Abe Beame is cosmonaut status.
As much as I loved “Racks,” YC and Future’s ear worm from last year, it had all the makings of one of those stumbled-on sounds that a few Atlanta teens seem to find annually, only to become a trivia question shortly thereafter. The abrasive “Scarface,” and Future’s hit-or-miss follow up mixtapes, Dirty Sprite and Astronaut Status, would seemingly confirm this fear.
But Future takes a definitive leap on “Brick Fair,” from Gucci’s good Super Bowl return Trap Back. Ironically, “Brick Fair” is one of Gucci’s few poor appearances, a mailed-in stab at Ross-ian chant rap complete with weak ad-libs and an awful hook. It squanders a gem of a Zaytoven beat featuring gorgeous instrumentation and equally gorgeous digitized melody. Up next, Future glides into the pocket and stays there over the course of his brief, hypnotic, infinitely replayable verse.
Future has one of the most distinctive and original styles of any young rapper currently working. It’s the logical conclusion of auto-tune, a rapper whose voice we never hear unfiltered. He’s used this to varying effect: successfully on his addictive sing song “Racks,” and somewhat lazily on his mixtapes. While he displays a great ear for beats, often turning to Zaytoven and a few recurring characters who try to sound like Zaytoven, up until “Brick Fair” he seemed to borrow from the worst instincts of his two biggest influences, Gucci and Jeezy, both occasional collaborators.
On “Brick Fair” he channels Gucci at his best, stacking tongue twisting internal rhymes on top of each other. The verse is nearly breathless because Future’s bars are practically cut on top of one another, only adding to the great-weird computer rap vibe, and he never stops leaning into melody, making it his own and something truly original. It’s a fantastic showing, and one can hope will be the start of something great.
Download:
MP3: Gucci Mane ft. Future- “Brick Fair”
MP3: Future-“Space Cadet”
ZIP: Future – Dirty Glove Bastard’s Best of Future Compilation</em
ZIP: Future-Astronaut Status (Left-Click)
