FUTURE. Relishes his return to form.
THE BIGGEST stories about hotshot rapper Future recently were those of his strained relationships with songstress Ciara (“Goodies”), who called off their 10-month engagement barely three months after she gave birth to their son in August last year, and hip-hop artist T-Pain, who tweeted him for using auto-tune “incorrectly.”
The 31-year-old rapper defended himself by saying that he uses the audio-processing device for rapping, not singing—because “it makes my voice grittier. Future is not everybody.”
This week, the irrepressible performer proves there’s more to him than those severed ties and his acclaimed mixtapes (“Monster,” “Beast Mode,” “56 Nights”), and relishes his return to form with a provocative new disc.
In fact, there’s no better time for Future but now—because his third studio recording, “DS2 (Dirty Sprite 2),” has just been declared this week’s No. 1 album on the Billboard 200!
With its hook-heavy enigmatic grit, wince-inducing honesty (“Groupies”), sleek synthesizers (“Colossal”) and more-confident-than-ever hip-hop swag, Future’s strangely appealing latest album eschews the pop-music compromises of “Real and True” (with Miley Cyrus) and the mainstream-accessible tracks of “Honest,” his successful pop-stardom bid last year.
For pop music lovers, the lush R&B sensuality of “Rich Sex” is a ravishing crowd-drawer.
This time, the rapper discusses hurtful truths about choosing sex and drugs over romance (“Thought It Was A Drought”), creating monsters out of pop stars (“I Serve The Base”), his lavish lifestyle (“Blow A Bag”), paying his dues (“Blood On The Money”), understanding street violence (“Lil One”), his self-serving motives (“Where Ya At,” with Drake), and claiming that “the best thing I did was falling out of love” (“Kno The Meaning”)! Ouch.
Rita Daniela
For her part, it took the first grand winner of “PopStar Kids,” Rita Daniela, 10 years before she realized her dream of waxing her first solo album—but, it’s well worth the wait. She was only 9 years old when she won the singing tilt in 2005.
We’re happy to note that her self-titled recording, “Rita Daniela,” has no throwaway tracks and is—one of the season’s best OPM releases!
The gifted 19-year-old can do justice to any song (or genre) she’s tasked to breathe musical life into—from ballads (Toto Sorioso’s “Hahanap-Hanapin Ka” and the revival of Janno Gibbs’ “Fallin’”) and midtempo tunes (Ann Margaret Figueroa’s “Ihip ng Pag-ibig”) to dance music (Edmund Perlas and AJ Salazar’s “I’m Flying High,” and Perlas and Jason Aguja’s infectiously twitchy “Forever With You”).
“‘Di Lang Ikaw,” the repertoire’s sultry and self-penned standout track, about the thrills of reciprocated romance, is notable for its catchy groove, Rita’s confident singing and gorgeous harmonies that don’t call attention to themselves!