Atlanta rapper conjures up another set of hits
Filled with hard hitting beats from the likes of ATL Jacob, Southside, and the up-and-coming Tay Keith, The WIZRD contains its fair share of excellent production to match Future’s trap-filled and melodic flow. Future has had an amazing few years, releasing numerous studio albums and collaborative projects. One could assume it would be hard to top them all, yet Future creates an album that attracts both sides of his fan base.
With 20 tracks, he showcases his R&B skills in many of the songs, a skill that he perfected on his 2016 album release, HNDRXX. In the first song of the album, “Never Stop,” Future discusses the pain he’s felt and the adversities he’s faced in his life. In the song, he raps about his very public divorce from his ex-wife, R&B singer Ciara Harris: “You get rich and have problems that you never thought / It brings tears knowin’ we came out the same block.”
Future uses autotune to create songs like “Crushed Up,” “F&N,” and “First Off,” a major difference compared to his much slower rhythmic-leaning songs on the album, such as “Promise U That.”
The underlying theme of The WIZRD is about a comeback. On his previous studio album we heard Future rap about the mistakes he made in his life. Here, Future raps about the glorious life he lives. On “First Off,” Future raps: “Louis V belts, Louis V on my walls,” and Travis Scott raps: “Used to spend checks on my Nikes, now they pay me.” My only criticism of the album is that many of his songs following the same repetitive beats and follow a cookie cutter approach to catchy songs, which left me wanting to skip many of the songs during my first listening.
The album combines the R&B capabilities of Future as well his deep trap roots to create a thrilling album. Even with its lack of imagination, Future releases an album that manages to keep me asking for more and that’s a good sign of what’s to come. This album is a strict “stream it,” — not quite worthy of a vinyl purchase, but not a radio-only listen either.