Just when we all thought Future and Metro Boomin had played their ace, revealed their jokers, and dropped their Draw 4, they’ve gone and tossed a major Wild Card, one that doubles down on their early 2024 reign, somehow manages to bolster their already-cemented legends—and yes, extends and complicates the Drake vs the Universe beef even more.
We should have seen this coming when Metro revealed this second album’s title, We Still Don’t Trust You. Originally when he and Future first announced their plan to drop two projects just weeks apart, fans assumed they would be serving up a redux of one of Future’s biggest career flexes—that moment in winter 2017 when he dropped a self-titled album, boasting some of his biggest rap hits to date, and then seven days later dropped HNDRXX, another, arguably better (not arguable, to be honest—it’s factually better) full-length album that fully indulged in his R&B skillset.
But, in a post-“Like That” world, the second album title made that concept seem like less of a lock. That Still seemed a little too aggressive for an R&B album, and Metro captioning his title-announcement post “job’s not finished” suggested he and Future were more interested in spinning the block on Drake again. The joke, naturally, is on us, for not assuming that if any duo would be capable of pulling off both, it’s these two. Still is indeed the spiritual sequel to HNDRXX fans (read: I) have been pleading for since ‘17, and it reminds us that subliminals still hit when they’re crooned.
But these two know what they started, and they know there’s bloodlust in the air—so in yet another swerve, Future and Metro’s R&B album includes a surprise package of six new rap songs, on which even more direct shots are fired.
Before we get to that though, it must be said: much like HNDRXX stood taller than FUTURE, when the dust settles, We Still Don’t might—might—clear its admittedly very excellent rap predecessor. Boyz II Men interpolations, Ginuwine flips, a Brownstone sample, like a half dozen Weeknd features with his voice in full angelic ethereal mode—Future’s vocal performance and Metro’s production have somehow shifted into an even higher gear. From subverting expectations with a frisky little Miami Vice-type groove to start, the project just sounds great top to bottom with nary a skip. If you’re keeping score, that makes essentially 35 heaters, give or take, that this dynamic duo has given us in the past three weeks alone, not counting the new album’s bonus rap songs. It’s still early in the year, but it’s going to be a tall order for any mainstream rap projects in the pipeline to outdo these two.
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Now, to the drama. The lion’s share of the rap community is more focused on Drake and Kendrick, but if even half of the narratives swirling around Future and Drake are true, then there’s real disdain here. So, something as innocuous as say, We Still Don’t Trust You track five, “This Sunday,” interpolating Drake’s classic Views album cut “Feel No Ways” comes off here as calculated and petty, especially considering it has led the masses to realize that “Sunday” existed first—Drake was actually the one doing the interpolating, which is why his 2016 track lowkey always had a Future credit. Is this Future just liberating a long-sought-after loosie, much like the first album’s “Ice Attack,” or this one’s “Red Leather,” which we’ll get to in a minute? Or is he also sneakily reminding everyone that while Drake’s given him a lot of hits, their influence on each other has always gone both ways?
