ItвЂ™s a more closed-off record by design but also hints at a possible exhaustion from pumping out so much music in a short amount of time. Where 56 Nights and DS2 captured the publicвЂ™s attention and energized it immediately, EVOL does not provide that same rush. ItвЂ™s also a great showcase of FutureвЂ™s ability to combine different styles, voices, and melodies in one song with such ease. The standout track, вЂњLie to Me,вЂќ is an oozing, claustrophobic therapy session Future warbles about his shrinking friend circle, untrustworthy women, and unidentified targets of his ire: вЂњTell that lilвЂ™ nigga to stay in his place, before I expose you / You take one shot at me, you know thatвЂ™ll cause an explosion / Never fight the hand that feeds you, nigga.вЂќ ItвЂ™s the most explicitly somber songВ on the album in that it is the most readily identifiable example of the pain and frustration dwelling in his music.

This isnвЂ™t new, of course heвЂ™s just never done this for an entire record.

It seems to completely invert FutureвЂ™s prowess at making viscerally exciting turn-up music in favor of something more internally affecting. EVOL is a curious beast it doesnвЂ™t feel like the kind of record that a rap star at his creative and career peak would be making. The darkness is always prodding and slipping through these raps, threatening to suffocate any pleasure felt in a given moment.Д®VOL is a slower burn of a record thereвЂ™s no standout track like вЂњMarch MadnessвЂќ or вЂњWhere Ya At,вЂќ and the closest the album comes to having one is from the only cut with a guest feature, the Weeknd-assisted вЂњLow Life,вЂќ which drowns in its own sleaze. On the aforementioned вЂњAinвЂ™t No TimeвЂќ he raps, вЂњI did what I had to do, I ran in that bitch and I didnвЂ™t have a mask / I did what I should have did, survive through the trenches and look like a man,вЂќ with jaded vagaries about gangbanging and street life circumstances that forever cloud his head. He more than likely doesnвЂ™t do as many drugs as he purports in his raps but itвЂ™s never really mattered the drug talk is a means to an end, a tool used to fuel the sadness of success and pain thatвЂ™s really been at the heart of his music. Making the case for Future as a nihilist fueled by depression has become such a popular exercise for rap writers that weвЂ™re almost tripping over ourselves after each successive release to tell you how miserable heвЂ™s become. On вЂњLil Haiti Baby,вЂќ Future raps lines like вЂњDumping down the pills, I feel my head explodinвЂ™ / Roll a pound of dope, I gotta keep on smokinвЂ™вЂќ in an exuberantly grizzled (and hyped) voice, contrasting the grim images of the perils of excess. Similar to last yearвЂ™s foggy, insular 56 Nights mixtape, EVOL is an album less interested in club bangers than a more demonstrative, internal exorcism of his personal wounds and drug-induced demons within the confines of trap music. With his seventh offering in 15 months, Future seems to be slinking even further into his most inward, gut-wrenching impulses.

The result has been six good-to-great different collections of songs that are about pain as much as anything else. Given his current output rate, it seems apropos that Future begins EVOL with a song titled вЂњAinвЂ™t No Time.вЂќ Releasing new music at a manic pace since October 2014, Nayvadius Cash has shown no interest in taking a break but instead upping the ante like a person aware of their own cultural (and actual) mortality and making the most of it.

Future ft the weeknd low life album art