Future’s Best Album, Ranked By Album Title

Alright… I called this man Future Hendrix in the introduction to somewhat acknowledge how many crazy nicknames he had, but it’s time to get serious. Future has said before that calling himself that is him “feeding off Jimi Hendrix and just what it represents to me as being different.” Being different is cool, but I still need a little more for you to justify essentially naming your album after arguably the greatest instrumentalist in Rock history.

Now of course, this album was the second part to FUTURE and they were released just a week apart. But the album title must be judged on its own merit and that’s why it ends up last here.

The aforementioned FUTURE. Self-titled albums are interesting in that artists often do theirs when they feel that they’re making their most introspective music, or the music that best defines them and their artistry. In a way, Future did exactly that here… just like he always does. The album kicks off with "Rent Money" where the Atlanta rapper brags “I just fucked a rapper bitch, I should diss you”, the type of line that’ll make you screw your face up. The entire album follows suit, with Future lacing hypnotic instrumentals with infectious melodies.

In terms of its music, the album is a little underrated, with cuts like "Feds Did A Sweep" being among Future’s best. But of course, we’re not interested in the music today, not primarily anyway. For its lack of creativity, but avoidance of unnecessarily drawing on the late great Jimi Hendrix, FUTURE narrowly avoids last place.

The WIZRD was released in 2019 and follows the weird trend that HNDRXX started in leaving out vowels… but it doesn’t even do that properly. Surely the album title being The WZRD would make more sense. It’s not like there’s another word you could confuse “wzrd” for, but Future felt like he needed the I in for some reason.

“The Wizard” is a nickname Future’s late uncle gave him and when he went around wearing Pamela hats for a while, he did actually somewhat suit the aesthetic, so he gets points for that at least. The woods that he’s seemingly in on the trippy album cover also give off that vibe.

Released in May of 2020, this album was originally called Life Is Good, which would have of course meant the title track was the Drake-featured single. Perhaps with the pandemic going on though, Future or someone wise on his team decided this was not a smart move. We agree.

High Off Life serves the same purpose, but doesn’t speak to the hierarchy in the same way “life is good” might have. We’ve all felt high off life before and it’s all relative. For that, Future gets some points.

The album itself does feel like somewhat of a celebration, but not anymore than any Future album does.

Released in 2013, this album came at an interesting time for Meathead. He was in a high-profile relationship with Ciara and many were accusing him of going Hollywood on us, leaving Atlanta in the rear-view.

Of course, we know how that all played out, but while he was in the moment, Future did need to address everything going on in a way that didn’t alienate his core fans. That’s when Honest dropped.

It’s a short and sweet title that’s kind of genius because it gives you a pass to do and say whatever you want for the duration of the album with the premise being that you’re just telling your truth. With some of the songs on there though, perhaps Unapologetic would have been a better fit.

The contrast between “live” and “evil”, the latter being the former backwards and vice versa, is not a new concept at all. Miles Davis named his 1971 album Live-Evil and in 2012, on MTV’s ‘Hip Hop POV’ show, Lil Wayne even took the concept a step further and said that he had an album coming called Devol, “because that’s loved backwards.” So it’s clear that the concept isn’t entirely new, but with that being said, is there anyone that embodies the idea of love being evil more than Future?

My only wish, and maybe this is too much to ask, is that Future actually explored the concept of love being evil a little bit within the body of music itself. Instead, we got hard cuts like "Ain’t No Time" and "Wicked," which are great, but could have appeared on literally any Future album in the past seven years.

Future’s 2011 mixtape Dirty Sprite was the first time that many were introduced to him and to this day, it is called a classic. Coming off of a classic mixtape run years later with Monster, 56 Nights and Beast Mode, Future bravely titled his next album DS2. He could really do no wrong during his trilogy of mixtapes, so turning the pressure up here was bold.

From top to bottom, it’s filled with lean raps and some of the best music of Future’s career. "Thought It Was A Drought" is a middle finger to critics of his cough syrup habit, "Groupies" is a middle finger to his old relationship and "Kno The Meaning" gets weirdly introspective by Future’s standards.

Had this album actually been called Dirty Sprite 2, as opposed to its abbreviated version, it might even take the top spot here. Go all the way with it! Of course, that name has implications that might not have sat well in label meetings and boardrooms, but it would have been the only way this album could have been improved. 

Pluto is such an incredible album title that it’s also a nickname for Future and years down the line, Lil Uzi Vert decided to call himself Baby Pluto. That kind of impact can’t be overstated and for the ATL rapper to do that with his debut album is special.

With his 2012 album, Future really did introduce the planet to his own world, so the name couldn’t have been more fitting. If Pluto isn’t going to get love as a planet from us, at least Future’s holding it down.

Just last night, Future set social media ablaze when he revealed the artwork and title of his new album. I Never Liked You got a rise out of everybody online, because it feels like Future is very self-aware about what he adds to hip-hop culture and what people want from him. “I never liked you”, just as a sentence, has so many connotations and all of them feel like Future.

Admittedly, it’s a trait of Future’s that no-one wants to see in their partners, friends or family, but that’s not what Future is. He represents that side of us that we’re all a little ashamed to let out and know isn’t right.

The album cover got just as many laughs from people. It’s taken from a GQ shoot that was released earlier in the week and sees the rapper wearing about $60k worth of clothes and jewelery, without the Chrome Hearts ring on his left hand even being listed.

Of course, what the music is like remains to be seen, but if the past ten years are anything to go by, this one will have some problematic anthems on it.