Welcome to Listening Habits, a column where I share the music I’ve been fixated on recently.
A Futuristic Summa, the latest project from Metro Boomin, is a lot more fun to think about than listen to. The 24-track double LP is a love letter to a specific period in music, in mixtapes, and in Atlanta. Period known as the "futuristic era" was a sub-movement within Southern hip hop whose most prominent avatars were the "black boy swag, white boy tags" pioneer Young Dro, and the partying, girl-chasing boy groups Rich Kidz and Travis Porter. Dro was my favorite of the bunch, one because he was the best at actually rapping and could come up with more inventive colorways than Nike or Crayola, and two because the strip club anthem "All The Money" might as well have gone diamond at Tallahassee night clubs.
Speaking of which, being a college student between 2007 and 2011, Travis Porter also holds a special place in my heart. For as hit-and-miss as their mixtapes could be, their hits really hit.
Suffice it to say, I'm also fond of the futuristic era, at least for what it was at the time. A fun trifle, an opportunity to deck out your wardrobe in nothing but polo and say "stupid, fruity swag." But to Metro Boomin and to the Atlanta artists of his era, that period means so much more. It represents their youth and when music could still be "fun."
"Is music fun anymore?" is one of those rhetorical questions this industry is asking a lot lately. There is an idea—whether due to streaming algorithms, the success of trap music, the decline of rock and R&B, or just the national mood—that music has lost its playfulness, and that this needs to change. Jermaine Dupri feels like the strippers in Atlanta (some of hip hop's most important and influential tastemakers) don't dance anymore because the music isn't made for it. Tyler, The Creator just made an entire album based on '80s rap references and sounds because he wanted to make something fun and silly and danceable. We don't know much about Taylor Swift's The Life of A Showgirl, but combined with the name and the fact that she's gone back to Max Martin indicates that she too wants to have fun. And Metro Boomin has repeatedly called his new album an attempt to bring back regionalism, as well as partying and dancing.
I don't totally buy it. I mean, I believe these artists earnestly want people to party and have fun, but I also think that what everyone really wants is for it to be 10, 15, 20 years ago. Hell, the whole country seems to be pining for a similar return to the past. An inherent part of nostalgia is the sense that "we didn't know how good we had it." Culture reflects the times. When people feel good and optimistic we look to the future, when they're bad, we fixate on the past. Right now it feels like times aren't and might never again be good, so it's no surprise that the culture is so obsessed with the apocryphal good old days.
I don't necessarily knock this retreat to childhood. It's comfortable, and we all could use a little comfort right now. Even something as basic as Cardi B paying homage to my favorite Jay-Z song feels comforting right now, returning me to the days when I thought of Shawn Carter primarily as a rapper instead of a megalomaniacal businessman/business, man. And young(ish) rappers doing #RETVRN music is a lot more fun than old rappers bumbling through AI for their comebacks.
Like the futuristic era itself, A Futuristic Summa is spotty at best. It seems to be less about paying respects to a specific sub-genre than it is just about Metro Boomin working with some of his favorite artists. Waka Flocka Flame is all over this album, and while he was making great music in that same timeframe, no one would link him to the futuristic movement. Migos, 21 Savage, and Young Thug show up on here too, but they were all kids in the futuristic days. I also don't consider Future part of that wave, though he did breakout on YC's "Racks," so that should count for something at least.
Metro Boomin is, of course, perfectly free to work with his friends and idols if he wants. But when you set out to honor a particular sound of a particular period, the details matter. Metro would likely hand-wave away this criticism the same way he does every other mixed reaction to the project, dismissing it an opinion of someone who can't get girls. While it's a funny way to deflect, it is interesting that this album that claims to celebrate partying and women and Atlanta doesn't feature a single one of the many women who are rapping in Atlanta right now. Maybe the most demonstrable proof that at least something has gotten better from then to now is the increased prominence of women holding the mics in rap, and one of the best ways to bring women into the party is when the soundtrack isn't a total sausage fest. Everyone might want to go back in time, but there are some things about the present that are worth keeping.
My Favorite New Songs Out Right Now
"Girlie-Pop!," by Amaarae
Speaking of music being fun AND modern, Amaarae is making some of the best pop music of the moment. A gumbo pot of afrobeat, dancehall, rap, soul, and electronica, with the charismatic, dramatic, baby-doll-voiced heroine at the center of it all. It legitimately is music to get high and party to, made for sweaty clubs and hedonistic nights aplenty.
"Pale Face," by Sk8star
It's hard to fathom, but Playboi Carti's first album is almost a decade old now. With that in mind, it's clear that the generation that grew up on him has started making their own music now, emulating the things that made him unique and trying to imbibe their own personalities and styles into it. Some of these guys are better than others, but one of my favorites is Sk8star, whose new album Pale Fever is one of my favorites of the year so far. The album can feel didactic and repetitive at times for the same reasons as A Futuristic Summa, but its vitality gives it a spirit that most homages have trouble capturing.
"Community," by JID featuring the Clipse
JID is becoming something like the rapper of the moment, which is part of why I've always looked at him with suspicion. I love Outkast as much as anyone but living through an entire generation of kids my age trying to be Andre 3000 is enough to make anyone cynical. Still, the guy is a good rapper, and has something close to universal respect from his peers. I found his collab with the Clipse to have given me a lot of good feelings that I didn't always get from the group's new album, Let God Sort Em Out. It's always good when a younger artist brings out the best in their idols as well as vice versa.
"Daystar," by Vayda
Vayda is just so much fun—witty, silly, but dangerous. Her latest album Get In The Car is full of those trademarks and seriously make me wonder what she could do with a producer like Madlib or DJ Mustard. Or maybe the Alchemist if he ever gets tired of making boring but expensive tracks for other people. She's hitting her stride right now and doing some of her best rapping, don't miss the wave.
"Dumb N Dumber Flo," by Rio da Yung OG and RMC Mike
Not a lot of people outside of the state are locked in on the Michigan rap scene, but for those who are, Rio's homecoming from prison was a celebration. Hearing him reunite with RMC Mike is as monumental to me as a Destiny's Child reunion.
The Best Non-Rap Song of The Moment
"Twenties," by Giveon
If you would like to contribute something or ask a question for future installments, email me at israel@defector.com.
