A Review of Future & Juice WRLD's "Future & Juice WRLD Present... WRLD On Drugs"
Initial Thoughts:
Coming off his 2018 debut album "Goodbye and Good Riddance," Chicago rapper Juice WRLD teams up with Atlanta rapper Future to create "Future & Juice WRLD Present... WRLD ON DRUGS." Future, who has been working hard in his own right, has dropped "BEASTMODE 2" in early July and was on every song of DJ Esco's "KOLORBLIND" which was released in late March. Overall, this will be Future's third project of 2018, not counting the Superfly soundtrack which is also under Future's discography. 2018 has been Juice WRLD's year, capped off by having "Lucid Dreams" peak at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and his debut album peak at #4 on the Billboard 200. Juice WRLD is definitely someone who is expected to get hotter as his career develops. Future however, appears to be on the down end of his prime as he hasn't been as hot as he was in 2015, the year the classic albums "DS2" (solo) and "What A Time To Be Alive" (a collab album with Drake) were released. That being said Future has still been able to keep afloat. This project looks to be a good one simply because of the subtle similarities in the music made by Juice WRLD and Future. Juice WRLD's melodies combined with the versatility of Future make this collab super attractive at first glance. Also, a part of our first glance was the lone single released titled "Fine China" which sounded amazing, and also did well for a random single. Looking at the track list we have six features (Young Scooter, Young Thug, Lil Wayne, Yung Bans, Gunna and Nicki Minaj) who can provide a different sound for the most part compared to the styles of Juice WRLD and Future. These six features are spread out over the course of 16 tracks, with Future being on 15 out of the 16 and Juice WRLD on 13 of the 16. Now without further ado, let's get to the review! 👂🏾
Review 👂🏾
Scale
Per song
+.5 for beat selection
+.5 for flow
+.5 for content/impact
+.5 for hit value
Points will be taken off for:
Fatigue in listening
Lack of diversity in beats
Raw Score: The amount of good songs on a project versus the overall amount. Songs must have a +1 or above to be counted.
Quality Score: The total amount of points accumulated over the total amount of songs.
Playback value: The resonance an album is perceived to have if played again in full. Scale out of 5.
Jet Lag (ft. Young Scooter)
The song starts off with an aggressive bass guitar sound before the electronic bass and high hats drop. The beat is a bit loud and drowns out Juice WRLD's lyrics on the first verse. Young Scooter is more audible on the second verse. Future also gives a solid third verse. I like this beat a lot, the hook gives this song the "hit" feel and the flow on the verses are great.
+1
Astronauts
This beat goes hard! The high-pitched piano and the distorted heavy bass contribute to the hype vibe of this song. The way Future and Juice WRLD come in on the first hook screams hit. The way both artists trade verses shows a lot of chemistry which is super attractive.
+1.5
Fine China
The lone single on this collab project. The way the bass comes in aggressively and often make this beat attractive to the ear. The transition from the Juice WRLD hook to the second verse sung by Future is seamless. The flow beat selection and overall feel of the song scream hit.
+1.5
Red Bentley (ft. Young Thug)
Once again the way the beat comes in gives the ear a certain vibe. This beat is relatively calmer than the first three however, it's still a hype one. The way every artist comes in on their respective verses then proceeds to flow on the beat is once again attractive, for the lack of a better word. The lack of hooks on this project so far add to the feeling of chemistry between the artists on a track because of how seamlessly they go from verse to verse.
+1.5
Make It Back (Juice WRLD)
A solo Juice WRLD song with a calm slow bass, high paced high hats and a synthesizer. Juice WRLD only gives us one verse which is a good verse however, a second verse was needed on this song.
+1
Oxy (Future ft. Lil Wayne)
The bass on this song is reminds me of the bass on the Kodak Black song "Roll In Peace" featuring XXXTENTACION (R.I.P.)
Once again an aggressive and frequent bass with fast paced high hats and a type of string instrument in the background. Lil Wayne gives a solid first verse. Future plays with his voice on the hook and his verse using the same cadence he uses on his feature with Jay Rock, "King's Dead." The hit factor isn't there on this song, however the flow and beat selection is.
+1
7 AM Freestyle
The bass on this song sounds similar to "Yes Indeed" by Lil Baby featuring Drake. Both songs are produced by the same producer, Wheezy. Once again, the chemistry on display between Future and Juice WRLD makes the song, as once again, they seamlessly transition from verse to verse.
+1
Different (ft. Yung Bans)
The beat of this song is a calm one with a banging bass that works on an uneven tempo. At times, all we hear is the bass being distorted. All three rappers produce solid flows over this simple, yet confusing beat.
+1
Shorty
Juice WRLD and Future's chemistry is once again on display, this time trading lines between one big verse. The beat takes a backseat; however, the bass and high hats are still prevalent throughout the song.
+1
Realer N Realer
Once again, the way Future and Juice WRLD come in as soon as the bass drops works in their favor. This time it's Juice WRLD on a great hook over a fast-paced bass and high-hat heavy beat. Both verses, the hook and the beat once again contribute to another good song.
+1
No Issue
A calm beat with a bass with a short lag and high hats in forefront. The verse on this song are good but, the robotic voice in the background of the bass can throw the listener off a bit.
+.5
WRLD On Drugs
This song starts off with an altered electronic guitar or banjo before the bass and high hats come in. I know you're tired of reading this but, (say it with me) the chemistry on this song makes the song.
+1
Afterlife (Future)
The first true solo Future song off this project. The frequent soft bass along with the quiet horn in the background and fast paced drum line give the beat a more up-tempo beat. Future uses a flow that fits accordingly with the beat.
+1
Ain't Livin Right (ft. Gunna)
The mainly piano beat with high paced high hats, a bass line, and bass line works well with Gunna and Juice WRLD's flow on this song. This isn't the best Gunna verse I've heard however, it's still satisfactory for this song. Future doesn't have much a presence in this song aside from the intro and outro of the song. Overall a calm, yet fast paced song.
+1
Transformer (Future ft. Nicki Minaj)
The song starts off with what seems to be a ringtone, which stays with us for the duration of the song. On this song, we actually get some bars! Nicki Minaj's appearance on this song is a bit refreshing because we actually get some bars in her verse. Two lines that stand out to me are when Nicki rap,
"Transform it to a Billy 'cause I really am the goat"
and also the lines,
"Coulda fixed his life but now that nigga need Iyanla."
Nicki Minaj absolutely slays this feature, one minor critique I have about this verse however, is I think she should have kept the cadence that she started with. Overall, this song has that hit factor along with a great beat and great verses from both artists.
+1.5
Hard Work Pays Off
The outro song to this project. Ending this project on a calm note the soft guitar filled beat with a soft bass and slow high hat, leaves us with a slow vibe to close this album out. Once again, both artists flows are on point and the beat selection is satisfactory.
+1
Future & Juice WRLD Present... WRLD On Drugs
Raw Score: 15/16
Quality Score: 17.5/16
Playback Value: 3/5
One word to describe this album is chemistry. The way Future and Juice WRLD maneuvered the transitions between verses on this song gave the listener the feel that they were both in the studio recording together. Overall, this album is full of hype songs that will get the blood pumping and the listener motivated sonically. One thing that didn't do well on this project is the content. Content about drug usage doesn't score well on the content component of the scale and being that the focal point on this album was drug usage, content wasn't where the album would make its currency. Besides the content, the beat selection, flows and hit factors were all present. My three stand out songs are "Astronauts," "Red Bentley" featuring Young Thug and "Transformer" featuring Nicki Minaj. Go stream Go stream Future & Juice WRLD's "Future & Juice WRLD Present... WRLD On Drugs" today on your favorite streaming platform. Also, don't forget to follow OLDMLK.com on Instagram @OLDMLK and let us know what you think of the album!
