Future’s been going through it for a long time now.
As someone who’s never been ashamed of his struggles, Future often lays bare his fear of emotional intimacy and troubling track record with relationships.
More than 10 albums in, it’s no secret what will appear in a Future production. Twisting narratives detail doomed attempts to find love bound up in sexual destruction and drug-filled turmoil. Mega-fame and industry insecurity mask his poor treatment of women and longstanding addictions.
Early in The Real Me, Andre 3000 makes an appearance to deliver a proclamation about the state of Future. He glumly utters, “We all on edge watching it.”
For longtime followers and fresh listeners alike, the it is both the buildup and the spiral. It’s in the album’s title. Future claims this is the real him. Someone who’s finally found himself. But it’s no secret that Future keeps returning to the same vices, hoping he’ll find satisfaction.
The real Future’s always been hiding in plain sight.
Admittedly, it is rare to find a brief moment on The Real Me not slanted towards Future’s latest troubling relationship or attempt to kill someone who has threatened one of those relationships. For all of his attempts at vulnerability, Future rarely achieves lasting reflection worth anything. Still, there are a few positive moments to be found.
On “No Misery,” he sings, “I’m gonna let y’all watch me balance the pain,” claiming he’s found a method to process his ongoing struggles.
On “Radio,” Future shares a quick reflection as he sings, “I can’t lose my temper, my members need me now.” He says he needs to keep “making sacrifices” for those he claims to love.
“If I Could” sees Future imagining what life would look like if he could get control over all of his misdeeds. He raps about how, “I grew up in the gutter, loyalty mean everything” but ultimately concludes, “I love my family, it’s hard to tell ‘em how I feel.”
Across The Real Me, Future spares no profane or vulgar description, often inserting f-words and nearly every derogatory term for women imaginable. As a seemingly forever bachelor, many of Future’s reflections as a 42-year-old turn toward questioning why women won’t respect him if they are so in love with him.
Future spends most of The Real Me debasing and demoralizing women in shameful songs such as “Build a B–ch,” where he explains how he would build his ideal partner. Most of the descriptions are too vulgar to write in their entirety here. Yet he says she must have a “whole lotta sex in her” and dreams up lewd descriptions of their sexual activities.
When Future is not denigrating women, he spends his time bragging about his fame and gloating about how he’s “ready to cut a n—–” if they cross him or challenge him. He claims, “can’t sugarcoat this s—” on “F— an Interview.”
On his lead single, “California Girls,” Future sings about several paramours he visits in different cities for one-night stands and hidden affairs. The only thing on his mind is sex as he condescendingly views women as objects to serve his lustful desires.
“Radio” feels more vintage Future as he charts his recent experiences as a continent-hopping celebrity who wants to “spoil her all around” but also says, “it’s time to put a b–ch in they place …”
“No Misery” sees Future speaking to a rival who shows interest in his partner. He turns vengeful and says, “You a bad b–ch no matter what they say/You’ll never f— her better than me,” which further shows his overwhelming fixation on the superficial side of sex and love.
“2018” describes how Future is willing to sleep with his partner’s best friend and do nothing but “laugh about it.” While at the same time, he’s threatening to make good on the promise to “hit her with a Louisville Slugger” if she does anything about it.
“Konnichiwa” details several country-hopping escapades to one-night stands with women of different nationalities. The track is borderline insulting, with troubling descriptions of other cultures. Future uses the Japanese greeting konnichiwa as a rhyming hook to emphasize how he greets women and uses them simply for sex before saying bye as quickly as he did hello.
Several songs, such as “Kick” and “Eye to Eye,” include descriptions of violence toward women who don’t perform sexual acts for Future. Whether these are actual threats or just imagined moments, the harsh treatment of women combined with zero remorse makes for a dreadful listen.
Future can’t quit his addictions. There are nearly as many references to “pills, ketamine, oxy and cocaine” as there are moments of profanity throughout The Real Me. Several songs contain references to alcohol-filled nights, which accelerate Future’s descent into madness and pain.
Throughout his career, Future’s vulnerability has come and gone. In its wake, he often leaves behind a trail of muddied introspection to reveal a heart festering with grief and sexual fantasies.
The Real Me shows Future continuing to build his life on an unending desire to consume. His appetite for drugs and sex only grows the more often he gets what he wants. And he’s quite aware of this fact.
For someone who’s clearly been so successful in his career, the message of clawing to the top only to end up at rock bottom again is becoming a bit tiring. What’s most concerning for would-be listeners is the increased amount of degrading verses about women who fail to live up to Future’s outsized and misaligned perspective of complete service towards him.
Threats of violence and revenge sexual activity electrify an already sizzling collection of profane images. Future’s been telling us who he really is for a long time now. Now he’s reckoning with that realization for himself and its damaging, lasting fallout.
Jackson Greer is a High School English Teacher in the suburbs of Texas. He lives in Coppell, Texas with his wife, Clara. They love debating whether or not to get another cat and reading poetry together. Also, he is a former employee of Focus on the Family’s Parenting Department.
