“The WIZRD” is a Musical Act of Rebellion
Future’s latest album challenges the norms of music and the whole music world
Azariah Joel
The Santa Clara
January 24, 2019
Future has defied the system
again by ignoring traditional album cycles. This past week, the beloved artist dropped a new album
just three months after “Wrld on
Drugs” was released. Future has
gained a reputation of releasing
two or more projects a year since
he started creating mixtapes about
a decade ago. “The WIZRD,” his
tenth album, arrived not too long
after the preview songs were released. Yet to my surprise, the album hasn’t gained much attention
in the media.
“The WIZRD” has about 20
songs—only two of which have
features. Future has explained the
meaning behind the title was based
on a nickname the late rapper OG
Double D gave him. Future then
began posting on Twitter, before
the album’s release, with snippets
of the project’s tracks which were
accompanied with a visual—some
of which featured the most iconic
wizards in pop culture: Lord Voldemort from “Harry Potter,” Saruman
from “The Lord of the Rings” and
“The Wizard of Oz.”
The album starts out with a
song titled “Never Stop” which
establishes a slow, melodic mood.
Predictably, Future dives right into
his drug addiction. He says, “Tryna
shake the devil, on promethazine/
Tryna show you love but you don’t
feel me.” With these lyrics, Future
references his promethazine addiction and discusses renouncing the
recreational drug—but of course,
he won’t.
Future creates a feeling of relatability for his listeners and how he
can’t shake his addiction to drugs.
This can be a powerful message to
others because he brings himself
down from the pedestal to level
with those who may be dealing
with the same struggles. Whether
it may be related to drugs or other
controversial subjects, Future raps
about realistic circumstances and
truths of life.
In the song titled “Rocket Ship”
Future’s first words are “Drankin’
lean, totin’ extendos.” He continues
into his second verse of mumble
rap saying “Cookin’ coke up, water
whip that sh*t, yeah.”
In a 2018 interview with Genius, Future talked about secretly
quitting “lean” (a popular drug) in
fear of backlash from fans: “I didn’t
wanna tell nobody I stopped drinking lean. Because then they’ll be
like, ‘Oh his music changed because
he ain’t drinking lean no more. I
can hear when he changed it. It just
be hard when your fans used to you
a certain kind of way, a certain persona. You be afraid to change.”
The irony of Future’s music is
that he admits to not being a drug
addict but his songs repeatedly talk
about his addiction to drugs. Future bluntly told Clique TV in an
interview that he lied about being
a drug dealer and isn’t afraid to be
honest about that.
The R&B industry is constantly
evolving and hip hop has changed
radically over time. Traditionally
in the 90s, rappers would talk about
selling drugs whereas now, rappers
talk about using them. Future is
known for being a drug user because of his music—something
that may be impossible to change
because of his fan base.
Almost every song in “The WIZRD” sounds exactly the same. The
lyrics may be different but the interpretations are the same. Trap
music revolves around money,
drugs (lots of drugs) and girls. It’s
difficult to understand what he’s
saying because it really does sound
like mumbling. I hesitate to categorize Future in the R&B genre and
think of him more like a phase or
an era. It will pass over time.
Future is more famously known
for being featured in other songs
and his collaborations with those
artists.
Although Future has been
consistent with his creations, his
album lacks creativity which has
been a pitfall for his previous albums. It’s rare to see a song trending by Future unless it is a hit single
another artist has released with his
voice featured. Songs like “King’s
Dead” or “Low Life” are two of his
most famous songs charting on the
Billboard list.
“The WIZRD” is good, but not
unique. None of the songs in the
album have made it to the Billboard
list and ratings say this album is
just another collection to add to
his other identical albums. Future
has talent, but I wouldn’t compare
him to other R&B artists such as 21
Savage, The Weeknd, Travis Scott,
Kendrick Lamar and many more.
Future’s motives for rap just
don’t seem genuine and he focuses
too much on what others perceive
him to be.
He falls into pitfalls common
in rap culture through his mumbling and his attempt to level with
his audience about the realities of
drugs despite being a drug addict.
But who can blame him when
we live in this culture of lost identity?
Contact Azariah Joel at ajoel@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4852.