What's Next for the Artist?
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two unreal albums in the span of a week... What’s next for the artist? Future’smay prove to be his‘HNDRXX’ masterpiece photo by Arkady Lifshits Our take on the rapper/singer’s second LP of 2017 cover photo by: The Come Up Show By Jeff Weiss Long before the lawsuits and the line of cowboy hats, crossover attempts, and a song with Kanye West com- ue by several million. Ciara and his old business partner Just one week after dropping a one-note self-titled album, the mixtape run, mainstream worship, and enough co- paring their greatest loves to lifeless golden statuettes. Rocko sued him. Russell Wilson got hexed by the curse Future f***** around and dropped what may prove to be his deine, perkys, and molly to throttle every glowsticked Sales bricked, Ciara and Future split, and the industry of Big Rube. And no one will ever look at a Gucci flip-flop masterpiece. HNDRXX is the highest incarnation of Future: bro at the Electric Daisy Carnival, Future planned to briefly exiled him to the no service purgatory where they the same way again. that alchemy of joy, drugs, and pain that makes you unsure follow up his debut Pluto with an album called Hendrix. stash Yelawolf. whether you want to cry or celebrate—probably both. It’s Then it looked like history might repeat itself. Last year’s as if Future realized that the best records he ever wrote In the interest of originality and delineating himself You know what happened next. Atlanta’s Nayvadius Wil- Purple Reign and Evol lacked carbonation—as though were “Codeine Crazy,” “You Deserve It,” “Body Party,” and from one of the first music legends to take acid and feel burn transformed into the monster, embarking on the Future had mastered the art of making #trapbangers the first draft of “Drunk in Love.” This album is crystallized good, Future eventually switched the title to Honest. greatest mixtape streak since Lil Wayne in the aughts to about drugs and fucking your girlfriend, but refused to and purposeful. Better than its reputation, his sophomore LP nonethe- become the hottest rapper who doesn’t speak Canadian. tap into the vulnerability and emotional complexities less suffered from tonal inconsistencies, awkward pop He redefined “March Madness” and boosted Sprite’s val- that made him so unique. Had he peaked creatively? cont. on page 6... “I want to be able to speak on how I’m living now, more so. I want to be authentic to what I am “Anytime you get a chance to get in the studio and create now, true to what I am, to be able to tell you, to get you from where you’re at, to get to where I with another artist, see what you can come out with, see am now, to this position…It’s like a fresh start. It’s just being different, being different from your how y’all feed off each other, inspire and motivate each environment and being able to embrace it, being able to own it, walk with confidence, and keep other…We made the most of the moment and captured a your head up. Be proud of the person you are and being different and embracing that you’re great vibe.” “I haven’t gotten to the point in my life where I can get to the Hendrix side and really make my “I never really talked about that moment, the whole thing. I never really fans understand it until now….They wasn’t ready. They wanted Future. They wanted me to be speak on it because it was just a vibe. It was just a moment in time, for the ratchet-est, to say the most disrespectful [expletive], and I understand that’s what music is.” me to share it with another artist. When I talk about it, I want to make sure he here. I’m at the point in my life right now, musically, where I’m just focused on creatively coming out with something special on my own.” “I want to go back into being more underground. Reconnecting with the fans, being more hands-on with my fans again, tweeting to fans, responding to things they want to know about.” “I don’t want to be attached to the What a Time to Be Alives or the Dirty Sprite 2s even though that’s me but that was something special. That was a moment. You feed off that en- ergy and feed off that momentum, because people are gon- “I don’t always want to say Dungeon Family because I’m gon’ always have to be compared to na always try to compare like, ‘Oh, it’s hotter than this.’ No, it’s everything that Dungeon Family was. I’m gonna have to be compared to everything that was two separate things. It’s a different lane. Hopefully this lane built off Dungeon Family…I don’t want to do that. That’s just my family, but it’s just not where I will be longer than the lane I created when I had that driving am, as far as my art, my process, my creativity, everything that goes along with Future.” force to put out those projects.” page 4 It’s no accident that Future is signed to the label of L.A. He’s doing hot yoga and seducing women with Aston Reid, who along with Babyface defined Atlanta’s first Martins, but he’s also anxious from the forced seclu- wave of hip-hop and R&B hybridization. sion of fame and the lustful tortures of monogamy. Like an Auto-Tune Bob Dylan, he’s repeatedly imploring his They’re side-by-side with interpolations of 2Pac and paramours to shut out the negativity of their friends, Jodeci. There’s the dazzlingly bright, future #1 single, don’t tell anyone a damn thing, and let their relation- “THE ALBUM IS A “Incredible,” which sounds like it should play in the end ship be a private world of their own. credits of a John Hughes ’80s movie (Weird Science starring Future and Esco—R.I.P. Bill Paxton). Rihanna For the first time, Future refuses to only dwell on his and the Weeknd pop up to offer superstar clout and own hurt and betrayal, and also chronicles his stress support. The production credits prominently feature over fame and geography separating him from family. Dre Moon and Detail, who composed and produced, He admires the view of the Pacific Ocean, but hates the GORGEOUS, nosiness of the Bel Air neighbors. He pleads with his “Drunk in Love.” woman to be shown “everything I need to see on my Lyrically speaking, the temptation to read for autobi- blind side,” but also “wants to be there for my dawgs… ography in HNDRXX is strong. It’s a gorgeous, deeply they need me.” felt articulation of romantic love and psychic ruin—a DEEPLY FELT full circle healing of the spurned and wounded savage There’s a raw, sublimated power in the way that HN- last seen clearly on “Hardly” and “Throw Away.” It’s the DRXX confronts the question of whether people can Future who once told me that “the angels of the earth really change. Can the Wizard, Future Hendrix, Super brought him and Ciara together,” but also the haunted Future, the trapper with the draco in his book bag real- villain apologizing for selling crack to pregnant ladies. ly settle down as a celebrity in Beverly Hills? Could he stay faithful, balance the streets and his roots without ARTICULATION letting them consume him? Can the “good girl” accept He’s still savvy, too, and attuned to the capitalistic ma- him for who he is without forcing him into changes chine that runs on gossip, mystique, and self-mythol- that will destroy his ability to make the music he be- ogy. The record starts with “My Collection,” where he lieves in? warbles, “She told me she was an angel, she f****** OF ROMANTIC LOVE two rappers and three singers.” On “Turn on Me,” The little details are all here: the $80,000 left in the he laments, “After I gave you this game, you never dresser after he hastily moved out; the 20-ounce steak should’ve let a lame hit.” He does everything but cackle that doesn’t fit on his plate (no answer to why he just about the Falcons victory and tell Russell Wilson that doesn’t have bigger plates); his wariness at doing hard he’s no longer an elite quarterback. drugs in a new city, lest the cops raid the tour bus and ruin his life; the pain at seeing them take away Morris AND Brown. But if HNDRXX was just another round of petty recrim- inations directed at a semi-anonymous ex, it wouldn’t be half as impressive. Instead, Future invites the lis- You can be a real one and occasionally lie. You can be tener into the pinstriped Bugatti, the shopping sprees, an angel, but still flash a fake streak for self-preserva- Paris trips, and seven star restaurants (because when tion. HNDRXX shows that everyone has the potential to PSYCHIC RUIN.” you are Future Hendrix, Michelin gives you an extra be both hero and villain. Even staggeringly powerful four stars just for dining there). love can be fleeting. - Jeff Weiss page 6 NY CHERRIES Forever USA NY GRAPES Forever USA NY PEARS Forever USA NY APPLES Forever USA NY NY NY NY CHERRIES GRAPES APPLES PEARS A TASTE OF Forever USA Forever USA Forever USA Forever USA NEW YORK designed by Rachel Schwartz NY NY NY NY CHERRIES GRAPES APPLES PEARS Forever USA Forever USA Forever USA Forever USA New York State’s success as a leader in agriculture is larely due to their fruit exports.