Future’s career has reached its plateau. He’s still popular, still relevant, still scoring hits, and rap, as it exists now, has been remade in his image, with at least three artists on the Billboard charts making their name out of repurposed bits of his style. But the minute you’ve peaked, rap music starts waiting impatiently for you to disappear. Many rappers before Future have faced this moment—T.I. in 2007, Kanye West in 2015—where, as far as their public is concerned, their hero’s story is concluded and they are free to cede the stage. It’s a difficult corner to fight your way out of: There is no obvious adversary and you are still revered around the world. But all that lavish praise must begin to feel suspiciously like someone throwing your retirement party for you.
Future Hndrxx Presents: The WIZRD, Future’s first full-length studio album since 2017’s dual chart-toppers FUTURE and HNDRXX, isn't the first time you sense the relentlessly productive and innovative artist might be treading water. But it is one of the first moments you could be forgiven for wondering when rap’s remorseless current might finally leave him behind. Over the album’s 20 tracks, we are offered top-shelf or near-top-shelf versions of a variety of Future staples: The grinding and amoral banger (“Baptiize,” “Faceshot”); the strangely melancholy anthem about how lonely it feels to customize your Bentley (“Ain’t Coming Back”). The production is muted, minor-key, and consistently beautiful, conjuring the familiar Future Moods: rain-streaked neon signs, drug-induced stupors inside of clubs at 3 a.m. If you are content to live inside this lonely little world Future has made, he is still keeping it nice for you.
| 1 | Never Stop |
| 2 | Jumpin on a Jet |
| 3 | Rocket Ship |
| 4 | Temptation |
| 5 | Crushed Up |
| 6 | F&N |
| 7 | Call The Coroner |
| 8 | Talk Shit Like A Preacher |
| 9 | Promise U That |
| 10 | Stick To The Models |
| 11 | Overdose |
| 12 | Krazy But True |
| 13 | Servin Killa Kam |
| 14 | Baptiize |
| 15 | Unicorn Purp |
| 16 | Goin Dummi |
| 17 | First Off |
| 18 | Faceshot |
| 19 | Ain't Coming Back |
| 20 | Tricks On Me |
