Future (rapper)
Nayvadius DeMun Cash[8] (né Wilburn; born November 20, 1983), known professionally as Future, is an American rapper and singer. Known for his mumble-styled vocals and prolific output, Future is considered a pioneer of the use of Auto-Tuned melodies in trap music.[9][10][11] Due to the sustained popularity of this musical style, he is commonly regarded as one of the most influential rappers of his generation.[12]
Future
- Rapper
- singer
- songwriter
- record producer
2003–present
7
Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Future signed a recording contract with Rocko's A1 Recordings in 2011, which entered a joint venture with Epic Records shortly after. His first two studio albums, Pluto (2012) and Honest (2014) were both met with critical and commercial success, spawning the platinum-certified singles "Turn On the Lights", "Honest", "Move That Dope" (featuring Pharrell Williams and Pusha T), and "I Won" (featuring Kanye West). His subsequent albums have each debuted atop the US Billboard 200; his third and fourth, DS2 (2015) and Evol (2016) were supported by the singles "Where Ya At" (featuring Drake) and "Low Life" (featuring the Weeknd), respectively. Future's eponymous fifth album and its follow-up, Hndrxx (both 2017) made him the first artist to release two chart-topping albums on the Billboard 200 in consecutive weeks—the former spawned his first Billboard Hot 100-top ten single, "Mask Off."
After departing A1, Future released the albums The Wizrd (2019) and High Off Life (2020)—the latter spawned the diamond-certified single "Life Is Good" (featuring Drake). Future guest appeared alongside Young Thug on Drake's 2021 single "Way 2 Sexy," which became his first number-one song on the Billboard Hot 100 after a record-breaking 125 entries.[9] His ninth album, I Never Liked You (2022) spawned the single "Wait for U" (featuring Drake and Tems), which became his second to peak the chart and first to do so as a lead artist. The song won a Grammy Award for Best Melodic Rap Performance, while its parent album received a nomination for Best Rap Album at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards.
Future has released the mixtapes Beast Mode (with Zaytoven), 56 Nights (with Southside), and What a Time to Be Alive (with Drake) in 2015—the latter spawned the single "Jumpman". He has released the full-length collaborative projects Super Slimey (2017) with Young Thug, Wrld on Drugs (2018) with Juice Wrld, and Pluto x Baby Pluto (2020) with Lil Uzi Vert. Among the best-selling hip hop musicians, Future's accolades include three Grammy Awards from a total of ten nominations.
Early life and career beginnings
Nayvadius DeMun Wilburn[13] was born on November 20, 1983,[13][14] in Atlanta, Georgia.[15][16][17] He attended Columbia High School in Decatur. At age sixteen (c. 1999/2000), Future describes getting shot in the hand and robbed, an event he regards as a major turning point in his life.[18]
Future began his career under the name "Meathead", as a member of the Georgia-based musical collective Dungeon Family. He was led to join the group by his first cousin Rico Wade (b. 1972 – d. 2024), who was part of the group's in-house production team Organized Noize and operated the East Point, Georgia "Dungeon" studio which the collective's name was based from.[19][20][21][22] Future performed in a smaller hip hop group within the collective who went by the name "Da Connect", where he would later be nicknamed "The Future" by group member G-Rock. Da Connect recorded one album, Rico Wade Presents: Da Connect which was slated for commercial release in 2003, but was ultimately shelved.[23] Future had one solo record on the project titled "Belly of da Beast", which is considered to be his first song.[24][25] During this time, Future appeared in numerous Dungeon Family music videos,[26] and received his first songwriting credit on the Organized Noize-produced single, "Blueberry Yum Yum" for rapper Ludacris in 2004.
Wade encouraged him to sharpen his writing skills and pursue a career as a rapper, as recording would create temporary respite from street life.[27] Future voices his praise of Wade's musical influence and instruction, calling him the "mastermind" behind his sound.[17] He was thereafter discovered by fellow Atlanta rapper Rocko, who took Future under his wing as a solo artist on his A1 Recordings record label.[28]
From 2010 to early 2011, Future released a series of mixtapes including 1000, Dirty Sprite and True Story.[28][29] The latter included the single "Tony Montana", in reference to the Scarface film.[29][30] He gained regional popularity after his songs were played by DJ Esco at Magic City,[31] a strip club in Atlanta deemed "largely responsible for launching the careers of artists."[32] In April 2011, he co-performed with Atlanta rapper YC on his single "Racks", which would become his first hit song and Billboard Hot 100 entry—peaking at number 42.[33][34] In July of that year, Future and rapper Gucci Mane would release a collaborative mixtape titled Free Bricks.
Musical style
Future's music has been characterized as trap music.[10][83] Future makes prevalent use of Auto-Tune in his songs, both rapping and singing with the effect. In 2013, Pitchfork wrote that Future "miraculously shows that it's still possible for Auto-Tune to be an interesting artistic tool", stating that he "finds a multitude of ways for the software to accentuate and color emotion".[84] The LA Times wrote in 2016 that "Future's highly processed vocals suggest a man driven to bleary desperation by drugs or love or technology", stating that his music "comes closest to conjuring the numbing overstimulation of our time".[85] GQ stated in 2014 that he "has managed to reboot the tired auto-tune sound and mash it into something entirely new", writing that he "combines it with a bizarro croon to synthesize how he feels, then [...] stretches and deteriorates his words until they're less like words, more like raw energy and reactive emotions".[86] Critic Simon Reynolds wrote in 2018 that "he's reinvented blues for the 21st century."[87]
American rapper T-Pain, who also uses that audio processor, criticized Future's unconventional use of it in 2014.[88] In response, Future stated in an interview that "when I first used Auto-Tune, I never used it to sing. I wasn't using it the way T-Pain was. I used it to rap because it makes my voice sound grittier. Now everybody wants to rap in Auto-Tune. Future's not everybody."[89]
Due to the sustained contemporary popularity of his musical style, he is commonly regarded as one of the most influential rappers of his generation.[12]
Personal life
Future is the father of seven children by his account, each with different women, although another child's paternity has been litigated.[90][91] He has also adopted the son of one of the mothers of his daughter. In October 2013, Future was engaged to Ciara, who is the mother of one of his sons, but she ended the engagement in August 2014 due to his infidelity.[92]
In 2016, Future was sued by both Jessica Smith and Ciara. Smith sued him for failing to pay child support, stating their son "suffers from emotional and behavioral issues stemming from Future's neglect as a father".[93] Ciara sued him for defamation, slander, and libel.[94] In October 2016, a judge said that Future's string of tweets bashing Ciara did not relate to the $15 million she was asking for.[95] In 2019, two women from Florida and Texas respectively filed paternity suits claiming that Future was the father of their respective daughter and son.[96] In 2020, the Texas woman dropped her paternity suit.[97]
