This last week, Atlanta legend and cool dude Future released his seventh studio project, fully titled “Future Hndrxx Presents: The Wizrd.” That’s literally three nicknames in one project, which has got to be a record.
As a rapper whose cup flows to the brim with sticky pseudonyms, it was only fitting for his latest project to deliver with similar inventiveness, and the final results turned out magical.
Still, the rapper got a lot of heat across social media, most of which involved words like “misogynist,” “CIARA,” “cancelled,” “SEAHAWKS” and, the one I find the most uncalled for, “repetitive.”
Listen, and you listen good, Mr/Ms. Whoever You Are That Thinks Too Highly of Yourself Not to Indulge in the Auto-Tuned Stylings of a Musical Pioneer, of course it’s going to be repetitive, it’s trap music!
Do you know who else is repetitive? Half of the artists in the world. Do these people want Future to go out and make an R&B album? Because he did that already, and it was actually pretty good. Do you know who else has misogynistic lyrics? Just about any rap artist you could’ve listened to since the late ’80s.
This is Future in his rawest form, and I’m not talking raw like this. Or that, either.
A lot of the lyrics in here sound more authentic than ever before, which says a lot coming from the guy who made “Kno The Meaning.” Honestly, there are only three other artists on the entire project, and it feels like he could’ve gotten away with only having two.
On “Unicorn Purp,” Future raps for a cool minute, and then Thugger and Gunna come in and start bouncing off one another so perfectly it’s as if they’re literally one person. If this is what fans are in store for whenever these three (and Lil’ Baby, who I do not care for in the slightest) release “SUPER SLIMEY 2,” then please, sign me up for 75 percent of it. Through a handful of interviews that Future’s done in promotion for “THE WIZRD,” one thing he repeats is the fact that Young Thug is his twin. This makes for a musical brotherhood like no other.
And while I’ve made my disdain for Travis Scott without the dollar sign in his name very clear throughout countless articles, he still managed to hold his own on a solid portion of this song. I’d say, roughly, 9 percent of it. Yeah, that’s fair.
That one part where he says, “Used to spend checks on my Nikes now they paaaay me / got some Bulls cheerleaders and they waaaaavy, number one in my city like McGrady,” is pretty cool, but the rest of his verse and ad-libs are pretty sub-par —or, rather, up to par with his usual standards (shrug face).
And, no disrespect, there’s no flex on this song bigger than Fewtch boasting about his net worth (“Back on the Forbes, s— craaaazy, I make more than Dwayne Wade baaaaby”). That’s insane. D-Wade has been in the league for 16 years now with an average payroll of … with an estimated career earnings of $196,388,473. That’s not even including endorsements. If you’re a fan of the game, I know you remember the Gatorade commercials.
As I made it to the album’s grandiose, final three-track stretch, I instantly discovered my favorite song of 2019, thus far. “Faceshot” includes no other artist, nor any sign of remorse. The track’s ear-ringing production is courtesy of Richie Souf, and boy oh boy did he manage to curate a sequel to “DS2″’s house-rattling “I Serve The Base,” arguably one of the best rap songs of the past decade in my book.
“Tell ‘em shoot her in the face, b—–, I hate thots,” is the type of line that fit in well alongside the most bleak showcases of misogyny that he’s put on display in previous projects, which are directly parallel the brutal honesty he allowed the world to hear when he made it clear that, “Even if you love her, I’m gon’ f— her, woo!”
And while the song following this, “Ain’t Coming Back,” is also produced by Richie Souf, it’s a picture-perfect example of how portions of the album display an extremely vulnerable side of Future, or, even more so, Nayvadius himself.
And while the pain in his music has been a consistent theme, it’s safe to say it seems even more authentic considering he’s breaking records set by people like Elton John and Taylor Swift. Don’t even get me started on when he murmurs, “Drugs in my system don’t play it fair / B—— know I need help,” because that line is a sonic dagger to the deepest pocket of my soul.
Being the Dipset representative I consider myself to be, there was no way I couldn’t write this up without mentioning the hypnotic “Serving Killa Kam.” The song sounds like it came straight from the early 2015 freebie and the bridge (“In the 305, drivin’ 105 / On the 95, hammer on my side / This that Juelz Santana, rockin’ them Gucci bandanas / Servin’ Killa Cam, bought a new toy”) is unctuous as all get out.
All in all, I can confidently rank “THE WIZRD” within his top three albums, as it sits right behind “Dirty Sprite 2,” his opus that shifted the rap paradigm in 2015, but ahead of “Pluto,” his studio debut. Whoever is playing tricks on this man has got to stop, bro, I cannot take it. The pain is so unbearable to endure, I feel as if it’s all my fault 🙁
The way he croons, “Big money s—, baby, I just bought a new six baby / Flintstone in my ears, pissed on my wrists, baby” is so melancholic it sounds like a cry for help. Worry not, Future, because the hive will never leave your side.
