Future - Future Hndrxx Presents The WIZRD: Review
Future,
is the widely successful and hugely influential pseudonym of Nayvadius Wilburn, an Atlanta trap rapper who has played a huge role in defining movements of popular rap culture in the second half of this decade. His early projects Pluto and Honest put him on the map and resulted in his underwhelming selection as a XXL freshman in 2012. But on the back of some hugely successful singles Future had a 2015 for the ages. His 56 Nights mixtape, the collaborative mixtape with Zaytoven Beast Mode, his biggest and most acclaimed commercial album DS2 and a hugely popular collaborative album with Drake What A Time To Be Alive all combined for one of the most dominant years in recent memory by a popular artist. Since then it has been harder and harder to consider Future groundbreaking or as influential an artist as he once was. 2017 saw Future struggling with the very average HNDRXX and and bloated and lacking FUTURE and even his more quiet 2018 didn't do wonders to reassure that Future would return to commercial success and critical acclaim. After the singles Crushed Up and Jumpin On A Jet became moderate successes the potential for a solid release was certainly there, but The Wizrd's 20 track and hour plus run-time dilutes any success he may have found.
Review By Lav:
First things first I think I should let anyone reading this know that I am not Future's target audience. Even though I enjoy the hits of his trap contemporaries and while I am willing to recognize the incredible influence he has his music has never once floored me. I wrote a mediocre review of his most successful and acclaimed album DS2 shortly after it came out and it was the moment that i realized Future didn't align with my taste in music and I just have to be okay with that. Even when he drops a song that I really enjoy, as he has been known to do here and there they are never what takes off and never what I find other critics praising. Great tracks like Blood On The Money, Hallucinations or last years Wifi Lit probably don't eclipse most fans top 10 Future tracks, so whatever the reception of this project is I am fully prepared to stand in the line of fire and defend for the opposite if necessary. For this review of a large project I've decided to split up my takes into three sections starting with good tracks, then following that with forgettable tracks and closing with the straight up bad and effortless outings.
Good Tracks:
Jumpin On A Jet the albums second single still sounds just as solid as it did last week, its a brief track full of catchy refrains that Future uses just enough times to get the most out of them without it wearing thin, this was the formula I was hoping for going into the album. Overdose is another slick track that comes at you fast and doesn't overstay its welcome, it also features one of the best flows Future drops on the entire project.
Temptation is a track that brings an interesting humanity to what Future is saying, even through the guise of his typical lyrical style the song comes out on the other end pretty successfully. Its outro also breaks up a touch of the monotony of the albums flow.
F&N rides the thin line between a good and forgettable song but thankfully contains a fantastic beat switch-up in its second half that transitions into what may be my favorite sequence on the whole album in the songs explosive and energizing second half.
Back to back tracks Goin Dummi and First Off are protypical trap bangers but they achieve exactly what they set out for and it wouldn't surprise me at all if one of them ends up being a big hit. Travis Scotts contribution to First Off is one of the highlights of the album.
Forgettable Tracks:
At under two minutes Rocket Ship blends completely into the mix of the albums many tracks and seems to come off as an attempt by Future to just say "I've been poppin since my demo bitch" a few times. Talk Shit Like A Preacher has a similar vibe of one good lyric or refrain turning into a half-hearted song. Go on and add Krazy But True and Ain't Comin Back to the list as well.
Crushed Up on the other hand does give the impression that Future is trying but in a way that doesn't really provide anything unique or interesting and doesn't really have a great tune at its core. Good beat and production work carry it through its short run time. Stick To The Models and Faceshot also exist in this plane of utter averageness.
Baptize starts with the same issues the opener has where Future falls behind the beat but the song takes off in its second half, straight after this song we get into Unicorn Purp one of the longer tracks on the album and one of the only two with featured guest vocals, Future goes on for far too long repeating a decent flow, and then Young Thug and Gunna trade off queues for a decent sound-alike verse to close the track.
Bad Tracks:
Unfortunately the albums nearly 5 minute long introduction track lands here as it makes a rough first impression. With length being one of the big things worrying me about this project Never Stop's complete lack of any instrumental development and Future falling behind the beat within the first minute place it firmly in a hard to vouch for introduction.
Call The Coroner for all the macho bravado it puts on in its kingpin analogies and provocative title may be the worst offense in the entire tracklist. Future sticks to this awful slant rhymed flow for almost the full 2 minutes in a song with a dry and repetitive beat and containing numerous instances of serious lacking on the part of lyrics, even by trap music standards this song just lacks everything. Servin Killa Kam later on in the tracklist provides a scary moment of deja vu, on display are many of the same offenses.
Promise U That is a basic trap melody turned into a 3 and a half minute song that contains some of Future's "buttery smooth" singing voice and evokes nightmares of some of the least sexy moments on HNDRXX. A decent hook is not even close to enough to save this track from mediocrity.
And unfortunately the albums closer Tricks On Me also manages to land here with some of the goofiest lyrics of Future's entire career and one of the driest beats on the entire album, his performance is actually solid and deserves better backing than this.
So that was all very rigid and technical but it is as much a tool for me to collect my thoughts as it is a review to be read. I needed a way to visualize just how middle of the road this project can be. Looking back on it I almost feel like I had an enjoyable experience but I know that's becase these tracks blend together so badly in a horribly samey way that I can't help but only remember what stood out to me as positive. What the format of this review shows is that Future has far more misses than hits throughout this far to lengthy project, his best songs fall short of rivaling his contemporaries, Travis Scott drops the best verse on the album, a majority of it is very formulaic and forgettable, and about a quarter of the album feels like nobody even tried when putting it together. Given all these factors I am more than comfortable giving Future a 4/10 and declaring this as yet another entry in the long series of speed bumps on Future's neglected road to critical acclaim.
Review By Lav:
First things first I think I should let anyone reading this know that I am not Future's target audience. Even though I enjoy the hits of his trap contemporaries and while I am willing to recognize the incredible influence he has his music has never once floored me. I wrote a mediocre review of his most successful and acclaimed album DS2 shortly after it came out and it was the moment that i realized Future didn't align with my taste in music and I just have to be okay with that. Even when he drops a song that I really enjoy, as he has been known to do here and there they are never what takes off and never what I find other critics praising. Great tracks like Blood On The Money, Hallucinations or last years Wifi Lit probably don't eclipse most fans top 10 Future tracks, so whatever the reception of this project is I am fully prepared to stand in the line of fire and defend for the opposite if necessary. For this review of a large project I've decided to split up my takes into three sections starting with good tracks, then following that with forgettable tracks and closing with the straight up bad and effortless outings.
Good Tracks:
Jumpin On A Jet the albums second single still sounds just as solid as it did last week, its a brief track full of catchy refrains that Future uses just enough times to get the most out of them without it wearing thin, this was the formula I was hoping for going into the album. Overdose is another slick track that comes at you fast and doesn't overstay its welcome, it also features one of the best flows Future drops on the entire project.
Temptation is a track that brings an interesting humanity to what Future is saying, even through the guise of his typical lyrical style the song comes out on the other end pretty successfully. Its outro also breaks up a touch of the monotony of the albums flow.
F&N rides the thin line between a good and forgettable song but thankfully contains a fantastic beat switch-up in its second half that transitions into what may be my favorite sequence on the whole album in the songs explosive and energizing second half.
Back to back tracks Goin Dummi and First Off are protypical trap bangers but they achieve exactly what they set out for and it wouldn't surprise me at all if one of them ends up being a big hit. Travis Scotts contribution to First Off is one of the highlights of the album.
Forgettable Tracks:
At under two minutes Rocket Ship blends completely into the mix of the albums many tracks and seems to come off as an attempt by Future to just say "I've been poppin since my demo bitch" a few times. Talk Shit Like A Preacher has a similar vibe of one good lyric or refrain turning into a half-hearted song. Go on and add Krazy But True and Ain't Comin Back to the list as well.
Crushed Up on the other hand does give the impression that Future is trying but in a way that doesn't really provide anything unique or interesting and doesn't really have a great tune at its core. Good beat and production work carry it through its short run time. Stick To The Models and Faceshot also exist in this plane of utter averageness.
Baptize starts with the same issues the opener has where Future falls behind the beat but the song takes off in its second half, straight after this song we get into Unicorn Purp one of the longer tracks on the album and one of the only two with featured guest vocals, Future goes on for far too long repeating a decent flow, and then Young Thug and Gunna trade off queues for a decent sound-alike verse to close the track.
Bad Tracks:
Unfortunately the albums nearly 5 minute long introduction track lands here as it makes a rough first impression. With length being one of the big things worrying me about this project Never Stop's complete lack of any instrumental development and Future falling behind the beat within the first minute place it firmly in a hard to vouch for introduction.
Call The Coroner for all the macho bravado it puts on in its kingpin analogies and provocative title may be the worst offense in the entire tracklist. Future sticks to this awful slant rhymed flow for almost the full 2 minutes in a song with a dry and repetitive beat and containing numerous instances of serious lacking on the part of lyrics, even by trap music standards this song just lacks everything. Servin Killa Kam later on in the tracklist provides a scary moment of deja vu, on display are many of the same offenses.
Promise U That is a basic trap melody turned into a 3 and a half minute song that contains some of Future's "buttery smooth" singing voice and evokes nightmares of some of the least sexy moments on HNDRXX. A decent hook is not even close to enough to save this track from mediocrity.
And unfortunately the albums closer Tricks On Me also manages to land here with some of the goofiest lyrics of Future's entire career and one of the driest beats on the entire album, his performance is actually solid and deserves better backing than this.
So that was all very rigid and technical but it is as much a tool for me to collect my thoughts as it is a review to be read. I needed a way to visualize just how middle of the road this project can be. Looking back on it I almost feel like I had an enjoyable experience but I know that's becase these tracks blend together so badly in a horribly samey way that I can't help but only remember what stood out to me as positive. What the format of this review shows is that Future has far more misses than hits throughout this far to lengthy project, his best songs fall short of rivaling his contemporaries, Travis Scott drops the best verse on the album, a majority of it is very formulaic and forgettable, and about a quarter of the album feels like nobody even tried when putting it together. Given all these factors I am more than comfortable giving Future a 4/10 and declaring this as yet another entry in the long series of speed bumps on Future's neglected road to critical acclaim.
