Its 2015, and hip-hop is having something of a personality crisis. Rappers like Czarface and Kendrick Lamar are dropping classics made from the vintage hip-hop facets of lyricism and hard, soulful beats. Rappers like Drake, Young Thug and Future meanwhile are making it big despite having neither of these things; they are the heads of the new wave, and despite the confusion of naysayers, they’re topping charts. To account for this divide we asked both Shaun (a Future fan) and Liam (who is slightly more begrudging) to offer their thoughts on his newest LP: DS2.
Stan
It’s official. Future has released four classic projects in a row. The only catch is, Future has done it all within a span of 9 months. Monster, Beast Mode and 56 Nights have been followed up with Dirty Sprite 2, which sees Future stride ahead of his contemporaries in Atlanta, and place itself among big names like Drake, Young Thug and others on the American cloud-rap scene.
The lone feature on this album belongs to Drake, which, for an 18 track tape, says a lot and speaks to the strength of Future and his music right now. The opening track, ‘Thought It Was a Drought’ encompasses all of what Future’s sound is about, and it just continues throughout the album. It’s a haze of dirty sprite, autotune, alcohol, partying, and the essence of much rap music nowadays; excess. To me, the production and mixing used throughout the entire album, combined with the hazy lyricism, is of less importance in comparison to the delivery. That’s where Future shines and it also fits in with the wider debate on lyricism vs delivery that recently sprouted up regarding Drake. It raised the question of whether one can be a great artist if their delivery was their main strength ahead of their lyrics. While this is an important question, Future’s sound is so addictive, that any track I hear him on instantly becomes a banger.
They appeal best to Future’s new target audience, and fit in excellently among the new school Future’s discography
While I hold that the album is strong throughout, it particularly spices up after track nine; ‘Slave Master’. A contentious title I know, but the tune itself is of a darker, greyer hue, especially in comparison to the earlier tracks on the album. While tracks such as ‘Groupies’ and ‘Lil One’ are livelier, this makes them instantly more forgettable to me up against this particular track. Future really shines on tracks like ‘Colossal’, ‘Real Sisters’ and ‘Commas’. They appeal best to Future’s new target audience, and fit in excellently among the new school Future’s discography. In this humble writer’s opinion, the album is a 10/10 simply for the replayability!
Shaun Brewster
H8ter
Amongst a flurry of hip-hop releases this year, Future has managed to carve himself quite a niche in the midst of a hype cycle that looks from afar more like a tornado. He did it through sheer quantity -releasing free mixtapes Beast Mode and 56 Nights this year alone. These projects almost compensated for the earache that way his 2013 release Honest; which did at least boast a nice guest verse from Pusha-T. His much anticipated third project is here though; and it’s filled top to toe with codeine, xanax and boasts. But as could be predicted from someone who seems to produce so much quantity, the quality on the record suffers – and the music offers little to substantiate his claims. At one point he refers to himself as Future Hendrix which, given the mammoth talent of the later artist in comparison to the minor inconvenience of the former, should be considered nothing short of a hate crime. It’s hard to see such a hotly-hyped record like this as anything other than a disappointment.
At the start of the Drake-featuring ‘Where Ya At’ Future tries to mumble something or other but doesn’t even finish his sentence. This is pretty much the manifesto of the record; Future can’t be arsed to enunciate on this thing, he’s normally half a twix short of a bar – and even then lathers his vocals in auto-tune so that what makes it on wax resembles Hitchhikers Guide’s depressed robot Marvin – bladdered. Future is supposedly famed for his hooks but there’s an absence of those here; ‘Blow A Bag’ is the big first single and the hook is literally just the words “I blow a bag today” eight times with a different rap-cliché after every repeat. Drake spits the most dynamic verse on the album, which is when you know you’re diving into a bit of a hip-hop dead zone.
The only personality that comes across on the record is that of boredom…
If every rapper was a modern day preacher then the beauty of the genre would be chopped short at the knees – Run The Jewels, Freeway, A$AP Mob – there are artists of the new generation who talk mostly of little but 90’s gangster rap excess, but do it with wit and dynamism… The problem with Future is that he has neither of these things. The only personality that comes across on the record is that of boredom; the embodiment and personification of the colour beige. A$AP Ferg cannot be taken seriously; revelling in the ignorance of his bars. Without those things Future is humourless, repetitive and dull.
The instrumentals on the record on the other hand are mostly great. The elevator-imitating ‘ding’ of ‘Blow A Bag’ is a nice left-field touch amongst the trendy beats and the piano at the start of the following ‘Colossal’ is incredibly soulful and eases into a fine summer beat on one of the albums best tracks. Producer Metro Booming is a Future go-to, and has also leant his talents to the likes of Migos, Young Thug and Travi$ Scott… in other words it’s he, not Future, who should be credited with the trending codeine-rap movement.
Drugs really bring this project down – because Future never stops talking about them
The problem is that putting Future on these beats is like topping off an extra-spicy Chilli with shampoo – he neuters their power entirely; his ability to sap the energy out of almost every bump-in-the-whip track here is unparalleled. You can’t even vibe to these songs anymore, the sperm-whale mating call that is Future’s flow often off-beat all over them, and really hurts any background value these track may have had. Also: it’s a nice touch to pay respect to recently deceased A$AP Yams with whom Future had a little affiliation but it’s hard not see the way it’s delivered, with Future claiming that “I’m on that codeine right now” both incredibly ignorant but also, considering Yams died of an overdose of the same drug, offputtingly disrespectful too.
Overall, its drugs that really bring this project down – because Future never stops talking about them; and makes them sound rather unexciting in the process, especially considered it did whatever that thing is to his voice. There’s little to take from this record – beyond some nice production, a few solid tracks like ‘Groupies’, ‘Rich $ex’, ‘Colossal’ and ‘Blood on The Money’, and the fact that it’s quite short. But if drugs really are this big a deal to Future then I suggest he direct himself towards rehab, find something more entertaining to say about them, and try again sober.
Liam Inscoe – Jones
Shaun is currently listening to ‘Where Are Ü Now’ by Jack Ü.
Liam is currently listening to ‘White Range’ by Freddie Gibbs.
