Future, High Off Life | Album Review 💿

Grammy-winning rapper Future returns with an enjoyable album, High Off Life, that has its fair share of moments, but fails to move the needle. 

Would calling Future the architect of melodic, autotune-heavy rap be far-fetched? I think not considering the strong reaction I had when I first heard his debut album, Pluto.  I wasn’t crazy about it initially TBH, but after a while, I warmed up to it, particular songs like “Parachute” and “Same Damn Time”.

Fast forward years later, and he’s among rap’s biggest stars.  Not only is he well established, he happens to be incredibly prolific.  That said, DS2 remains his strongest album in my eyes, and his latest album, High Off Life doesn’t change my opinion. Ultimately, High Off Life is an enjoyable album with its fair share of moments but fails to move the needle.

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“Trapped in the Sun”

High Off Life commences strongly with ✓ “Trapped in the Sun” – “it’s lit!” Will A Fool provides a menacing backdrop that includes strings and is anchored by a heavy trap beat.  With such inspiration behind him, there was no way that Future would miss this opportunity.  “He wanna be a superstar, I bought him a magazine,” he raps melodically on the first verse, continuing, cleverly, “For his birthday, got him a Glock, hold more than seventeen (On God).”

The energy doesn’t let up on ✓ “HiTek Tek,” another banger where the vibe remains potent AF.  Future doesn’t switch-up his signature style by any means, but he’s definitely ‘on fire’ exhibiting that attitude.  Aiding that attitude is relatively minimalist, looped production by Omar Guetfa and ATL Jacob – more than enough to ignite the spark.  The brief “Touch the Sky” thrives on drip and little else.  It lacks profundity, but it’s not as if we associate profundity with the rapper anyways. Once more, the backdrop is simple – some keyboard work and a heavy hitting beat providing the spark.

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“Solitaires”

Wheezy and Mike Dean hit the boards on ✓ “Solitaires,” featuring the one and only Travis Scott.  As expected, (1) it’s a vibe and (2) “It’s lit” – those signature ad-libs.  Scott handles the chorus (and later the third verse), where he highlights those solitaires – diamonds.  As for Future, his first verse is quite drippy, referencing Richard Mille, Louis V, and Lamborghini.  Man, does he enjoy lux.  Of course, there is an eyebrow raising moment, if only in passing: “Coronavirus diamonds, you can catch the flu…”

A minor key and 808s remain the modus operandi on “Ridin Strikers,” which interestingly features only one verse.  Future makes the most of it referencing drip, drugs, and his typical script.  He does grab your attention when he spits, “Cop a Porsche, cop a Range Rover, it’s King Jaffe.”  Moving on, his repetitiveness hits an all-time high on “One of My.” On the one hand, this record, and its semi-randomly-shifting-rhythmic beat is ‘a vibe.’  On the other hand, all we get are pretty lazy bars from the rapper informing us “One of my niggas” does ‘this and that.’  Yes, it’s a short song, but still, quite repetitive.  Worth noting, the record reminds me of “Where Ya At” from DS2.

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“Posted with Demons”

“Posted with Demons” features more lyric variation than “One of My,” a smart move. It’s easier to get behind “Posted with Demons,” which musters up a catchy chorus, and dark, demonic verses.  The beat is absolute fire (DJ Spinz). The beat remains lit on ✓ “Hard to Choose One,” which also welcomes some lovely piano ideas.  Ultimately, the keyboards lines are minimal and simple, with some studio manipulation, but it lays well over the trap beat (Southside handles production). As far as the lyrics, Future is true to self, particularly when it comes to drugs.  “Green light the shooters, they already on you / Take a few Addies, then go in a coma,” he spits on the first verse.  Later, on the second, he’s “Crashed out on pills, but it’s makin’ me numb,” as well as “Rollin’ off X and I can’t feel my arms.” On the chorus, he gives us a little bit of everything, including the endearing, “Brrt, brrt, brrt.”    

On “Trillionaire,” Future taps one of the more popular young rappers, Youngboy Never Broke Again.  The results simply aren’t as ambitious as the ambitions both have on this come-up, ‘dream big’ record.  To the song’s credit, it’s much brighter than the majority of High Off Life, and certainly supports the spirit of the album title. A more ‘tried and true’ collaboration occurs on “Harlem Shake” which trades YBNBA for Young Thug. Young Thug is idiosyncratic as always, not to mention repetitive as well.  But Future takes the same approach, particularly on the chorus, and portions of his own verse.  This is a prime example of a vibe, but not necessarily an accomplished track.

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“Up the River”

You might argue “Up the River” is a better track by virtue of Future opting for more of a reflective vibe. Of course, the lush production by Will A Fool helps the cause. ✓ “Pray for a Key” is more characteristic, and more successful. When the drug talk is ratcheted up, the rapper is at his best, bad as that sounds. A lot has been made of the production work, with most of the assertiveness coming from the beats.  That’s the case on “Too Comfortable,” which has some interesting cues (Southside).  One thing that’s odd are the nearly inaudible synths mixed in the background… This is one of those moments I’m conflicted on because there’s potential, yet also flaws.  Also, one of the things that hurts “Too Comfortable” is the length. Four minutes isn’t unacceptable, but “Too Comfortable” is way ‘too comfortable’ doing much of the same musically.

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“All Bad” 

Lil Uzi Vert has had a big year.  He continues to be ubiquitous, appearing on the bright “All Bad.” The contrasts from the edgier, more malicious bangers is a selling point.  The sleekness of the background is also appreciated, but again, this deep into a lengthy album, it would be great to have greater variation overall.  The listener gets some of the desired contrast and variance on ✓“Outer Space Bih,” at least initially.  The piano coupled with the animated beat is #winning, as is the chorus – overabundance of “woah(s)” and all.  Also, give Future credit for the chiller, mellower vibes – “Rocky icy watches, woah, woah, woah /… Pineapple Tropicana, outer space bitch.” 

To some extent, ✓ “Accepting My Flaws” feels like the unofficial end of High no Life. It’s not the end of the album mind you, but before the familiar singles arrive (*cough* bonus cuts), “Accepting My Flaws” feels like the coda.  Future is much more emotional and personal – more so than he has throughout the album – and the dramatic, gorgeous production fits perfectly.  We only get one verse, but it’s jam-packed.

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“Life is Good”

On “Life Is Good”, Future collaborates with his pal, Drake, for the millionth time – okay, not literally, but you catch my drift.  Drake handles the first part of this two-part record that is essentially divided by artist contributions.  He begins by delivering a slick, melodic, and catchy chorus that finds him in the zone.  He follows the chorus with one verse that encompasses the come up, flexing, and haters.  After one final iteration of the chorus, Future drops an interlude before unleashing the second part of the song which is a complete 180. He gets a backdrop that is characteristic to his style.

On the chorus, the first section of the second part of the song, he flexes like a boss: “Yeah, hunnid thousand for the cheapest ring on a nigga finger, lil’ bitch, woo!” Where Drake only served up one verse, we get two verses of Hendrix. He raps, in his signature autotune style about what you’d expect: drip, drugs, and sex.  Ultimately, it’s shallow as albeit. High Off Life actually concludes with “Life is Good (Remix),” which adds DaBaby and Lil Baby.

Following “Life is Good,” “Last Name” marks the second ‘bonus’ cut of High Off Life. The sole advance single I failed to review, Future collaborates with Lil Durk, a rapper who has seen increased popularity.  Ultimately, a pretty sweet chorus comes out of it, as well as more personal, thoughtful lyrics.  Of course, ‘thoughtful’ is contextual – just saying.

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“Tycoon”

“Starin’ at the candle / Feel the pain on me, nigga, it don’t matter / Get my currency exchanged, got my bands up.” “Tycoon” is all flex.  Following the aforementioned introduction, Future serves up a chorus that finds folks hating on him and envious of his drip.  His confidence is through the roof, so much so that he asserts, “I know I ain’t gon’ be deceased ‘til I’m like eighty…” On the verses, we get much of the same, tried-and-true, autotune heavy rapper.  It doesn’t take long on the first verse for him to reference Actavis, haters, and the repercussions of hating him. On the second verse, there’s more violence (“Twin choppers on me, they my favorite”), a clever Ghost reference (“Catch me rollin’ in the Ghost, Patrick Swayze”), and of course, Lil Mexico (“I came from Lil Mexico, a nigga made it”). All of this coming over respectable, though not game changing production by DY and Wheezy.

“100 Shooters” featuring Meek Mill and Doe Boy marks the 20^th track on High Off Life… Long album.  The single was actually released in July 2019. A respectable trap banger, it checks off the usual boxes:  ear-catching production work (Tay Keith and Cubeatz) and a catchy chorus that serves as the centerpiece among them. Each rapper gets their own verse, encompassing the usual topics. The needle isn’t moved, but the hard flex continues.

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Final Thoughts 

All in all, High Off Life is enjoyable – Future has plenty of worthwhile moments.  As a whole, however, 70 minutes with as little variation as the album seems to have, knocks it down a notch or two.  The big rub is that at this point in his career as the architect of this melodic rap style, it would be nice to see him evolve.  When does the next DS2 – again, his best album – arrive? High Off Life certainly satisfies to an extent, but it’s nowhere near perfect.

✓ Gems: “Trapped in the Sun,” “HiTek Tek,” “Solitaires,” “Hard to Choose One,” “Pray for a Key,” “Outer Space Bih” & “Accepting my Flaws”

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Future • High Off Life • Epic • Release: 5.15.20

Photo Credit: Epic

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