After releasing Hndrxx in 2017 and curating the soundtrack for the movie Superfly, Future is back with his new project titled BEASTMODE 2. Ever since 2016, hip-hop fans have been anxiously waiting for BEASTMODE 2 to drop ever since Zaytoven announced that he would be the exclusive producer.
Even though Future is known for being prolific in the studio, the project only spans out to be nine tracks total. While he’s released multiple projects with similar length, having a project so short puts an increased amount of pressure on each track.
From a first listen, stand out tracks include “WIFI LIT”, “RACKS BLUE” and “DOH DOH” featuring Young Scooter. From these tracks, Future’s vocal performance is more smooth and includes a variety of different timbres from what we’ve previously heard. He tends to have his voice be more melodically driven and dips between singing and rapping compared to having monotone based flows.
The production from Zaytoven is also well executed as he showcases everything that we have come to expect from his beats: fast piano and synth driven leads paired with upbeat percussion and bass. Zaytoven meshes well with Future’s style as the beats provide space for Future to be creative with his flows and rhymes.
With that said, there are many elements to BEASTMODE 2 that fall short from the caliber of music we are used to hearing from Future. From start to finish, it sounds as though the project was very rushed, which is disappointing because it was rumored that Future and Zaytoven were working on BEASTMODE 2 for at least two years. In addition, even though the tracks contain elements of the same sonic landscape, they fall short in terms of cohesiveness within one another; which is something that is expected with all projects.
Many hip-hop fans with find BEASTMODE 2 as a fun and intriguing listen, but the project is lacking elements as listed above that will most likely not inspire fans listen multiple times.
