After a debut album littered with yearning club jams like "Turn on the Lights" and "Neva End", warm hits penned for pop stars, and a whirlwind romance with singer Ciara that produced a few pretty duets and an adorably well-dressed baby, Future has come to be understood, perhaps prematurely, as one of his generation’s premier romantics. His story was always more complex than that, though, as we came to understand over six months in 2014, when our rap Romeo went from "Girl when I’m with you, feel like a champion" to "Girl you know you like a pistol, you a throw away." Things soured for Future and Cici somewhere between the April release of Honest and Halloween’s Metro Boomin produced Monster, and the callous nature of his writing post-breakup has given the lie to the Nicholas Sparks perception that’s clouded his major label career.
On Beast Mode, produced in full by Atlanta trap maestro Zaytoven, Future retreats further into the flashy player lifestyle presented on pre-album mixtape highlights Dirty Sprite and True Story. He’s colder than he’s been since 2012’s Astronaut Status’ "My Ho 2" on cuts like "Lay Up" and "Peacoat", bragging on the former about passing a hook-up off "like a lay up" and glibly remarking that he "spent a check on that pussy" on the latter. At first it seems like a continuation of the aggy sexual and emotional revenge tactics of Monster (see: "My Savages"’ "You think I’m sitting up depressed?/ I’m somewhere counting up me a check," "Throw Away"’s "I was fucking on a slut and I was thinking about you") but the deeper you delve into Beast Mode, the more it comes off as the vice grip headache and hangover to Monster’s seedy rager.
At the outset Beast Mode is somewhat mechanical, Future locking into whirring synth arrangements and churning out three-minute nuggets of dopeboy grit. Opener "Ooooh", Juvenile tribute "Aintchu", and closer "Forever Eva" coolly channel the inherent catchiness of mixtape Future, the half cast off, half accomplished greatness he exuded before he began to write more keenly for mass consumption. But when Zay tosses out something darker he gets it back in kind. You can hear Zaytoven catch Future in the chest at the top of "No Basic" as the track billows in and he ad libs, "You gotta feel the pain of a kid in the ghetto, the heart of the ghetto" before laying out a list of hard hits he took in getting to the money ("Took all the pain and I ran with it.../ I took a few losses and ran with it"). On "Just Like Bruddas", he’s suspended in a daze of Percocet, Xanax, and promethazine self-medication amid a bad press cycle of his own design as his producer dances around a gutting, intricate piano line underfoot.
Future and Zaytoven have collaborated quite a bit in the past but it’s apparent that Zay is bringing something different to the table this time and that it’s bringing something else of Future. Zay’s best works (Gucci Mane’s "Bricks" and Usher’s "Papers", to name just two) are wonky collisions of trap drums and church organs armed with a fleet musicality that the bullish simplicity of the Lex Lugers and the druggy atmospherics of the Mike WiLLs have often lacked. Recent Zaytoven productions have eased off a measure of the emotionalism of his playing, though, resulting in still great, still quirky winners like Migos’ "Versace" and Shy Glizzy’s "Catch a Body" with hooks that grip but don’t much pull. Beast Mode feels heavier, particularly in the stretch from "No Basic" to "Where I Came From", a succession of dour compositions rendered quietly devastating by Zay’s soulful riffing around the central themes and by Future’s matching reflective malaise. Their deepening chemistry is Beast Mode’s boon.
Jutting outside his hitmaking responsibilities has allowed Future to make music that speaks to a very specific personal turmoil without worrying about whether it’ll be relatable or even likable. The feed-the-charts-feed-the-streets formula of Honest worked as well as it possibly could’ve last year, but lately, Future’s feeding himself, taking inventory of his journey, and learning how to navigate a very public rough patch. The casual sex doesn’t seem fun, the recreational pharmaceutical use feels ominous, and there’s a distinctly mournful air to the proceedings. Though he’ll only tacitly admit as much, our player entrepreneur is hurt, and Beast Mode’s heavy-hearted sounds assist him in sorting through it just as Monster’s menace helped him turn spite to fuel.
