For quite sometime rappers have always been broken up into many categories. Not just by region or anything like that. You got your mainstream rappers, gangsta rappers, conscious rappers, underground battle rappers etc. But then...you have your rappers whose sole purpose is to make the radios and clubs hype. These rappers are not lyrical, some are not creative nor original, some of them probably only been rapping for a few years or less. All they are good for is catchy hooks with infectious party beats. Right now, Future is the leader of the pack in this category. When Future came into game in 2012 he gave you a bit of everything. A lot of rapping, a lot of singing and so on. What he also gave was chart topping hits. I mean we're talking consistently hit after hit. Pluto, his debut album, alone had about four to five top ten hits. It's probably the one thing he knows how to do best is make a hit record. It's why he's still around and didn't become a one hit wonder after "Same Damn Time". Well now he's back to get the party started again with his sophomore album Honest. If you've read any of my past reviews than you know that whenever I mention Future, I kinda rip on him. A lot. It's obvious I'm not a fan. Then after listening to his debut Pluto, I really was not looking forward to listening to any other projects from him. That album was nothing but terrible lyrics, awful singing, auto tune and average to barely okay beats. So needless to say, I was expecting the same thing pretty much. In fact, I expected worse. Well...looks like I got just that. It wasn't as awful as I was expecting but it still was not a good album. This album is pretty much a continuation of the last. Same terrible lyrics, same awful singing, average to halfway decent beats. This time however he had a couple songs where he kinda shifts gears as far as content which I'll address later. I mean understand, this is Future we're dealing with. There's nothing on this album that's creative or original and not a single lyric even worth quoting. All you get is party/club music with weak sing-a-long hooks. Now it's easily understandable why some people may like this album and are fans of Future. Simply because well...they like to party. But there are seriously other rappers similar Future who are better than him at the party/club sound. Even the southern trap sound which is also being half-assed on this album. This is the part of the review where I would normally give my positives about the album but honestly....I don't have any. The only, ONLY song on here that's has any kind of replay value is the single "Move That Dope". I do actually like the rugged grimey beat on here done well by Mike Will Made It. But it was the guest features from Pusha T, Pharrell and Casino that made the song. Especially that "knows better/nose better" line Pusha T dropped. "Look Ahead", the intro song, had a okay beat but Future's horrible rapping couldn't flow to the beat making it a bad listening experience. I swear it sounds like he has turrets when he raps. Like he just blurting out random words that coincidentally rhyme. This was the case on...well...damn near the whole album. I really hope the track "My Momma" wasn't really dedicated to his mom because if so, I'd be outraged if I was her. Despite a not-bad verse from Wiz Khalifa (believe it or not) it wasn't enough to help this. Whenever you gotta get on a track and drop a line like "fuck that bitch fuck that bitch fuck that bitch", in other words repeating yourself, your destined to fail. "Never Satisfied" left me scratching my head for so long. This was the most pointless song/skit/interlude or whatever it was supposed to be. First off it's supposed to be two minutes long but fades out right before the two minute mark. Drake's feature on this was beyond pointless. He only does the hook (I guess it's a hook?) and blabs about nothing. I truly think this was put on the album just so the album credits could say "featuring Drake" as a way to get people to listen. Then there's the track "Blood Sweat Tears" where he's seems to be trying to convince us listeners that he put his blood, sweat and tears into this album and gave it everything. I can't do nothing but laugh hysterically at that thought because I just don't see it at all. He gives his what I call the Migos flow on the track "Covered N Money" and as you probably could guess, not a fan of Migos either. So yes, wasn't feeling that song. Now let me get to the rest of these single. "Honest" is definitely the worst of them all. When it comes to him singing, I didn't think he could do worse than "Turn Off The Lights" from his last album but he did by miles. His singing is so horrendous that it's embarrassing. When he tries to hit a note, he sounds like he's in the middle of the ocean making whale calls. The rhyme pattern on "Shit" was just a cluttered mess. He's on this tracks talking about rappers who lie about what they have or do in their songs. Oh the irony. "Karate Chop (remix)" is cool for the clubs but nowhere else. It doesn't even sound like he's rapping actual words on this. I bet even Rap Genius couldn't figure this track out. Then he had the nerve to put Lil Wayne on the track like that would make things better. Oh really? "beat that pussy up like Emmitt Till", "my pockets so fat I'm starting to feel contractions". Super face palm moment. "I Won" is where I guess, were now comparing girls to objects. Trophies in this case. Lord knows I hope he's not talking to Ciara on this track. Speaking of shouting out wifey, Kanye West is on here and of course he immediately starts rapping about Kim Kardashian. Lately he hasn't been able to do one verse without referencing her in some sort of way. It gets boring and I couldn't deal here. I could go on but I'm just gonna keep saying the same stuff about the rest of the tracks. Overall, this album was just...not good. That's the best way I can say it. All beats (somewhat), no lyrics. I give this a final grade of a D. Regardless of my opinion, it's obvious Future is doing something right. With so many hits and only two albums, he could be the most consistent radio wise in rap right now. Not a bad thing depending on how you look at it. But Future is just not for me at all. Some non lyrical rappers I can tolerate because of either beats or some kind of originality. With Future, you can even listen to him because of the beats because his God awful rapping is just hard to ignore. I don't knock those of you who are fans, all I'm saying is I'm not a fan. I probably won't ever become a fan and so far, this is the worst album of 2014. Sorry. I'm just...being honest. End.
Final Grade: D
CREDITS
Executive Producers
Rodney Hill, Jr.
Michael Williams
Lead Artist
Nayvadius Wilburn
Production
Andrew Harr
Jermaine Jackson
James Rosser, Jr.
Brandon Racley
Michael Williams
Pierre Slaughter
Justin Garner
Leland Wayne
Noel Fischer
Sonny Uwaezuoke
Joshua Luellen
Bart Simmons
David Sheats
Matthew Samuels
Rico Wade
Ray Murray
Ruben Bailey
Patrick Brown
Raphael Judrin
Pierre Antoine-Melki
Ashley Anderson
Collaborators
Pharrell Williams
Terrence Thornton
Cameron Thomaz
Kanye West
Aubrey Graham
Kenneth Bailey
Andre Benjamin
Dwayne Carter
Label
A-1/Freebandz/Epic Records
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