Future's Mixtapes Are Made For The Summer And He Knows It

When the rest of the music world rests, Future keeps working. Just days after the Fourth of July holiday, Navyadius releases Beast Mode 2.

Like 2015's Beast Mode, the 2018 follow-up tape — a surprise release by the Atlanta trendsetter — houses nothing but trap and piano-laden beats from Futch's longtime producer, Zaytoven with credited assistance from audio engineer Seth Firkins, one of hip-hop's most respected audio engineers who died in Sept. 2017. Though Futch plays the petty, purple drank QB on all nine tracks, a guest verse from Young Scooter on "Doh Doh" catches attention, requiring head bobbing and an implicit replay. Early standouts are "Doh Doh" and "When I Think About It" both for the boomin' production and quotables. "I know they goin' try to misuse me / Patiently wait while they come up with solutions," he rhymes on "When I Think About It."

Though Future has stayed busy in 2018 — he knocked his guest verse on "King's Dead" out the park, appeared on Zaytoven's debut album Trap Holizay and executive produced the soundtrack to Superfly — Beast Mode 2 is his first new solo release of the year.

Future's famous mixtape tear of 2014 - 2015 (Beast Mode, 56 Nights and Monster) was the reinventing trifecta that led to the rapper's ascension up the charts. And even now that he's counted as one of the game's upper echelon artists, he hasn't lost any of his work ethic. Future will join Nicki Minaj on tour in early fall, which means the Future Hive will have the remainder of the summer months to learn every word of Beast Mode 2 --- plus whatever else he's got stashed on a hard drive ready to drop.

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