On songs like Beast Mode 2’s “Hate the Real Me” you can find Future coming to grips with drug addiction that he was just celebrating on the album’s previous tracks. ("Pouring up in public, damn, I hate the real me / My mama stressing out, she say these drugs got me") And then there’s “Codeine Crazy,” a song that though it has had thousands of words from essays to tweets written about it, continues to hold the esteemed position it does in his discography four years after its release for a reason. As former Noisey staffer Kyle Kramer noted about “Codeine Crazy” in 2015, “Never had Future, a guy who a year prior had been riding off a hit literally called “Honest,” come across as so honest and vulnerable.”What’s so striking about Future’s expressions of pain and remorse is how open and raw he’s willing to be when sharing them. The imagery of a man in an eternal battle for his soul, combined with his application of autotune and usage of the right cadences and flows to convey his emotions, have led to some of the most haunting and contemplative songs of the century so far. These songs are captivating because Future isn’t scared to do the kind of self analysis that so many of us would be terrified to do in our own heads, much less for an audience of millions.In a recent interview with The Fader, Future has said that he wants to make some constructive changes in his life and start carrying himself like more of a role model:Takin' three drugs at one time, duckin' one time
Can you niggas stop hating on Future for one time?
I commit a million crimes
That ain't enough for you
I'm a sell a million rhymes
All that shit I been through
Change is always scary. There’s always the chance that he could make the same mistakes as he did before his last transition in 2014. But this isn’t the same Future that released Honest. This is a wiser, more experienced person with a better grasp on his art as well as the world.Playlist: “Slave Master” / “Deeper Than The Ocean” / “News or Somethn” / “56 Nights” / “Hate The Real Me” / “Codeine Crazy” / “Red Light” / “Kno The Meaning” / “Perkys Calling” / Sorry” / “Feds Did A Sweep” / “Hardly” / “Purple Reign” / “If You Knew What It Took” / “4 My People” / “Might As Well”I wanna speak for men that done went through something but also felt like they wasn't gon' become the person that they are. And they listened to Future, and they became a better person. It didn't make them feel like the wrong things they was doing was good. Like I make all your wrongs great. I make all your wrongs right. I don't wanna make your wrongs right anymore. I wanna shed light on the right. I just wanna be that voice how her voice is to reach out and be looked at someone as more of a positive light and someone that's like a innovator or as empowering women. I wanna empower men with that same power but also in the right way.