Future consistently takes trap music to other dimensions. Discographies as strong as his are few and far between — he’s been making anthems since his 2012 debut album, “Pluto.” As he became more of a trapstar-turned-rapper, Future revealed the recipe for the perfect trap album: a loose rhyme cadence, the strongest producer for your vision and a few ounces of misogyny. In its mass adornment, his 2015 album “DS2” straddled the line between legally tongue-in-cheek rap music and radio selections. In 2022, company picnics are a RapCaviar-selection away from hearing Future rap about moving cocaine across the country. Seven years after “DS2,” Future marks another checkpoint with “I NEVER LIKED YOU.”
While recording “DS2” with Metro Boomin, one of his most compatible producers, Future shot for an album with no features (with Drake as the sole exception). He was polishing his rap style for bigger audiences, the competition was getting sharper and the rising internet set a fire underneath every rapper to find their innovative voice — experimenting with catchy ear worms that would spark media flames. He was hungry and you heard it in every track.
But that was seven years ago. Since then, Future has been nominated for four Grammys and has become one of the most prolific rappers we’ve ever heard. Like Young Thug, Future’s taken a backseat in recent years and yielded his album space to more collaborators. Moreover, he’s released collaboration albums with Drake, Juice WRLD and Lil Uzi Vert along with his consistent solo work.
He can afford to relax now, but the eleven features on “I NEVER LIKED YOU” stifle the album’s runtime more than it supports. Misses like “KEEP IT BURNIN (feat. Kanye West)” and “IM ON ONE (feat. Drake)” run frivolously, begging why a track from the vault couldn’t have been selected for the final cut. The former employs Kanye’s popular 2021-era drill snares and drops the kicks that underline every Future anthem for nonsecular raps; the latter keeps your favorite percussive tropes but Drake’s vocal inflection sounds more slothful than it does exciting. The laziness brings more attention to lyrical content, which doesn’t offer much beyond words to toss money to.
These days, you’re more likely to hear an album filled with Future’s favorite emcees rapping with him more than a stylistically Future-specific one. That said, collaboration at Future’s level also succeeds in recognizing artists that are relevant and sonically agreeable. Gunna, EST Gee and Young Scooter find great pockets to rhyme — collaboration highlights rappers that are compatible with Future’s recipe for success. Considering the 2020 high point, “High Off Life,” Future still has star power when he raps alone — he’s just choosing to be strategic with what he does. Opening himself up to incompatibilities and awkwardness is his way of paying it forward to the industry.
Half of “I NEVER LIKED YOU” is produced by ATL Jacob, a rising producer in Atlanta working with more heavyweights in the rap scene. Another reason for the album’s periodic awkwardness is ATL Jacob’s productive signature altering what we’re used to hearing on a Future album. Most of what fans know and love from Future’s work was produced by Metro Boomin, DJ Esco, Sony Digital or Zaytoven. The rolling drums and otherworldly synth samples connect all four producers to make a coherent signature style for the rapper.
But ATL Jacob’s production fronts the sample a bit more than the rest, leaving the heavy lifting to Future’s raps when it’s usually a shared effort. TM88, another popular trap producer, demonstrates an ideal beat-bar relationship on “PUFFIN ON ZOOTIEZ” and “AFFILIATED (feat. Lil Durk).” The beat works just as hard as the lyrics do, the effect keeping your head bobbing more than raising questions about the lyrics. As spread out as the production credits may be, ATL Jacob’s younger tonal bond with Future shows its age enough to affect the work altogether. Hopefully the two collaborate more often to unlock newer possibilities for rap music, but “I NEVER LIKED YOU” tries to walk before it’s able to crawl.
Future’s never been known to be a super incisive writer, but that’s not why everybody listens to him. Future’s lyrical content played a big role in building his career. His popularity in disseminating these raps allows a huge influence on his listeners whenever the beat brings attention to the raps themselves. It was hard walking around after 2015 and ignoring the rise in Gucci flip flops after he rapped, “I just f*cked your b*tch in some Gucci flip flops” on the “DS2’’ opener, “Thought It Was a Drought.”
Rap is guilty of perpetuating nasty, dangerous mindsets about women to an audience of predominantly younger men, and Future’s music excels at doing this on the biggest stages conceivable. “Stepped all in mud, this b*tch can’t wait to tie my shoelace / Oh, she don’t like girls, bet this money make a b*tch so gay” brings you in to this latest album and doubles down on an attitude that objectifies women at the most ignorant level imaginable. It’s an unlikely coincidence that “MASSAGING ME” operates on a homonymic level to the pronunciation of “misogyny,” boasting about a woman massaging him after living a life as emotionally distant to her as possible. Similar misogynistic streaks make the album difficult to enjoy.
Future’s reputation as the “toxic rapper” reigns true in “I NEVER LIKED YOU” but unlike “DS2,” there isn’t a gleaming crowd of young teenagers latching on to every word. The same kids that listened to “DS2” as the first wave of Future stans have grown up enough to understand that misogynistic lyrics are less favorable than effortful ones. This album isn’t anywhere near his others in stream numbers and the continual misogyny plays a large part in that.
No one can deny Future’s prowess as a hit maker, but “I NEVER LIKED YOU” provides a closer look at what’s working underneath the seamless hits. Listening to a Future album that doesn’t carry the infectious appeal welcomes a diagnostic evaluation of who Future is today, his place in the rap game and how he’s gotten this far in the first place. There’s no real incentive for Future to change his approach and “I NEVER LIKED YOU” seeks fun more than anything else. In doing so, it reveals that the cost of such fun is a lackluster album and yet another middle finger to women.
Mason Stoutamire is an Entertainment Staff Writer. He can be reached at mstoutam@uci.edu.