The Weekly Coos

Oversaturation is a thing, and though there are different sets of standards based on the artists and the degrees of expectancy, some can be seen as more negative than most. You’d more likely hear about Drake flooding the market with too much music, than that of Curren$y or Crimeapple, for example. It’s a double standard that comes with expectancy, especially when looking into the hip-hop zeitgeist. Lil Wayne managed both greatly at the height of the online mixtape era, but we weren’t thinking about it because at least Lil Wayne didn’t take too many outs, going full 100% or near it with his 2000s mixtapes. Future stays in the oversaturation market, delivering 4 projects over 2 years, but the grind never stops for these artists. So if you’re going to influx the music sphere with a ton of music, at least put in the work, and Future comes hungry; no more haphazardness like Drake, and some of the Griselda boys as of recent. Mixtape Pluto embodies the main characteristics of a Future mixtape, with little to no features, great beats, and rappity rap music beneath Trap beats, even if it doesn’t read the highs of 56 Nights.

Mixtape Pluto jumps on you from the get-go without as much as taking a break with a barrage of tracks that defy conventionalist structures, sometimes just being more like the pre-chorus-chorus-long ass verse-chorus-outro uniqueness of the opening track “Teflon Don,” or something direct and swift like “Ready To Cook Up.” Future has a modus operandi and he delivers with some emotional depth and verbose bravado that showcases talent from the pen game to his flows. It’s a testament to his craft as it allows the music to have more impactful resonance than his last two tapes with Metro Boomin, which came and went with some replay value. Unfortunately, it does stumble from its lack of depth in content, making what could end up being something you push to the wayside as he retreads familiar themes; however, the inner creativity of his storytelling, and more, adds more weight to the emotional heavy tracks, which are some big favorites on the album. I enjoy the occasional flex or look at the grimness of street life, but sometimes you want more, “Ocean” and “Lost My Dogs” stand out because they give you more.

The mixtape can be rocky as its retreading of content can push some away, considering the influx of music, with less crooning and more rapping, it’s enough to say many tracks hit. Or rather, they did with me, especially in the second half where it picks up steam, as creativity floats high. One prime example comes from “Made My Hoe Faint,” where Future focuses on his excess living and materialism as reasons for attracting these hoes, though due to the potential class divide, what he shows may cause them to faint more frequently than not. On the surface, it’s a comical way to deliver a track that flexes, feeling more of an antithesis to some others, where the flexes don’t always come with a high upside, like “Told My,” which shows excess, something people may want, outside the regularness of poor drug use; it can be undermined considering it’s blended within other forms of flexing, like his materialism. It’s an interesting topic in rap, the blend of it all; despite it, when looking at the bigger picture, its complexities add depth to the flex or the low-down and reflective artist talking about it like a crutch or daily splendor, as if saying some choice comes with a price, or the opposite as a means to get by as he raps on “Ready to Cook Up.”

Future is at his best when in mixtape mode mostly due to the quality of the production and the shift he takes away from not having much dichotomy with production from Metro Boomin. Though Mixtape Pluto has many producers credited, you can at least gather you’ll be getting some variety, and you do. The production goes on to fit the context of what Future raps about, whether it’s the sullen piano melodies in the beat for “Lost My Dogs” to signify loss and sadness, or the nuanced hard trap beat like that of “Lil Demon,” that help him reaffirm his status as a Trap rapper. There is much to latch to, but the mixtape isn’t all perfect. It does lack variety and some choruses don’t work; yet, there is an innate consistency coming from certain cogs that you can’t help but keep coming back to, like the interesting slower tempos on “Too Fast,” or exotic synths on “Surfing a Tsunami.” There are many significant highs, even when it can get forgettable as it’s more great work, just newer.

Mixtape Pluto benefits greatly from consistent pacing from beginning to end, considering its 17-track run that may as well not feel so, making the listen feel breezy but predominately fulfilling. It’s a project I wholeheartedly recommend to Hip-Hop fans because you are getting an artist rapping at their peak and most times you can’t neglect that. I was left enthralled with much of the music we got, even when it wasn’t breaking new ground, yet something enriching from Future’s creativity and willingness to show unrestrained emotional depth. It’s good and breezy, cutting straight to the point and giving fans what they want to hear: a hungry Future.