''Future'' (stylized on digital releases in
all caps
In typography, all caps (short for "all capitals") refers to text or a font in which all letters are capital letters, for example: "THIS TEXT IS IN ALL CAPS". All caps may be used for emphasis (for a word or phrase). They are commonly seen in ...
) is the fifth studio album by American rapper
Future
The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently ...
. It was released on February 17, 2017, by
A1 Recordings
Rodney Ramone Hill Jr. (born December 28, 1979), better known by his stage name Rocko, is an American rapper.
Rocko released his first and only major studio album, ''Self Made (album), Self Made'', in 2008 through a joint venture with Island R ...
,
Freebandz
Freebandz is an American record label founded by American rapper Future (rapper), Future. The label's releases are distributed through Epic Records.
History 2011–2012: We Global
Freebandz was founded by Future. Future signed a major label deal ...
and
Epic Records
Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America
Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...
.
The album features production by
Metro Boomin
Leland Tyler Wayne (born September 16, 1993), professionally known as Metro Boomin, is an American record producer, record executive, beatmaker, and DJ. He is known for his dark production style and its influence on modern hip hop and trap.
R ...
,
Zaytoven
Xavier Lamar Dotson (born January 12, 1980), professionally known as Zaytoven, is an American trap music record producer, disc jockey, and keyboardist from Atlanta, Georgia. He has released collaborative projects with artists including Gucci Ma ...
,
DJ Khaled
Khaled Mohammed Khaled (born November 26, 1975), known professionally as DJ Khaled, is an American DJ, record executive, record producer and rapper.
Khaled first gained recognition as a radio host in the 1990s on the radio station WEDR, 99 Ja ...
, The Beat Bully,
Southside Southside or South Side may refer to:
Places
Australia
* Southside, Queensland, a semi-rural locality in the Gympie Region
Canada
* South Side, Newfoundland and Labrador, a community in the St. George's Bay area on the southwest coast of New ...
, alongside production from other members of
808 Mafia
808 Mafia is an American record production and songwriting team, founded by record producers Southside, TM88, and Lex Luger. Southside is currently at the helm of the group. The group also includes producers Young Miami , Fuse 100, Tarentino, P ...
such as
DY,
Fuse
Fuse or FUSE may refer to:
Devices
* Fuse (electrical), a device used in electrical systems to protect against excessive current
** Fuse (automotive), a class of fuses for vehicles
* Fuse (hydraulic), a device used in hydraulic systems to protect ...
,
Tarentino and
Tre Pounds. The album was supported by three singles: "
Draco
Draco is the Latin word for serpent or dragon.
Draco or Drako may also refer to:
People
* Draco (lawgiver) (from Greek: Δράκων; 7th century BC), the first lawgiver of ancient Athens, Greece, from whom the term ''draconian'' is derived
* D ...
", "
Mask Off
A mask is an object normally worn on the face, typically for protection, disguise, performance, or entertainment and often they have been employed for rituals and rights. Masks have been used since antiquity for both ceremonial and practi ...
" and "Extra Luv".
Background
The eponymously titled album was announced through social media on February 14, 2017. Future then followed up by posting on social media moments after.
Singles
"
Draco
Draco is the Latin word for serpent or dragon.
Draco or Drako may also refer to:
People
* Draco (lawgiver) (from Greek: Δράκων; 7th century BC), the first lawgiver of ancient Athens, Greece, from whom the term ''draconian'' is derived
* D ...
" was released as the first single from the album on February 21, 2017. The song debuted and peaked at number 46 on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100.
"
Mask Off
A mask is an object normally worn on the face, typically for protection, disguise, performance, or entertainment and often they have been employed for rituals and rights. Masks have been used since antiquity for both ceremonial and practi ...
" was released as the second single on April 18, 2017. The song peaked at number five on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100.
"Extra Luv" was released as the third single on June 30, 2017 after being included as a streaming bonus track on the deluxe edition of the album. The single features a guest appearance from rapper
YG.
The song "
Used to This
"Used to This" is a song by American rapper Future. It was released on November 4, 2016, by Freebandz and Epic Records, as the intended lead single from his then-unreleased mixtape '' Beast Mode 2'' (2018), however, it was later included on the ...
" featuring
Drake
Drake may refer to:
Animals
* A male duck
People and fictional characters
* Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name
* Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
* ...
, which was previously released as a single on November 4, 2016, was also included on the deluxe edition.
Critical reception
''Future'' received positive reviews from critics. At
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, which assigns a
normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an
average
In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...
score of 67, based on 15 reviews.
Riley Wallace of ''
Exclaim!
''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...
'' wrote, "With exciting production that features his usual cast of
ATL tastemakers who are (in some cases) paired with surprising co-producers like
Jake One
Jacob Brian Dutton (born May 11, 1976), known professionally as Jake One, is an American record producer and songwriter.Palermo, Thomas (2008)Jake One Readies New Album, XLR8R, September 5, 2008Matos, Michaelangelo (2004)Rocketship Blowing Up, Se ...
and
!llmind, Future has crafted an opus full of bangers. So, while he doesn't break much new creative ground, there's a lot to love about ''Future''."
Jordan Sargent of ''
Spin
Spin or spinning most often refers to:
* Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning
* Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis
* Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...
'' dubbed it "a clear return to form".
Colin Groundwater for ''Pretty Much Amazing'' stated that "Future is too persistent. In striving for consistency, he sacrifices discretion and intention. One wishes he would take a break—God knows he's earned it. Some time might allow for a stronger sense of intention."
Writing for ''
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...
'', Alex Macpherson concluded, "...
ndas a body of work, this album is neither an elevation over nor an advancement of his stream of recent material. At this point, merely shoring up his personal brand with scattered highlights means that Future is stuck in a holding pattern."
Chase McMullen, an author for ''The 405'', said, "In a genre that's hard on longevity, and an era with an even shorter attention span, Future has refused to lose, time and again. He certainly doesn't end here. Yet, after a year of baited breathing, we seem to have arrived at an in-between. There's still plenty of fun to be had in the waiting room, but let's hope he has more in store for the next appointment."
Sheldon Pearce of ''
Pitchfork
A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves.
The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...
'', noted the album for being "...an ambitious Future exhibition" with "a pretty interesting array of textures, sonically."
Commercial performance
''Future'' debuted at number one on the
''Billboard'' 200 with 140,000
album-equivalent unit
The album-equivalent unit, or album equivalent, is a measurement unit in music industry to define the consumption of music that equals the purchase of one album copy. This consumption includes streaming and song downloads in addition to traditi ...
s, of which 60,000 were pure album sales.
It became Future's fourth number-one album following ''DS2'', ''What a Time to Be Alive'' with Drake, and ''Evol''.
As of September 27, 2017, the album has moved 902,000 album-equivalent units.
On July 14, 2017, the album was certified
Platinum
Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver".
Platinu ...
by the
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
(RIAA) for combined sales album-equivalent units of over a million units in the United States.
ture/, title=Here are the Full Album Credits for Future's Self-Titled Album, publisher=
The Fader
''The Fader'' (stylized as ''FADER'') is a magazine based in New York City that was launched in 1999 by Rob Stone and Jon Cohen. The magazine covers music, style and culture. It was the first print publication to be released on iTunes.
It is o ...
, access-date=February 18, 2017 and
Tidal
Tidal is the adjectival form of tide.
Tidal may also refer to:
* ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple
* Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim
* TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music
* Tidal (servic ...
.
Notes
* signifies a co-
producer
* signifies an additional producer
Sample credits
* "Mask Off" contains
samples of the song "Prison Song" by Tommy Butler.
* "Might As Well" contains sampled elements of the song "
Owl
Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...
", written by
Edwin Butler,
William Butler,
Régine Chassagne
Régine Alexandra Chassagne (; born 19 August 1976) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, musician, and multi-instrumentalist, and is a member of the band Arcade Fire. She is married to co-founder Win Butler.
Early life and career
Régine Alexandr ...
,
Jeremy Gara
Jeremy Gara (born June 6, 1978) is a Canadian drummer from Ottawa, Ontario. He is most well known as the drummer of the band Arcade Fire. Gara is an active performer in a number of other projects, including work as a solo performer.
Career
Ga ...
,
Tim Kingsbury
Tim Kingsbury (born 1977) is a Canadian musician and member of the indie rock band Arcade Fire. He plays bass guitar, guitar, and occasionally keyboards.
Early life
Kingsbury spent his early years living in and around Guelph, Ontario. He comes ...
,
Richard Parry and
Owen Pallett
Michael James Owen Pallett (born September 7, 1979) is a Canadian composer, violinist, keyboardist, and vocalist. Under their erstwhile moniker of Final Fantasy, Pallett won the 2006 Polaris Music Prize for the album ''He Poos Clouds''. Pallet ...
, and performed by
Arcade Fire
Arcade Fire is a Canadian indie rock band, consisting of husband and wife Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, alongside Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury and Jeremy Gara. The band's current touring line-up also includes former core member S ...
.
Personnel
Credits adapted from The Fader
and Tidal.
Technical
* Joshua Sellers – recording
*
Noah Shebib
Noah ''Nukh''; am, ኖህ, ''Noḥ''; ar, نُوح '; grc, Νῶε ''Nôe'' () is the tenth and last of the pre-Flood patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5– ...
– recording
* Noel Cadastre – recording
* Eric Manco – mixing , recording
*
DJ Esco
William Seay Moore (born December 31, 1990) known professionally as DJ Esco, is an American DJ, record producer, and record executive.
Career
A resident DJ at Magic City Mondays in Atlanta, Moore has worked as a DJ and A&R representative for ...
– mixing
*
Seth Firkins
Seth Chaim Firkins (August 5, 1981 – September 23, 2017) was an American audio engineer. Firkins engineered songs for artists such as Rihanna, Future, Young Thug, Jay-Z, Trina, Ciara, and Gucci Mane.
Career
Firkins was exposed at an early a ...
– mixing , recording
*
Jaycen Joshua
Jaycen Joshua is a mix engineer and music producer who owns the revered Canton House Studios in Studio City, California. Joshua started his mix career in 2005 when he became partners with his mentor Dave Pensado and formed The Penua Project. Joshu ...
– mixing
* Mike Symphony – mixing assistance
* Phillip "Big Dockz" Cromwell – mixing assistance
* David Nakaji – mixing assistance
* Ivan Jimenez – mixing assistance
* Glenn Schick – mastering
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Decade-end charts
Certifications
Release history
References
{{Authority control
2017 albums
Future (rapper) albums
Albums produced by Zaytoven
Albums produced by Southside (record producer)
Albums produced by Metro Boomin
Albums produced by DJ Khaled
Albums produced by Jake One
Albums produced by Detail (record producer)