The following opinions are #JustFacts.
#DirtySprite2 is upon us. Some of you might be familiar with Future’s work because of the original Dirty Sprite mixtape. Or from his breakthrough single “Tony Montana” (and YC’s “Racks” if you know your liner notes). Others might have just started liking his music. Or maybe, somehow, you still don’t feel it. Regardless, you’ve heard his voice if you’ve tuned in to your local hip-hop or pop radio station. If you’re even taking the time to read this, chances are you’re an incredibly loyal friend or you’ve heard of this #FutureHive thing (all respects to Queen Beyoncé). This hive has been labeled as nothing but Twitter hype, trendfollowing, and the unfaithful man’s soundtrack, but Future’s latest mixtape album DS2 being the number one album in the country would suggest otherwise.
If you want to read about recreational drug use and/or dealing being immoral, you’ve come to the wrong piece. If you want to read about misogyny in hiphop being immoral, you have also come to the wrong piece. If you’re wondering what the trap is and you’re not even over 40 … maybe this isn’t the article for you. That’s all been covered before. In fact, I urge you to read on those topics. But I’m here to focus on what hasn’t been and probably won’t be addressed when it comes to DS2… pain, flame and champagne: the American trap story.
When we see rappers, we see the chains, cars, money, strip clubs and women. We might even see them at the same damn time. Kanye and Drake are among few rappers who have gained commercial success in recent years while generally shying away from these commonalities and substituting them with raw emotions on life topics. But they were never quite trap artists (except for some crossover tracks). Do trap artists feel pain? Do they just bring the flame and pop champagne? If there’s more to them, who speaks to the trap? Who has the gift of gab for kids on dab?
U guessed it. All respects due to Gucci Mane The Trap God, but the Future is now. Truthfully, there’s no one poppin’ while spitting their truth quite like Future is. Kanye West once said, “Is hip hop just a euphemism for a new religion?/The soul music of the slaves that the youth is missin’?” in his song “Gorgeous.” I will argue that Future is one of the most candid trap artists we’ve got, and #DirtySprite2 is adding to the playlist of Negro spirituals for the modern-day Trap god.
(If you have yet to listen to the mixtape album, this would be a great time to do so. We’ll wait…)
Pain.
“Molly and them Xans got me aggravated
…
I’m posted with my niggas, let the champagne flow
A nigga was depressed, now my mind back healthy
A product of them roaches in ’em ashtrays
I inhale the love on a bad day
Baptized inside purple Actavis.” (“I Serve The Base“)
Future’s second DS2 hymn (which is one of my favorites) and which is on one of the grittiest beats, also happens to be one of his most comprehensive candids. In a single verse, Future encapsulates the cycles of a common trap life. In his narrative, Future served/serves the freebase (do your Googles). Im sure a large number of my readers cannot fully relate to this lifestyle, but luckily we have artists to expound. Future is at a point where he can be both irritable and celebratory. Why would he need to take Molly and Xanax at once?
Well. Because he can. And because he was (and might still be) depressed. Future has used prescription and recreational drugs as his medication of choice. The pain and flame required for his current life have led to the use of champagne (and other substances for recreation) to get his mind back healthy. Afterward, he’s “feelin’ way better, feelin’ way better” (“Slave Master“). He might even compensate with clothing when “Alexander McQueen is therapeutic” (“Rotation“). Regardless, his lyrics might just be hinting that there is pain in his lifestyle, for example, “I disguise pain when I make it rain” in “Slave Master.” How is this lifestyle sustainable?
It might not be. Future might even realize this. When he says “I can’t help the way I’m raised up. That Easter pink, I tried to give it up, I can’t give it up” (“Blood on The Money“), he might be trying to tell us something. When he says “That Molly, that drank, and that kush/I think I went over my limit” (“Colossal“), maybe he’s trying to tell us something. Is he addicted to these substances that “may cause habitual use?” “Long Live A$AP Yams, I’m on that codeine right now!” …
Future’s consciousness of his addictions is poignant. It’s important that I make note of DS2‘s meaning in the context of black culture. A large number of black people would agree that a cohort of their elder family members (or all of them) have little belief in mental disorder. I won’t retrieve the study links for you. We’ve tweeted it, so it is fact. Black people have had to overcome considerable adversity despite their emotional or mental health. We even see in the media how America at large is only willing to believe black people have mental disorders when it serves as a single piece of evidence that they are deranged criminals. Black families have often adapted the mentality of pulling themselves up by their own bootstraps because “We aren’t weak. We have to be strong. It’s the only way we can survive.”
Nayvadius Wilburn (Future) is no different. In his lyrics, we see that he is barely coming to terms with his mental state as the underlying cause for much of his drug abuse. Yet he still expresses no solution to his pain other than the bandages of wealth and drugs.
Future is currently determined to continue living his lifestyle for as long as he can. As long as he brings the flame and keeps enough champagne flowing, he can continue to numb the pain. “Told yourself a million times you don’t give a fuck/sold over a million dimes, you don’t give a fuck” (“Trap Niggas“). Will Future ever find the motivation to care?
I can never actually know the intentions of Future’s most introspective lyrics. But his fans are surely singing them at the top of their lungs at his shows, at home, in their cars, at the function and everywhere else socially acceptable (or unacceptable). Are we listening? Is his message getting across to who really needs it? And what are we doing with this information?
By now, we realize that there are multiple reasons we can sing some of these songs at the top of our lungs during the function. Not only are the cadences of his hooks divinely inspired, but we can also relate to the content. We might not actually be serving the base, but we might be serving Omarion in a danceoff. We might be serving the people what they really need when we upload the most fire IG post of all time. We might be serving natural hair products for our Black-owned startup companies. And by the way, where yo ass was at when we was in the library studying for the Organic Chemistry final? As Future illustrates in his album-accompanying documentary series “Like I Never Left,” it’s not about identifying exactly with his lyrics and situations, “it’s about feelin'” (Like I Never Left, Pt. 2). The streets are feelin’ somethin’.
And we can even relate to Future’s guilty pleasures, addictions and relapses with drug abuse much more than we realize. We all addicted to something. We all have pain in life, and we all find a way to cope, whether it’s short or long term. A lot of the time, we don’t really address the sources of our pain. We just sing along to the hook at the fun parts. But hopefully we will be able to sing every bar — the joyous and the painful ones. Hopefully we get to a point where we can pull the weed from the root. Hopefully we find healing that is fulfilling. For everything else, there’s #DirtySprite2.
Albert Williams has never whipped a brick or served the base, and he wrote this short thesis on his iPhone Notes. But he does implore you to respect his privileged gangster.
*All memes used in this work belong to the Internet.
Albert is a scholar, creative artist, and writer. He founded www.staywoke.us, a brand and initiative promoting conscious lifestyles of learning, teaching, and activism. View his Twitter @alb.woke for more Albert Facts, jokes, and artwork.
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