The following that Future has spawned since 2015’s 56 Nights mixtape is remarkable. Once he’d stopped trying to infiltrate the pop world and got lost in a swell of his own vices, an army of loyal fans began to rally around him. When Purple Reign dropped early this year, fanatics spammed the social accounts of his ex-fiancé Ciara and her new partner, American football quarterback Russell Wilson, with an Emoji of a purple umbrella in the rain. Outside of the internet, Russell was tackled by Carolina Panthers’ Tre Boston, who celebrated by impersonating DJ Esco’s iconic dance from a Future music video from last year. These gestures of allegiance to the #FutureHive are far from admirable of course, but they indicate how huge Future’s become by pursuing a relatively uncommercial sound.

Musically and thematically, Purple Reign feels like a continuation of Future’s 2015 run. Wicked is a brilliantly oddball song where Future’s slurred flow spills across MetroBoomin and Southside’s fizzy instrumental. On Never Forget, Future laments missing an auntie’s funeral before admitting to selling another drugs the next verse. Inside The Mattress and Perkys Calling are among some of the best songs in Future’s catalogue – with the former showcasing his knack of turning a boast into a cry for help: “Hit another city and another city, I’m just groovin‘ / I was tryna tell you I was losin‘, I was gon‘ tell you I’m improvin‘”. 

What Future lacks in reinvention on Purple Reign, he makes up for in focus. It’s hard to tell whether this tape is a continuation of the Future of 2015, or the starting shot for a brand new year. But just like the protagonist’s worldview, it all blurs into one.

Duncan Harrison