Future

After a quick fire hype session from his DJ, Future came on stage and met eyes with a room only half full. The venue for this gig had already been downgraded on account of poor ticket sales, and there was something quite bizarre about a Billboard Top 5 rapper playing in the basement of a student union. But despite the sense of disheartenment in the air, Future came off as a consummate professional.

Racing through a set where Bugatti worked as a precursor for U.O.E.N.O and a handful of ladies put their hands in the air for Future to tell them he wanted to be their “trophy”. Crack – like the rest of the crowd – got sufficiently turnt and partied with Future. His voice was on point, his energy was right and he seemed unfazed (maybe even a little in denial) by the sparse crowd.

Here’s the thing, when we left we automatically thought that Future’s light was fading. We saw his entourage enforce a “no photos” policy to all of three fans waiting outside the union, and this scenario could mislead some to think that Future’s career is another flash in the pan in the turbulent landscape of rap. But of course, that’s not really the case.

It seems like in the UK, it’s difficult for any contemporary-sounding US rapper to ever find a midpoint between a one-off London hype show and the arena statuses occupied by Drake and Jay Z. Rather than investing time and effort in to these newer developments in hip-hop, UK fans would much rather dig out their “Protect Ya Neck” scarf and see when Jurassic 5 are heading back to Brixton Academy. A few days after this Future gig, A Tribe Called Quest’s Phife Dawg was booked (and subsequently cancelled) to play a 1000-capacity venue in Manchester, and 1st release tickets reportdely flew out. We aren’t badmouthing the legacy of Tribe, but Phife’s last album – Ventilation: Da LP – dropped 14 years ago and peaked at 175 in the Billboard 200. Future’s 2014 album Honest came in at 2. Nostalgia is fun but, when you’re belligerently obsessing over the parlance of Talib Kweli and Pusha T has to cancel dates, it’s clear that as fan base, the UK contingent is adverse to new developments in hip-hop. It’s the equivalent of sacking off a Kelela gig in the hope that Des’ree comes to town a few days after.

It’s a hard issue to properly diagnose and when rappers like Kendrick and Bronson put out such good material, a lot of fans are justified in hanging on tightly to their paradigm of syllable-heavy rhyme patterns and soul sample-orienated beats. It’s just a shame that so many fans of music that’s so edgy have settled for a retrogressive mindset. Let’s not abandon the old school, but let’s at least give some airtime to the voices who’re keeping the genre fresh.