Future & Juice WRLD Present... WRLD ON DRUGS

If *Goodbye & Good Riddance* was Juice WRLD’s coming-out, his mixtape with Future, *WRLD ON DRUGS*, details the decadent after-party. Gone are the woeful feels that propelled the late Chicago rapper into the emo/hip-hop stratosphere. In their place are euphoric end-zone celebrations with his new BFF, the godfather of the current wave of Auto-Tuned rap crooners cosigning one of his upstart scions. Together, they formed a potent tag team whose melodic styles complement and often play off each other. They go boast-for-boast on “Fine China” and count stacks with Young Thug on “Red Bentley.” Songs like “Oxy” and “Ain’t Livin Right” echo the nihilistic tone set by *Goodbye* tracks “Lean Wit Me” and “Black & White.” And when the intoxicants wear off, Future is left with bleary-eyed moments of clarity (“Afterlife”). Then on “Hard Work Pays Off,” the two tally the wins and losses and toast with plastic cups.

It’s a good effort to try and retrieve Future from the Pluto of his own imagination, but too often his collaboration with the 19-year-old Chicago rapper plays to neither of their strengths.