All of Future’s Albums Ranked From Worst to Best: Critics’ Picks

Future dubbed The Real Me as the “album of the century,” but sorry to Pluto, but this isn’t his Thriller. Stretches of the album drag, and that could be in part due to not having any features. Future has proven to carry a project by himself, but has also been a super collaborator throughout his career.

There are still plenty of standout moments sprinkled throughout the project. He implements a nursery rhyme counting flow on “One Two,” builds his dream girl on “Build a Bitch” and takes us back to his classic “King’s Dead” flow while inhaling a hit of helium on “2018.”

“Tank Top Pluto” births another Future persona and “Konnichiwa” delves into his romantic escapades traveling through Japan. Wheezy’s gloomy production sets the table for Future to brag about branding his women with AP watches and trying to avoid being toxic, but confesses he’ll always comes back (“stay away from that toxic shit, but I can’t deny it”). Future’s love for the game needs to be studied.

Future’s music isn’t meant for a society frozen by the COVID-19 pandemic. High Off Life is preceded by a strong run of singles before the world shut down. He opens up about suffering from paranoia with Lil Durk on “Last Name” and reunites with Drake for their jubilant smash “Life Is Good.”

While he promised that High Off Life was the start of a new chapter, the album contains plenty of the same tricks and themes of classic Future: chasing various women, drug-fueled nights and selling dope.

Future’s been a more than capable collaborator throughout his career, and he collides with NBA Young Boy (“Trillionaires”) and Travis Scott (“Solitaires”) for a pair of Hot 100 top 40 hits. But it’s worth circling back to a bar from “Posted With My Demons” that feels so Future it hurts. “Rich n—a f–kin’ on the baddest b–ch/ I still fuck a average b–ch/ I be on some savage s–t,” he raps about not being above his carnal desires.

When you look at Honest‘s album credits, the usual suspects are there. Mike Will Made-It’s genius gave Future his first top 10 hit with “Love Me,” while Metro Boomin, in the process of evolving into a dominant force in hip-hop, gives a knock to the piano-driven title track. Sonny Digital, TM88, Southside and even Organized Noize from his Dungeon Family past are all there. But upon its 2014 release, critics referred to it as a flop. 

Honest is an ambitious album, and at times, maybe too ambitious. While Future’s appeal has always been his gritty melodies, his sophomore album is glossed up by top-dollar and inorganic features (Wiz Khalifa, Ye, Andre 3000). But Future keeps his core fans happy with bangers like “Covered n Money,” “Special” and “Karate Chop” — which see him brazen, introspective, and narcotic-driven, respectively.  

For every one of those tracks, though, we see him testing out forced collaborations like the Ye-assisted “I Won” or the head-scratching ode to his Dungeon Family days on “Benz Friends” with Andre 3000. Not to mention the distant memory “Real & True,” featuring Miley Cyrus, which luckily evaporated before it made the album’s tracklist. Nonetheless, Future’s growth from Pluto is noticeable on Honest, from the expansive production to Auto-Tune control and songwriting.– J.R.

It was 2011. Two years after Jay Z almost single-handedly washed away the credibility of AutoTune in the hip-hop market, and its most popular pioneer, T-Pain. The days of pitch-correction seemed pretty much over, only used faintly by other Southern rappers like Travis Porter and Roscoe Dash. Future quietly emerged on the scene with the heavily Auto-Tuned, breakout YC hit “Racks” — you almost can’t recognize Future’s voice on it — and from there it was off to the races. “Tony Montana” won over the streets, and the contribution from Drake from his debut only added to his visibility. It would set the stage for the release of his 2012 debut, the space-y Pluto.

While he was accepted by critics and ATL’s most interesting, rising talent, looking back, the clunky album fortunately didn’t do any damage to Future’s career. There are a few bright spots where creativity shines through but it’s quickly smothered by the attempt at crossover magic. The natural trap anthem “Magic,” which scored Future his first lead hit on the Hot 100 charts, is as creative as hooks come — but comes after the questionable “Astronaut Chick.” The trifecta of “Same Damn Time,” “Long Live the Pimp,” and “Homicide” pushes the offense a bit more, but then comes “Turn on the Lights” and “You Deserve It” to remind folks of his burgeoning star power.

Pluto’s biggest problems come from the overall sequencing and blatant attempts at crossover success, which eventually would come to fruition through the platinum single “Turn on the Lights.” The problem was repaired on the jam-packed re-release Pluto 3D, which featured new takes on old songs and additional records to fill out the original’s weird tracklisting. Future’s debut wasn’t a home run, but fans knew there was something worth investing in. – J.R.

When Future announced I NEVER LIKED YOU, many thought he’d be leaning into his toxic ways coming off a fractured relationship, but that wasn’t solely the case. Things were darker and Future was just numb to it all. He was also looking for his respect as a torchbearer of Atlanta trap for the past decade, with plenty of sons running around rap.

When Future’s good on his 2022 album, he’s great. The project’s hits still hold up four years later and should remain in rotation for his next tour. Just go back to the braggadocious “I’M DAT N****,” Drake and Tems lifting the vulnerable “WAIT FOR U,” “PUFFIN ON ZOOTIEZ” and having Lil Baby and 42 Dugg turn the clock back for “LIKE ME.” – M.S.

EVOL is quite honestly the odd sibling out of Future’s discography. Wedged in between the powerful DS2 and the history-making back-to-back effort of Future and HNDRXX, EVOL now feels like a transition point between the rapper’s two discernible creative peaks.

While it hosts the top 20, double-platinum banger “Low Life” (featuring The Weeknd) and the hit “Wicked,” the project doesn’t feature the growth or drastic change in commentary that the Future Hive has gotten used to over his year-plus streak of wins.

This isn’t to say that EVOL is bad. The triumphant crooning of “Lil Haiti Baby,” the percolating “Photo Copied” and the rockstar vibes of “Fly S–t Only” are enough to keep the album pushing along. But overall it lacks the character, ambition, and style the other projects possess. Even the title EVOL feels like a forced attempt to tap into his brooding, emotionless character as heard on DS2. The overall project feels non-canon in a sense, but still managed to provide him his third No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in seven months. – J.R.

It was only a matter of time before Metro Boomin and Future locked in for a full collab project, after laying the foundation as trap architects for rap in the 2010s and teaming up on plenty of brilliant tracks throughout the last 15 years. Expectations were through the roof, but Metro and Future delivered a solid balance of their traditional sound with mainstream appeal.

They invited plenty of heavy hitters to join the party, including Travis Scott, The Weeknd, Playboi Carti, Rick Ross and of course, Kendrick Lamar. Kendrick’s guest verse on “Like That” hit like a tsunami, swallowing all conversation around the album, and sparking a colossal clash with Drake. It’s tough to think back to We Don’t Trust You without remembering Lamar’s verse-of-the-year candidate.

It had been an unusually quiet 12 months for hip-hop’s favorite codeine-sipping superstar. Following the release of EVOL, Future’s insane output finally slowed down. His contribution to “X” brought 21 Savage from the trap house to the radio, and his power hook on DJ Khaled’s “I Got the Keys” was invigorated by the stealthy flow of Jay-Z. It was a stark contrast from the prior three years of FutureMania running wild in hip-hop.

Then, without the standard album fluff and fanfare, Future was announced — and without fail, interest in the trap star hit a new peak. The first of back-to-back releases, Future felt like a return to basics of sorts — but now with a whole new perspective. Imagine the Future of the Streetz Calling or Dirty Sprite mixtapes, now with hit-making sensibilities and a bolder, unapologetic charisma.

The beefy 17-song tracklist does proves to be a bit of a gift and a curse. With plenty of ammunition in the tank, he’s able to fire off instant bangers like “Rent Money,” “Mask Off,” “Outta Time” and “Poppin Tags.” He even finds room to be contemplative on the final tandem of tracks “When I Was Broke” and “Feds Did a Sweep.” Still, throughout the journey, the spark dims a little through similar production styles, repetitive concepts and a few stray unnecessary skits — which keeps Future’s self-titled set from the absolute top tier of his rankings. – J.R.

You’ve got to be incredibly bold to release two albums in back-to-back weeks, but the risk was validated. For the last couple of years, Future has been on and off in promising a project filled with melodic numbers. Despite the trap king’s bulletproof persona, as exuded on the thrilling DS2 and its tough-talking follow-up Future, there’s always been a hint of his sensitive side lurking. Beneath the lavish tales of “rich sex” and his bold proclamations like “I don’t care if they’re real sisters” has been a vulnerable artist, and HNDRXX unleashed it to the world. Less about ego, and a little bit more humility — well, almost. “My Collection” still reminisces about his string of Hollywood flings, allegedly including Larsa Pippen (wife of Scottie Pippen) and his ex Ciara, which makes the music that much more authentic.

But he slowly spirals into lamenting about his lifestyle on “Damage” and “Use Me,” drugs on “Hallucinating” and fast women, leading to the uncharacteristic album closer “Sorry.” The young, fast, reckless lifestyle slows down for provocative thought, and as a result, Future becomes one of the finest works of his career. The speaker-crackling beats from Metro Boomin, Southside, and 808 Mafia are replaced by the well-woven melodies of Detail (who has worked with Lil Wayne, Beyoncé, Wiz Khalifa) and the refreshing soundscapes of Dre Moon (“Incredible”), Major Seven (“Fresh Air”), and High Klassified (“My Collection”). – J.R.

“Tried to make me a pop star and they made a monster,” seems like the most telling of lyrics from Future’s magnum opus Dirty Sprite 2. Through the course of his mixtape marathon of Monster, Beast Mode, and 56 Nights, Future shifted his own musical narrative from trap hustler to lamenting, and at times remorseless anti-hero. DS2 is the result of this ruthless transformation. The emotional trap ballads of “Turn On The Lights” and “I Won” are non-existent, making way for gritty, brazen lyrics of “Thought It Was A Drought” (“I’d choose the dirty over you, I ain’t scared to lose you”) and the savagery of “Groupies”.

Instead of tapping hip-hop’s biggest producers, he employed a team that works — longtime collaborators Metro Boomin, Southside and Zaytoven — to weave together a backdrop to his promethazine and codeine-soaked tapestry of emotional numbness. It feels like Future at his true core, dialed up to 10.

But beyond the music itself, the gradual build to DS2 added to the merit of its legacy. Hip-hop listeners became skeptics after the slight commercial and critical setback Honest, but the six-month stretch of the aforementioned quality projects re-positioned Future as a force in the genre. Rivaling the mixtape build to classic efforts like 50 Cent’s Get Rich or Die Tryin’ or Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter III, listeners invested in Future and it paid off big time.

Dealing with a cavalcade of issues, from his break-up with Ciara to the under-performance of Honest, DS2 is a reinvention of sound and a reassertion of Future’s dominant position in hip-hop. A collection of bangers with no fluff in between, DS2 may not just rank as the best album in the rapper’s catalog — but eventually a classic in the modern hip-hop zeitgeist. – J.R.