While Future's new self-titled album more or less explores the same themes as EVOL and Purple Reign, it is his most sonically adventurous project since Monster. Perhaps this is what Future meant in his interview with Zane Lowe when he expressed his desire to "go back to being more underground." Some are calling the project "Trap Zelda," and at times this is an accurate assessment, but more often it is defined by the sort of trunk-rattling, 808 Mafia-produced bangers we are used to hearing from Future. Perhaps he would have been better off he had gone all-in on "Trap Zelda" and followed the sound of the ocarina whistling the wind.
Anyway, here are our five favorite beats from FUTURE.
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"Draco" (Prod. By DJ Spinz & Dun Deal)
I have never been to Atlanta's fabled Magic City, but from what I have gathered about it, the "Draco" beat succinctly captures its spirit -- the vaporization of inhibitions amidst a kaleidoscope of bright lights and a hurricane of bills, gyrating asses, and champagne foam.
"POA" (Prod. By Southside & Sonny Digital)
The "POA" beat gallops along at a thrilling pace, not unlike Gandalf and Pippin racing from Edoras to Minas Tirith on the back of Shadowfax. RUN, SHADOWFAX. SHOW US THE MEANING OF HASTE.
"Mask Off" (Prod. By Metro Boomin, Southside, Frank Dukes, & Cubeatz)
As Brandon, HNHH's social media coordinator, pointed out to me, "Mask Off" samples the same song (Tommy Butler's 1976 "Prison Song") that Murs and Slug sampled in "Woman Tonight." As Future demonstrated on Chance the Rapper's "Smoke Break," left field beats often bring out the best in him, and the airy flute and somber choral chants of "Mask Off" blend nicely with his self-comparisons to Rick James.
"I'm So Groovy" (Prod. By Tre Pounds)
Move over, Kid Cudi! Future is the new king of humming.
Part of the reason Future's symphony of MM-HMMMs works is because it is an effective counterpart to Tre Pounds' colorful bell arrangement, which evokes the image of a giant diamond rotating and glittering in the moonlight. As Future appears to rap to himself, as if affirming his own grooviness in the bathroom mirror, this immense, glittering jewel of a beat feels solitary and self-assured of its own innate quality.
"Feds Did a Sweep" (Prod. By Zaytoven & Cassius Jay)
"Feds Did a Sweep" continues in Future's tradition of depressing outros. ("Codeine Crazy," "Blood on the Money") Zaytoven and Cassius Jay begin the song by playing the flute of innocence, then initiate a gnarly filter sweep connoting a time warp, back to a bygone era when Future lived in the heart of the trap...