Future - EVOL

Atlanta-native hip hop artist Future just released his third major album in under a year, other releases including 2015′s DS2 and his collaboration with Drake, What A Time To Be Alive. He also released a mixtape in January, entitled Purple Reign. With major releases one after another after the success of DS2, Future became the fastest hip hop artist to get three consecutive number one albums on the Billboard 100. Sadly, throughout all the hype, Future still can’t deliver much substance. EVOL continues his journey through success but also continues to saturate his sound.

Future’s music is catchy and good to vibe out too, that goes without saying. The problem with this album is that every beat sounds the same. It’s the same programmed 16th note hi-hat and snare hit in each song, with the deep underground beats doing essentially the same thing. Every song does have a different synth line on top of it that proves to be interesting at times. ‘Maybach’ has a particularly interesting synth line that sounds like they programmed an acoustic guitar progression over the synth. There are some big moments in the instrumentals, but that’s basically all of the good moments of the album. ‘Lil Haiti Baby’, the album’s success story, is pretty big with a big band section in the background blaring horns like it’s the theme song of “Rocky”. ‘Fly Shit Only’ has an interesting instrumental too it, as well, the only thing stopping the acoustic guitar backing from being great is the excessive clipping in it. ‘Seven Rings’ has a pretty thick beat and a great, atmospheric middle eastern bell vibe going on.

Another problem in much of Future’s music is that most of his raps lack any conviction. In songs like ‘Seven Rings’, he goes hard, rapping as if he believes in his message. Other songs such as ‘In Her Mouth’ just sound like he’s reading off a paper, without any message in his voice, as if he’s doing it just to get the payments in. He has an acceptable flow throughout his music that has come to characterize him, as well as his taking to minimalistic and distant instrumentals. He doesn’t like to edge away from his trademark flow and experiment, sadly. The album doesn’t contain much singing, except for in ‘Low Life’, where The Weeknd is featured. That would usually mean something huge, with one of 2015′s biggest artists guesting on your track. However, the lyrics don’t fit it at all. His singing is too sensual for the track and the words he’s getting across. Sampling wise there isn’t too much going on, besides the miserable use of the overused sample in ‘Lie To Me’ that automatically makes the song a failure.

Future’s new album EVOL is a blessing to Future fans, as they’re getting more new material than they can handle within the last year. Unfortunately, with this influx of music and a lack of experimentation, Future brings little to offer. There are some big tracks on the album and from a listener’s standpoint, it’s quite enjoyable is you take any track separately. Altogether, it just becomes boring and hard to get through. Hopefully Future takes some time to work on his next effort, in order to make his material more diverse.

Favorite Tracks: Fly Shit Only, Seven Rings, Lil Haiti Baby

Least Favorite Tracks: Lie To Me, Program, Xanny Family, Low Life

Rating: 4.5/10