FUTURE RETURNS FOR A THIRD WEEK WITH PURPLE REIGN
The Fire Marshall isn’t letting up.
For the third consecutive week, the world’s preeminent trap star will liberate another piece of his epic mid/010s run. Future’s Purple Reign mixtape has arrived on all DSPs.
[Stream/download HERE – via Freebandz/Epic Records]
Purple Reign, released in January 2016, joined two of Future’s most trusted confidantes, DJ Esco and Metro Boomin, as the executive producers of the project’s 13 tracks. Production came from Metro Boomin, Zaytoven, Southside and more, combining the producers that handled much of the production from the Monster-Beast Mode-56 Nights trilogy.
The tweak in strategy didn’t slow Future’s momentum at all, as tracks like “Perkys Callin” and “Inside The Mattress” quickly became fan-favorites, while “Wicked” enjoyed a considerable chart run, topping out at No. 41 on the Billboard Hot 100—continued proof that Future could impact radio without the backing of a studio album campaign. (The success of “Wicked” led to its inclusion on Future’s subsequent studio album, EVOL, and thus its absence on this DSP version of Purple Reign.)
Reign represents Future’s return to the mixtape circuit after having solidified himself as a bonafide A-list rap star with the release of his DS2 and What A Time to be Alive (with Drake) albums in Summer 2015. The fan fatigue that can accompany rapid-fire releases by some artists was absent from Future’s aura, as fans continued to yearn for more of the conniving and emotional brilliance that was fueling each of his projects. The resulting Purple Reign tour, featuring opening act Ty Dolla $ign, felt very much like a victory lap for Future, who was comfortably enjoying a third consecutive year at the epicenter of hip-hop.
And in typical Future fashion, he didn’t shut the door on 2016 at Purple Reign. A few short months later, in April, the scorching rapper delivered EVOL, his third consecutive studio album to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in the span of just seven months. To this day, the memory of Future’s relentless run is cherished by rap fans everywhere, and the one-two punch of Purple Reign and EVOL in 2016 was a major cog in its wheel.
Purple Reign marks the third of Future’s previously released mixtapes to be granted a release to DSPs, following 56 Nights and Beast Mode earlier this month.
We hope that you and your loved ones are safe in the midst of this crisis, and if possible, enjoying some vintage Future Hndrxx in the process.
