Future Hndrxx Presents: The WIZRD

SuperFuture. Fire Marshal Future. Astronaut Kid. Pluto. Hndrxx. These are just a few alter egos of the MC born Nayvadius Wilburn, taken up across a decade-long career as one of Atlanta’s most prolific and inventive voices. As a presentation of yet another identity, *Future Hndrxx Presents: The WIZRD*—the rapper’s seventh solo album—is less a wholly separate Future than one highlighting elements of them all. Future reaches back into his own catalog from the outset: “Tryna run a billion up until my ankle pop” line from opening track “Never Stop” recalls 2011’s “Championship Music,” where he raps, “Money coming in from every angle/Paper chasing, running to it tryna break my ankle.” Over the woozy, Tay Keith-produced “Temptation,” he alternates between a conversational flow and the R&B vocal runs he leaned into on 2012’s *Astronaut Status* mixtape. “Call the Coroner” and “Stick to the Models” are as dark as they are celebratory, chock-full of the unabashed nihilism that made 2014’s *Monster* so powerful. On the Wheezy-produced “Krazy but True,” Future alludes to the rationale behind continuously refining his style: “I’m God to you n\*\*\*\*s/I work too hard just to spoil you n\*\*\*\*s/You need to pay me my respect/Your socks, rings, and your lean/The way you drop your mixtapes, ad-libs, and everything.” It’s a very gentle ear-flick to the many MCs who’ve borrowed styles and ideas from a man who identifies as The WIZRD. Fortunately, his *Future Hndrxx Presents: The WIZRD* project includes only original, homegrown ingredients.

While there’s plenty of his melancholic, drug-induced staples, what you won’t find here is the Atlanta rapper stretching or surprising himself.

Although ‘The WZRD’ makes concessions to rap's move towards greater introspection, these 20 tracks largely draw on the same tired formula

Future's 'The Wizrd' finds the Atlanta rapper closing a chapter of his career by reveling in all of the qualities that brought him acclaim.

With irrefutable longevity in the hip-hop world, Atlanta rapper Future has been making chart-toppers for years. And his seventh album, ‘The

Future, Pluto, Hndrxx, Caesar Lee, and now the Wizrd-- Atlanta rapper Nayvadius Wilburn has compiled quite the collection of sobriquets over his...