which splits its time between R&B cuts like "Good Look" and "Stop Playing," and the respective Jeezy and Gucci Mane homages "Do It To Em" and "Yeah Yeah." On it, you'll find themes that continue to define Future's music: paranoia and the connection between his drug use and prolific output ("I go blank-eyed in the studio and try to fuck up my kidneys"). On top of that, it manages to contain two separate hooks, hinting at the level of songwriting Future was capable of from day one.
Dirty Sprite: Never Been This High
Dirty Sprite: "Never Been This High"
This was Future's first project explicitly centered around getting fucked up, and while it's tempting to choose the eerie, Mike Will-produced title cut, it's his first-ever Zaytoven joint that really shows us where Future was headed. Introducing us to Future Hendrix rockstar persona, "Never Been This High" also contains his first reference to himself as an "astronaut," which ended up being another important alter-ego. The swampy, guitar-led instrumental sets the stage for the more psychedelic tracks of Future's discography, including "Look Ahead" and "News Or Somethn," and on top of all that, Future offers the best-ever one-line description of his pained vocal delivery: “Blood, sweat, tears inside this rap as I flow.”
True Story: Magic
True Story: "Magic"
After finding his footing and developing a distinct sound on his first two tapes, Future became a bonafide hitmaker on 2011's True Story. "Tony Montana," "Ain't No Way Around It" and "Magic" all popped off, but it was the last of those that contained flows and melodic stylings that'd pop up again and again in his career. Over a cavernous beat from KE On The Track, Future shows us his ability to turn two words into an undeniably catchy hook, and pays his first tribute to Magic City, a location that's probably more important than any record label office to his success. Dirty Sprite's "On 2 Us" described his first encounters with DJ Esco, whose Monday night installments at the strip club were already legendary, and here, Future gave him one that all the dancers could agree on. Even while making hits, though, he was still a weirdo: “I was an Earthling now I'm SciFi.”
Streetz Calling: Ball Forever
Streetz Calling: "Ball Forever"
Just days before the release of his fourth mixtape, Future inked his major label deal with Epic. Having been in talks with the label for a few months, the music on Streetz Calling lergely reflected his desire to show that he could make albums and pay more attention to songwriting. "Ball Forever" was the first Future track worthy of waving a Bic lighter in the air, Will-A-Fool's anthemic strings and synths making somewhat of a stylistic update on T.I.'s "What You Know." Future hadn't fully morphed into the "Turn On The Lights" hitmaker he'd become on Pluto, but he got his balladeering wheels turning with this, still one of his most triumphant-sounding tracks.
Astronaut Status: No Matter What
Astronaut Status: "No Matter What"
Astronaut Status was a stopgap release of sorts between Streetz Calling (which Future said would be his last mixtape before Pluto) and his debut album, which arrived three months later. That didn't stop it from being his best and most varied work yet, with street cuts like "Birds Take A Bath" sitting comfortably alongside more experimental and romantic fare. The last cut on the tape, the KE On The Track-produced "No Matter What," was unlike anything Future had done, and paved the way for his success as a pop writer that spanned from Pluto to Honest. Without this interstellar pledge of devotion, we wouldn't have Rihanna's "Loveeeeeee Song" or Beyoncé's "Drunk In Love," as Future's softer side would've never been visible to those who knew him only for his prior hits.
Monster: Throw Away
Monster: "Throw Away"
As mentioned in the intro paragraph, Monster is Future's most deplorable tape, the one where he let his emotions overwhelm him and carry him down a rabbit hole of depravity and depression. Nothing better encapsulates his mental state at the time better than "Throw Away," which begins as misogynistic takedown of one night stands but morphs into something much deeper and arresting in its second half. Amid a mess of violence, sex, and drugs, Future boils down his post-breakup view towards women (“I want no relations, I just want your facial/Girl you know you like a pistol, you a throw away”), but then can't escape the memory of Ciara, seeing a bit of her in one of his so-called "throwaways." Breaking into a then-rare falsetto that'd pop up again on "Codeine Crazy" and "Diamonds Dancing," Future's “Mark my words I’ma ball without you” sounds defeated, like a bullied kid saying "Fine, I didn't want to play with you guys anyway." This is the pinnacle of his continued responses to Ciara.
Beast Mode: Just LIke Bruddas
Beast Mode: "Just Like Bruddas"
Future's first tape of 2015 was certainly a bit more uplifting than Monster, a good deal of that due to Zaytoven's bright production, but pangs of loss, regret, and confusion were still there. Best illustrating this is "Just Like Bruddas," which sounds as cheerful as an Elton John track on the surface, but contains a good deal of strife. Here, Future tells us how he's fallen back on his day one friends (the only ones his can trust), and laments fans talking about him "on the 'Gram." One line in particular crystallizes the drugs-as-coping-mechanism sentiment of nearly all of his post-Honest output: “Off 2 milligrams, I forgot about my ex-ho.”
56 Nights: 56 Nights
56 Nights: "56 Nights"
By the time he dropped 56 Nights, Future knew he had elevated himself to a new status, one that would allow him to drop DS2 just months later without any trace of label meddling. He had just gotten back from a European tour, and was at the peak of his rockstar lifestyle. All of this is portrayed beautifully on that mixtape's title track. Atop Southside's dark, muted beat "56" becomes the number that symbolizes everything: Future's body count and drug tally, Esco's stint in a Dubai prison. It's also one of the few times on the tape he sounds weary, which is humanizing, because no one could put themselves through all of that and come out bright-eyed and enthusiastic. Another interesting, key feature of this point in Future's career was the fact that intoxication came not only from drugs, but personal struggle and wealth as well. He not only sings “The pain from the slum had me numb,” but, “Diamonds hanging on me I'm intoxicated”
Purple: Purple Reign
Purple Reign: "Purple Reign"
Yes, another title cut, but can you argue with this one? This is a plaintive cut that compares lean to a romantic partner, and concludes with a verse that offers the best apology/explanation/clarification of Future's past year and a half:
"Hope I didn't come at you the wrong way
That wasn't planned
Hope you see the path that I made
I took a chance
I just put my passion and drive into this
Too concerned I dare you to take a day off long
Cut you, we ain't gonna talk about it
Cut you off keep pushing
Since I got the fame can't forget I was crooked"
Many people have classified Future's recent output as unrepentant and brash, and here, he sums it up better than any writer could.