Question Mark Exclamation Point

Itchin - Future

This year I’ve slowly come around to Future, because somewhere between “Itchin” and Maxwell’s amazing breakdown of Future’s verse on Gucci Mane’s “Brick Fair” my indifference turned to fandom. “Turn on the Lights” is Future’s highest charting song, but I’ve become more found of his hyper-detailed crime narratives rather than his spaced-out singing.

“Itchin” starts with “My mama said ‘Fuck it nigga, hit the streets and live’” and dives straight into explaining why Future calls himself a “Ma-fucking-monster” in the chorus. I’m still coming around on Future’s strained auto-tuned singing, but the pain/conflict from his voice makes one hang on every word he says.

Future provides a similar perspective to Rocko’s world-weary “Squares out Your Circle”, where his tortured and stressed-out hook goes “You got people that’s around you, they gone try their best to down you…what don’t kill you, gone hurt you”. That fine moral divide is a bit troubling and binary, but the emotional struggle from Future are some of the few moments of real doubt and worry in mainstream rap music as this type of more street oriented rap has been pushed to the edges.