By: PK Krentsil (’19), Managing Editor
If you’re at a party and Future isn’t played at least once after an hour, leave.
Seriously.
Future Hendrix has been a mainstay in hip-hop for more than 5 years because of his hitmaking ability. His lean-fueled crooning over Metro Boomin and 808 Mafia beats birthed “Commas,” “March Madness,” “Stick Talk” and other hit singles. Couple this with an almost machine-like output of projects and you have a trap juggernaut. We all remember the Monster-Beast Mode-56 Nights run. Given all this, early 2016 marked the point where Future became dry. His insane work ethic worked against him, as Purple Reign and Evol came too soon after Dirty Sprite 2 and What a Time to Be Alive to really stand out. There was too much Future for listeners to digest and as a result, many of his songs started to sound the same. This oversaturation wasn’t the only thing working against Future; his public slander of Ciara following their split caused some to justifiably stop supporting his music. Despite the success of “Too Much Sauce” last June, excitement for a Future release largely died down.
And then, it happened.
On February 17th, Future dropped a self-titled album announced merely three days before its release. A month removed from the legal battle with Ciara but now deep in another lawsuit from fellow Atlanta rapper Rocko, the album appeared to some on social media to be Future’s way of working around a wild (and fake) settlement in the Rocko case, especially after he announced that another album would be released a week later. Regardless, it did major numbers, debuting at #1 on the Billboard 200. February 24th came and Future released HNDRXX to ready fans. This too debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200, making Future the first artist to have back-to-back albums debut at the top spot. The timing was good and the songs were better; between the two projects listeners were blessed with “Incredible,” “Draco,” “Damage” and, of course, “Mask Off.”
With this feat, Future has reclaimed his share of the spotlight in hip-hop. It remains to be seen whether or not this jumpstarts another long string of successes but for now, we will play our imaginary flutes and hit dem folks in celebration.
Sources:
http://www.xxlmag.com/news/2017/02/rocko-lawsuit-future/
