‘HNDRXX’ Is The Future Album I’ve Been Waiting For All My Life

It was only a week ago that I stated my concern that Atlanta rapper Future had begun down a trail of recording unenthusiastic music. This was after the surprise release his lackluster self-titled effort. Absent were any songs that seemed like guaranteed successes, and the only one that seems to be gaining traction, Draco, is by far my least favorite from the album. I was left feeling so deflated that when rumors started a few days after it’s release that Future would be surprise releasing another album, I really didn’t believe them. And when the rumors elaborated to speculation that the album would be the near mythical Future Hendrix album, which I also mentioned as a lost cause in a previous review, my frustration levels were raised even higher.

But then it happened, it was confirmed, through Future’s Instagram that the Future Hendrix album, now stylized as HNDRXX, was a reality and would be released just a week after his last album. Ultimately, I approached it with caution. If it was anything like FUTURE, the album, I would be heartbroken. If it wasn’t anything special, I would be disappointed. This album achieved the near impossible though. It is different, it is special, and it is now by far my favorite Future album.

Absent is the aggressive Monster-era Future that took over his records after his widely-publicized split from R&B singer Ciara. Though I’ve enjoyed Future’s antagonistic turn, especially on songs like Monster, I Serve The Base, and How It Was, I’ve been eager for the return of balladeer Future. The Future who rose to prominence on tracks like Turn On The Lights and Honest, and featuring on tracks like Rihanna’s Loveeeee Song and Miley Cyrus’ Real And True.

Every track on HNDRXX is a ballad banger in the vein of those fan favorites. From the beginning with the Metro Boomin-produced My Collection, we have a mix of Future’s sensitive vocals with lyrics that allude to his player ways, mashing up the old with the new. That’s pretty much every song on the album. What makes each special and different though is their composition. My Collection is very chill and the most familiar Future track, especially in terms of the lyricism, aimed mainly at his public drama with ex-wife, Ciara.

Every song afterwards though slowly evolves into something atypical for the rapper, at least production-wise. The first few songs do so with baby steps, small tweaks here and there. The Weeknd-featuring Coming Out Strong devolves into a slowed down, avant-garde version of the full beat towards the end of the song. Lookin Exotic further experiments with bass that’s especially rattly. And Damage features pitched up vocals and an almost boom-bap type chorus. Damage is the first song that doesn’t seem to just feature one small tweak and instead opts for multiple tweaks that go in and out over it’s duration. There’s almost a sense of a Drake-influence on these tracks in their laid-back machismo, but that’s a characteristic Future has always had that Drake has only popularized to the point to where if anybody does it, it’s compared to how well he does it, so I disapprove of that initial thought.

Use Me is the first song on the album that led me to worry a bit. It’s intro feels very slow, with reminders of Travis Scott’s less popular work. Just when I was ready to throw this one into the pile of Future’s forgettable tracks, it explodes with Future singing with a passion I’ve never heard from him. It’s production also features common hi-hats with an ethereal undertone that some would equate with the defunct cloud-rap genre. After Use Me, all bets are off for what to expect in terms of production. Incredible and Testify feel ripped from the most relaxed eighties-era rave. Chill bass and sweet and kind of corny synths work well with their standard rap rhythms.

On Fresh Air, possibly my favorite song on the album, Future delivers an ode to getting away and enjoying time spent with a special someone over a beat that goes full Atlanta-meets-tropical house that reminds me of my favorite Kevin Gates tracks. The extremely catchy chorus, even more so than a lot of the album, was stuck in my head before the song was even finished. This is a perfect summer song and I could easily see it being this year’s Hotline Bling.

From this point, the songs follow the same path of being some parts aquatic, some parts Atlanta, and some parts out of this world, but each brings something to the table that differentiates it from the songs that surround it. Neva Missa Lost rides it’s Jodeci interpolation to great success. Keep Quiet’s playful, bass-heavy beat feels like the song that should get any and all the attention people are wasting on Draco. I’m shocked Hallucinating doesn’t feature any kind of production from Clams Casino, as it sounds like a culmination of the sound he’s almost single-handedly built and kept alive. I Thank U features plucking, soulful guitars. New Illuminati has those trademark coos that Future fans adore, along with dog-like yipping that’s kind of funny and kind of cool. And Turn On Me impresses with sparse horns. Every new addition just made my jaw drop a little further until it finally melted in the Earth’s core.

Just when I thought I couldn’t be more impressed, I’m treated to the much-anticipated reunion of Rihanna and Future on Selfish. No, they don’t share the same stellar chemistry of Rihanna and Drake, but it’s still very sweet and definitely reminds me of all my favorite Future/female artist collaborations. The album ends with a couple of moody, melodic tunes in Solo and Sorry that bring about strong emotions and abandon the playfulness of the previous tracks. These feel like they could’ve been left off his previous album, but are oddly better than a lot of the songs on that album, as if to say something extra, but I’ll get back to that a little later.

Getting to the people who constructed the sounds that Future croons over, Detail, who’s crafted numerous urban contemporary successes over the years, brings his talent to turn the bulk of the album into hits that sound prime for radio play. I can’t imagine the record sounding as satisfying without his work, along with the help of Future’s many longtime producers, whether it’s one of the many members of the 808 Mafia, Dre Moon, DJ Mustard, DJ Spinz, or Jake One. They all contribute something that makes this album something special, something different while still being wholly Future.

Of course I’m gonna see myself revisiting a few songs on here more often than others. Fresh Air, Use Me, Incredible, and Turn On Me will see massive replay in the coming weeks. But the only reason why some of the songs aren’t as impressive are because of the works of art that neighbor them. On any other album, tracks like Testify and I Thank U would be standout tracks. But on HNDRXX, they’re just nines sticking out in a pile of tens.

The one question I have concerning this album actually has little to do with it, but rather with it’s promotion. As short as it was, it certainly carried a lot of heft. In the announcing Instagram post, Future called it “the album (he’s) always wanted to make”. It was also prefaced with rumors of it being more “rhythmic-leaning and radio-friendly”. These are all things that the album achieves with extreme success. That’s not the problem. The problem is then what the hell was FUTURE, the album, supposed to be? I almost thought I had a grip on what it could’ve been. I had the idea that maybe it was a Frank Ocean type deal, correlating to how he released his video-album Endless to get out of his deal with Def Jam, then following it with Blonde, a self-released album that featured more popular work. Maybe FUTURE was a release that was meant to be a middle finger to Rocko, who’s A1 imprint Future is signed to and who Future is currently openly beefing with, and as a way to get out of his contract. But HNDRXX was still released on A1 so that’s not the case. So I really don’t know who FUTURE was for. It’s almost like when rappers add sub-par songs on an already solid length album. It’s like “no, leave it alone”. Except this is an entire album that I felt could’ve been thrown out or released as a mixtape and not tarnished Future’s rep as bad as it did for that one week, though it’ll still sit in the back of the heads of many who heard it for a lot longer.

Luckily, HNDRXX works hard to make you forget about that and instead fill your mind with it’s many earworms. There is not a bad track on this album. Of course that’s arguable and comes with a grain of salt from someone who is an openly massive fan of Future, but it honestly feels like the perfect combination of rap, pop, affection, and exploration from Atlanta’s most impressive astronaut.