''Purple Reign'' is the sixteenth

mixtape A mixtape (alternatively mix-tape, mix tape or mixed tape) is a compilation of music, typically from multiple sources, recorded onto a medium. With origins in the 1980s, the term normally describes a homemade compilation of music onto a cassette ...

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 ...

, hosted and executive-produced by

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 ...

and Metro Boomin. It was released on January 17, 2016 with an 11-hour notice via

LiveMixtapes LiveMixtapes is a music website related to hip hop mixtapes. History LiveMixtapes was established in 2006. The website started from getting free mixtapes in CD form and then putting them online. After collaborating with DJs the website grew to ...

and DatPiff. It is Future's first non-commercial mixtape since the mixtape trilogy ''

Monster A monster is a type of fictional creature found in horror, fantasy, science fiction, folklore, mythology and religion. Monsters are very often depicted as dangerous and aggressive with a strange, grotesque appearance that causes terror and fe ...

'' (2014), '' Beast Mode'' and ''

56 Nights 56 Nights is the fifteenth mixtape by American DJ and record producer, William Moore (professionally known as DJ Esco). It was released on March 21, 2015, through rapper Future (rapper), Future's Freebandz, Freebandz Entertainment label. The mixtap ...

'' (2015). ''Purple Reign'' follows the commercial collaborative mixtape '' What a Time to Be Alive'' with Canadian rapper Drake. The mixtape features production from frequent collaborators Metro Boomin, Southside,

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 Spinz and

Nard & B Nard & B are an American record production team, composed of record producers James "Nard" Bernard Rosser Jr. and Brandon "B" Rackley, from Atlanta, Georgia. In 2007, the duo signed a deal with American recording artist T.I.'s Grand Hustle Recor ...

, among others. The cover font is a tribute to Prince's landmark 1984 album '' Purple Rain'', which is stylized in the same fashion. The mixtape was re-released for streaming platforms on April 16, 2020, removing the single "Wicked" and including the song "News or Something".

Background and composition

2015 was a significant year in rapper

's career. He worked on mixtapes ''

'' (2014), '' Beast Mode'' (2015), ''

'' (2015), a collaboration mixtape with Drake, '' What a Time to Be Alive'' (2015), and his studio album '' DS2'' (2015) shifted from introspective ballads to macabre rap numbers about drugs and sex. Analyzed Matthew Ramirez 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 ...

'', ''Purple Reign'' continues this antagonist style, but with more restraint to the point where Future sounds stoic and the instrumentals "muted" and "monochrome". A few moments involve Future delivering the style of sad, straightforward lines prominent on ''Streetz Calling'' (2011) and '' Astronaut Status'' (2012). As he laments on "Never Forget", "I ain’t make my auntie’s funeral I ain’t never forget it / I know she know I love her and I hope she forgive me."

Release and promotion

The mixtape was released without prior announcement on January 17, 2016, available for download on free mixtape hosting platforms such as DatPiff and LiveMixtapes. In 2020, Future began re-releasing popular mixtapes that were unavailable on digital streaming platforms, such as '' Beast Mode'' and ''

''. On April 16, 2020, ''Purple Reign'' was released for digital purchase and streaming. The tracklist was altered to remove the single " Wicked" due to its inclusion on the album ''

Evol Evol may refer to: * ''Evol'' (Sonic Youth album), 1986 * ''Evol'' (Future album), 2016 * EvoL, South Korean girl group * "E.V.O.L.", a song by Marina and the Diamonds * ' Kamen Rider Evol', the main antagonist of a Japanese tokusatsu series, Ka ...

'', combining the "Intro" with "All Right" and extending the track "Salute". The song "News or Something" was included as the final song, originally released in 2015 via Future's SoundCloud as part of the "#MonsterMondays" series.

Critical reception

At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the mixtape received an average score of 71, based on 6 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Jayson Greene of '' Pitchfork'' wrote that ''Purple Reign'' is "a fine tape, but considered in the run of the most vital rapper working, relatively minor."

Track listing

Notes * signifies a co-

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

Sample credits * "Wicked" contains a sample of "Kanet Rohi" written by Özcan Deniz, and performed by

Rayan Rayan ( ar, ريّان or ريان, translit=rayyān), also spelt Rayyan, is generally a given name of Arabic origin, usually male but sometimes female, meaning "Door Of Heaven”, “Beautifier", "luxuriant" or "plentiful" in Arabic. In Islami ...

.Rayan
WhoSampled.com.

References

2016 mixtape albums Future (rapper) albums Albums produced by Southside (record producer) Albums produced by Metro Boomin Albums produced by Zaytoven Albums produced by Nard & B {{2010s-hiphop-album-stub Trap music albums