New York 9s: We Still Don’t Trust You (The Mixtape)
The best surprise from the Future/Metro drop a few weeks back was the little mixtape thrown in at the end of the track list. Yes, the last 7 of the 25(!) tracks dropped are actually sort of a separate project, with Metro confirming this via Instagram. That would be cover picture of this post. This mixtape is simple, short and sweet and it’s some of the best Future released in a while. Or maybe a better way to put it is that this is the Future we’ve been looking for since DS2. I know, I know. For the record, this is not a knock on his last 4-5 projects. Beast Mode 2 was solid. The WZRD was really good, one of my favorite records of that year. High Off The Life was not a bad record. I Never Liked You was pretty good.
But this is it. This is the Holy Grail of recent Future projects, because it’s basically everything we’ve ever asked of Future. Mean, angry, blistering trap bangers. Future is one of, if not the best, rapper alive and this little mixtape should be celebrated as his latest triumph, not as a throwaway mixtape. If all these songs get remembered for is the admittedly A$AP Rocky feature, I have failed as a journalist. We have, in front of us, 7 songs that represent the apex of art and music, from perhaps the best rapper in the game.
#1 (Intro) gives me chills. It’s got those drippy, trippy, numb synths that I used to seek out when I was attempted to DXM and Clonipan. They sound like how rain running down a car window looks. The spoken intro Charlamagne Tha God is powerful and absolutely true. Future should absolutely be mentioned in the top rappers of this era, and no, he’s probably not 3, or 2. He’s probably 1. The samples in the background from Metro serve to elevate what is already a very moody and intimidating intro and I knew whatever followed was going to be electric. But I wasn’t fully prepared.
Nobody Knows My Struggle is one of the best Future tracks of the decade. It just is. It’s like the book of Genesis for Future, telling his life story in the streets as a coke dealer and his commitment to the street life. His juxtaposition of his current life of wealth and his previous life as a street criminal is terrifying and harrowing. He sounds awake. Angry. He’s spitting into the microphone, vengefully tearing down the illusions of wealth. Spiritually he is still poor. Emotionally, he is forever broken. A cage with infinite power, a god hood wrought from terror and fear.
The production is elite. It features the classic key change that always made his mid 2010s mixtapes feel drunk. Metro’s synth and sample game is on point and these feel like beats pulled from a black hole of rage and disappointment. Future is angry. Metro is angry. At this point I knew we were off and running.
All My Life is the sound of a K hole collapsing. The beat feels skeletal, yet omnipresent. Indeed, it’s not a soundtrack, it’s an environment, the 808s and distorted synths carving bullets and concrete out of city blocks. Future is reflecting on the reality that he can’t change. He grew up in the slums, poor. The opening (and mixtape long) sampled refrain of “Why don’t you trust me?” is immediately answered by Future. He trusts no one because he grew up surrounded by very bad people. All of his life. There's pain alluded to here, but it’s appearance is perhaps strongest by it’s subtraction in the vocals. Instead of sounding sad, Future sounds numb, dead even, like something resurrected from a crime scene.
Lil Baby shows up here too. It is a fitting feature. At 20, Lil Baby spent 2 years in prison for drug trafficking. He’s a real one and his verse does a great job of elaborating on the street life Future so eloquently paints. I miss when Lil Baby was on every trap song (maybe not, but sort of). Lil Baby, if you’re reading this…I miss you.
Crossed Off is an absolute blast. An 808Mafia assist, this track and beat feels like mixtape Future from 2013. It’s just straight up hood vibes. Future mean mugs over some awesome production that feels very “on the block" if that makes sense. Just the sounds of a busy day in an Atlanta trap house. Listen to these bars: “Hoe chose my pimping I’m a real one/ I’m with 5 thick strippers and some lesbians.” What? That’s brilliant. It’s random, hard and strangely real. If you’ve ever been to Atlanta, you know that could actually happen and it wouldn’t be the strangest thing to happen to you. It’s yet another perfectly executed call back on this tape. I mean, this beat and this flow are like 10 years old at least. And they sound immaculate. Timeless.
Crazy Clientele finds Future back in his zone, cutting crack with his nail. He’s got crazy clientele. This is a patented hood story from Future. The production is simple, some eerie synths, mean pianos and a murderous sub bass that sounds like a serial killer is stalking you. Future is on his Slaughterhouse 5 timeline here, serving dope in one second while reflecting on his success in the other, looking forward and backwards with the same intensity. He muses on why he raps. There are things driving him sure, but mostly, it’s his way of sticking to his roots. Future knows he’s too rich to sell crack. But he’ll never be rich enough to forget why he sold in the first place. The beat switches up, the sub stuttering at the end, as someone begins knocking on Future’s door, intercut with police noises.
Show of Hands is a killer track, though Future takes a slight backseat here. That’s entirely because A$AP Rocky shows up and talks mad shit to Drake. The beat is awesome. It’s sinister, skeletal and mean, with a strong undercurrent of primal violence, fitting of the utter violation that occurs on this track where A$AP reveals that he hooked up with Drake’s baby momma first. Reminder: if I was a rapper, I would never get a girlfriend because she would end up being used in a diss at me.
Future’s hook on this song is so blunt and hard that it’s probably the best hook across all 40+ tracks Metro and Future made for these projects. It’s also just…classic Future. “I’m a trap ———- better watch yo ho” is not a threat, it’s a fact, when Future is saying it. I think this is one of the overall best songs across the three projects and it feels like the best blend of modern Future with old Future on this mixtape.
The mixtape closes out with Streets Made Me A King, an understated number compared the other tracks on this record. A simple, vibey beat that Future ride home for the rest of the record. It’s a tidy track, one where he ties in all the themes of this mixtape. The streets made Future a king, but he will always be a part of the street life, whether in his records, his beliefs, or his actions. Future reflects on far he has come from where he was, but also how in many ways his focus and mindset is still the same as that young man hustling on the streets of Atlanta.
Also, these hooks….excellent. “I got white girls on me, Avril Lavigne” is such an awesome throwback I hope she knows about it. This track is a little poppier. It’s like seeing the sunset after a dark and rainy day. There’s a strong sense of closure and it’s something like an exhale, a release of the psychotic tension that drives this record.
And there we have it. I could write about it for days, probably years. But there’s no point. Better to write a book about DS2 and that era, because that’s what this brought me back to. Honestly, I just want to sit and listen to it. So that’s what I’m gonna do. Peace and love. We’re talking about Taylor Swift next time, so whether you like Taylor or hate Taylor, you should probably bring your pitchforks.
