Over the course of his decade-plus in the spotlight, Future has allowed his many alter egos a turn at centre stage. There’s Future Hendrix, the soulful hippie for whom 2017’s HNDRXX is named, and The WIZRD, a nickname given by his uncle and the namesake of 2019’s Future Hndrxx Presents: The WIZRD. Super Future represents him at his catchiest, where Fire Marshal Future shows the rapper at his most lit (as in, the fire marshals are going to have to shut the club down). But it’s been a while since we’ve seen Pluto, the character associated with his earliest projects, including 2012’s Pluto, the debut studio album that revealed him as a secret romantic and unexpected hitmaker.
That eerie, pink-lit house on the cover of MIXTAPE PLUTO, Future’s first solo release of 2024, is none other than the Dungeon, the Georgia studio from which some of history’s most vital and inventive rap music emerged, from Goodie Mob to Outkast to Future himself. The basement studio was owned by Rico Wade, Organized Noize producer and Future’s older cousin. When Wade died at 52, Future posted a poignant message to Instagram: “This life wouldn’t b possible if it wasn’t for my cousin. Love u forever.”
Across the album’s 17 featureless tracks, Future pays tribute not only to his uncle and mentor, but also to the era from which he emerged. “SKI”, “MJ” and “READY TO COOK UP” deliver elevated updates on his narcotised rasp circa 2011’s Dirty Sprite, 2012’s Astronaut Status and 2013’s underrated F.B.G.: the Movie. (“READY TO COOK UP”, in particular, feels like a high-end sequel to Dirty Sprite’s haunting title track: He might pull up in a helicopter, but he still knows how to use a Pyrex.)
But it’s his soulful side that shines on tracks like “SURFING A TSUNAMI”, a shimmering hallucination of mermaids and giant waves, or on “OCEAN” when he croons, “So many tears, I could fill up an ocean.” And on the heartbreaking “LOST MY DOG”, he mourns a friend who died from a fentanyl overdose: “His mama tried to raise an angel, turned out gangster like his daddy/We share the same pain, so I knew he wasn’t happy.” It’s further evidence for Future as one of our greatest living bluesmen.
