Here we have the 12th studio LP from Atlanta, Georgia rapper & singer/songwriter Future. Coming up as a member of the Dungeon Family thanks to his cousin Rico Wade of Organized Noize, he officially made his debut in 2012 with Pluto & would later follow it up with a hot streak of modern day trap essentials like Honest, Monster, Beast Mode & my personal favorite of his: D.S. 2 (Dirty Sprite 2). With that said: A great deal of his material for the past decade has primarily been hit or miss. I mean sure HNDRXX took a more sensual approach & SUPER SLIMEY showed a pretty great chemistry with fellow trap trailblazer Young Thug, but Beast Mode 2 was a step down from the predecessor & he got with Juice WRLD to put out a collab tape that literally should’ve never happened: WRLD on Drugs. Finally at the very beginning of that next year, The WIZRD was just passable even though it showed NO artistic evolution whatsoever & Save Me was a decent attempt at being more vulnerable. High Off Life admirably found him staying true to himself in the midst of trying new things & I Never Liked You put the toxicity claims about him to rest. Metro reunited with Future for We Don’t Trust You & We Still Don’t Trust You, refining Pluto’s previous double album FUTURE HNDRXX & becoming his best since D.S. 2 (Dirty Sprite 2). Coming off Mixtape Pluto however, we’re getting a glimpse of The Real Me.

“Fukk a Interview” hooks up a synthesizer-based trap beat produced by ATL Jacob, FNZ & Wheezy talking his shit for his whole entire family for the intro whereas “1 2” gets his gangsta rap shit for a couple minutes over a Smatt Sertified instrumental. “No Misery” puts some odd effects on his vocals talking about trying to tie a bitch like an ace until “California Girls” takes a stripped-back trap approach talking about having bitches around the world.

Meanwhile on “Tank Top Pluto”, we have Future flexing his lifestyle over a boisterous beat from DY prior to the latter’s fellow 808 Mafia brethren TM88 getting behind the boards for “Weight Up” so he can talk about getting his cake up combing an opulent backdrop with some hi-hats. “Konnichiwa” instrumentally makes me feel like I’ve been teleported a couple centuries forward boasting his exotic hoes while “Trench Coat” continues the gangsta themes talking about his grandmother’s house being a drug store.

“Snowing in Skyami” to dig up an outtake from the Mixtape Pluto sessions that Taurus cooked up including a hilarious line regarding him having more women than Nick Cannon while “Build a Bitch” goes for a drumless direction although the repetitive lyricism can get tiring after a bit. The only single “Radio” explores the tension between humility & success over a Dez Wright beat eschewing any mainstream appeal in the process while “2018” brings back the raspy voice he infamously used for the “King’s Dead” single the same year over a DJ Spinz instrumental.

Continuing the 2nd half of The Real Me, “Money Over Everything” has somewhat of a distorted trap quality to it talking about the revenue being his to priority while “Off the Hinge” suggests to let him have his way since he has 5 vibes in his bedroom over a Southside beat. “If I Could” talks about how it wouldn’t be a sin for him to eventually rule the whole world & the difficulty of telling his loved ones how he feels while the bouncy “Big Moment” confronts his girl regarding her to take the stress outta her.

“Cast a Spell” once again delves deeper into the themes of romance raspily assuring this woman that he does shit better than her exes & after “Kick” combines electronics with trap to talk about him beginning to feel the effects of some drugs he took, “Hollywood” acknowledges him being crazy enough to know he’s groovy comparing himself to a pop star AND a rock star simultaneously containing what might be the most upbeat drums on the entire full-length.

The song “Feeling I Give” prepares to send off The Real Me willing to bet $1M on his doubts of any other artist being more toxic than him while “Alice” easily sticks amongst my top 3 cuts, referencing the Disney classic Alice in Wonderland over a playful instrumental that the Louis Vuitton’s creative director for men’s fashion Pharrell made. “Eye to Eye” spends the final minutes talking about being on another level with his money.

Mixtape Pluto still gets a divisive reputation over 9 months since it came out & although I couldn’t tell you why he lied about having hidden features twice when he’s handling all the performances himself, I wouldn’t really consider The Real Me to be on par with the double LP he & Metro put out a couple years ago. It’s more in the same category as The WIZRD in that there are some tracks I can see myself revisiting, but it doesn’t necessarily evolve the sound he became synonymous with during my adolescence.

Score: 2.5/5

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