Future – Purple Reign

Future’s 'Purple Reign' mixtape suddenly fell out of the sky one day and the fans are still processing it....
Future : Purple Reign
8.9 Free Bandz
2016 

Future : Purple ReignFuture’s Purple Reign mixtape suddenly fell out of the sky one day and the fans are still processing it, having just recovered from What a Time To Be Alive, which was like a mythical collaboration between two super-gods. Here we have some quick Drake vocal cameos, production credits from Zaytoven and Metro Boomin, all helmed capably by DJ Esco.

“All Right” is a very strong opener to get the vibe jumping, and “Wicked” features a confident, energetic flow. “Never Forget” is where the energy level doesn’t quite flag; it just brings that introspection onto the stage. Future’s voice is slightly slurred as he almost yells the chorus, trying to get his point across, explaining where he came from, and exactly why his blessings mean so much to him.

“Inside The Mattress” with its de rigueur trap narrative seems predictable for a radio single, and “Hater Shit” goes down smoothly enough. “Salute” is forgettable with its Migos-style flow and “Run U”’ just might actually cause amnesia. The Zaytoven-produced “Bye Bye” is a little bland, given the catchiness of his track “U Can’t” for Juicy J’s last mixtape, From O’s To Oscars.

“Drippin [How U Luv That]” has an infectious melody and a sound oddly like a church organ. The title of the song might make one expect a sex jam, but what he’s dripping here is pure ice. It’s an enjoyable brag anthem greatly boosted by future’s voice at its most persuasive. Southside-produced “No Charge” is a tempting, hedonistic mating call of prescription-pill chaos.

The arguable two best tracks on the mixtape – “Purple Reign” and “Perkys Calling”, also produced by Southside – are the most morose, featuring that emotional, delicately foggy piano sound that should instantly evoke Kanye West’s single “No New Friends” and has the same wistful appeal. We’re going to hear a lot of this sound in 2016, as it trickles upwards to the ears of the big-time hit-makers and becomes a legitimate sonic trend, if it hasn’t already.

Future can hit you in the feels. When he sings in “Perkys” that he can hear the work calling, hear the streets calling, one veritably feels the yearning in the solar plexus. In the chorus of ‘purple reign’, Future voices a sentiment that is arguably the scourge of this generation – a vague, undefined yet aching loneliness in the midst of such material plenty. “I just need my girlfriend,” he warbles plaintively, probably needing a good hug.

Here is the poignancy that seemed to set Future apart in critics’ eyes around the time Dirty Sprite 2 dropped. There were a glut of think pieces about his druggy lyrical content, personal problems, and the inexplicable magnetism of the dark side he exposes. It’s relatable – we don’t want our pop stars flawless and happy these days. Justin Bieber had to fall from grace in order to ascend to his princely throne. Future paid the price of addiction as painfully as the rest of those on the ground level who emulated what hip-hop glorified.

Future apparently connects to something more than the party urge. He is either an incredible actor playing the role of an emotionally open twenty-first century performer, or he is something else entirely, perhaps a surprisingly real artist who is driven, like all real ones, to manifest a raw and honest creation because he simply has to.

-Christa Sligar

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