Hip-Hop

Listeners are likely to spend this song still trying to recover from Kendrick Lamar spraying the block on the album’s previous track “Like That.” Future fails to regain fans’ attention here, as “Slimed In” serves as more of a filler track, with the rapper going through the motions — featuring a cameo from Pluto’s Super Slimey running mate Young Thug. — MICHAEL SAPONARA

Pluto’s OG fans are going to have “Fried” on repeat heading into the spring. Future leans into his “toxic king” ways as he reflects on running through a plethora of women. Whether Pluto’s flexing on a girl’s ex or heading to the strip club to blow a check and then leaving with the dancer of his choosing, the ATL legend’s devious antics shine bright, even when you can in no way relate. “I don’t want my old h—s, ’cause them h—s all old/ Lookin’ for that young s–t, 24,” he boasts. — M.S.

Why is Future trying to make us cry after the thrill ride that is “WTFYM”? “Where My Twin @” serves as a nice dedication to Young Thug, as Thug unfortunately has to let the legal process play out. Obviously, it would’ve been amazing if he had a feature on this album, but they made sure to include him in a cameo on “Slimed In.” The bonus track is a lost art, and this feels like a proper one. — ANGEL DIAZ

“Runnin Outta Time” plays as a nice interlude as we start to get into the album’s second half. This beat is so cinematic. It should play during a slow motion scene in a crime drama as the protagonist floats through a nightclub owned by the movie’s villain. Metro has been able to bring greatness out of Future: They should always work together, like Gang Starr, like Kid ‘N Play, like the LOX, like…Drake and 40. — A.D.

Some people play Grand Theft Auto as a video game, others live it in real life. Future waxes poetic about his frightening Zone 6 antics over Metro’s icy piano keys. ”Once you join a gang, it ain’t no way you get out,” Pluto raps, delivering a sobering warning. Not a We Don’t Trust You standout, but another solid entry in the Future’s trap lore. — M.S.

Prodigy pops up at the end of “Fried” to set up this track. “Pluto go crazy ’bout the gang/ Until the opps done totin’ they flame/ Ain’t gon’ spare no n—a who play/ Ain’t no love when ni—as fake,” Future raps, reiterating that he’s in war mode. This serves as a nice precursor to one of the album’s best tracks, “Everyday Hustle” with Rick Ross. Is that Stacks on the flute in the background? — A.D.

Proceeded by Prodigy talking about refusing to “listen to that bulls—t,” “WTFYM” finds Future warming up, before flipping out in the way only he can. “Numero uno in the lab, what the f—k you mean? (I’m the one)/ Tie a bandana around my head, they play with ‘Tro, they dead,” are the standout lines from this one. These types of subs are scattered throughout Trust —usually in a song in which Prodigy clips serve as the intro. “WTFYM” is a good rhetorical question to end things on. Now…we wait. — A.D.

This beat sounds like something Three 6 Mafia would’ve churned out during their influential early horrorcore days. It’s haunting, brooding and pick your other foreboding adjective rap writers use to describe beats like this. Then the beat switches and Future turns into a madman. The song ends with Metro talking through the spirit of Prodigy, again reminding us that this is rap music, this is hip-hop. — A.D.

Here goes Metro, using Prodigy to send a message, before the beat drops and Future starts going in about how the fame and success is making him feel like he can’t breathe. The pressure is too much sometimes, so he makes sure to drop tops, hop in bigger whips and cop larger houses. Then, as the song starts to wind down, here comes Prodigy again, reminding us what we’re here for — and boom! “Like That” follows like a hidden pipe bomb in the mail. — A.D.

Future rapping over Mobb Deep’s iconic “Quiet Storm” sample is something nobody saw coming. With Metro’s Midas touch, you have to expect the unexpected. He understands his collaborator and music history which allows him to connect eras in a tasteful way. That all results in “Seen It All” existing as a refreshing Future song in 2024. — M.S.

Metro Boomin’s harrowing production clears the tarmac for Future to indulge in his dark side and lean into his Evel Knievel impression. Pluto heats up with syrupy rhymes showcasing his eclectic duality, going from rapping about leaving a dead body in the trap’s freezer to comparing himself to The Beatles. Special guest The Weeknd takes a backseat here, using his angelic vocals as an instrument adding to the cinematic backdrop, rather than delivering a more traditional collab like their pop-friendly hit “Low Life.” — M.S.

It’s always great when a snippet lives up to the hype. The intoxicating “Cinderella” had a few tentative fan-made titles, as the twinkly anthem sent crowds into an uproar during Metro Boomin DJ sets over the last year. Travis Scott and Future attack rap in contrasting styles but have proven to be dynamic collaborators throughout the last decade. La Flame gets the best of Pluto in this round, with a woozy assist. “Think twice tryna derail us/ The gang like the Goodfellas,” he warns the opposition. The glass slipper fits, and we’d expect a lofty Billboard Hot 100 debut for “Cinderella.” — M.S.

This track starts off so mysterious, almost like a dream. Then, suddenly, a sample of La Chat’s “Yeah, I Rob” switches on, and Big Fewtch gets in his bag and starts blacking out about money and power. But the real kicker is the famous Prodigy clip about corny-ass rappers — clearly a shot at Drake and the rest of the game, reminding us that it’s time for revenge again — as the beat fades into “Type Shit,” where Future gets help from Travis Scott and Playboi Carti. — A.D.

Future sets the tone here, bouncing back and forth like a pinball machine, but Travis Scott invades the scene and makes it his own blockbuster. La Flame awakens all five senses, as his smokey vocals give “Type Shit” a complete shift in aesthetic. Then Playboi Carti takes the baton and continues his winning streak, building off the Hot 100-topping “Carnival,” with another assist raising his words-per-minute averages. Like Rae Sremmurd, Carti doesn’t have no type: “All I want is a– and t—ies, I ain’t got no type s–t,” he raps. This has anthem potential. — M.S.

This is rap music, ladies and gentlemen. This is Hip-Hop in its purest form (you hear that “Everlasting Bass” sample.) Rap is a competitive, full-contact sport, no matter what these mainstream cats try to tell you. The game needed this type of energy, and finally it gets the shot here in the arm it so richly deserved. The Big Three thing was cute when Drake, Kendrick, and Cole were all coming up together — but now, as they’ve each turned into generational superstars, there’s only room for one on that Iron Throne.

Hiding the Kendrick feature on the Trust tracklist was a stroke of genius, because he swoops down from the rafters like Sting, leaving us all like “WTF?” But we should’ve put two and two together, once that “Eazy Duz It” sample starts creeping in as “the thug from around the way” starts losing his mind. This song is the album’s thesis, and we’ll hopefully look back on this moment as the one that started the Great Rap Battle of 2024. — A.D.

Instead of blazing over another trap beat filled with 808s, Young Metro pushes Future’s artistry by bringing a chopped-up soul sample into the equation. A rare occurrence, but Future still sounds super comfortable, and even invites an old friend into the fold. The Atlanta rap legend connects with his “Bugatti” collaborator Rick Ross, who breezes through the soulful production like it’s a lyrical exercise — figuratively — running laps around the competition. — M.S.

They got right to it, didn’t they? “Fake written all over you, hate written all over you,” Future raps in his signature cadence. Who’s he referring to? The answer comes in the second verse, after Future sings “we don’t trust you” like Aretha in the middle of the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church pulpit on the chorus. “You a n—a number one fan, dawg/ Sneak dissin’, I don’t understand, dawg/ Pillow talkin’, actin’ like a fed, dawg/ I don’t need another fake friend, dawg/ Can’t be ’bout a h—, ’cause we sharin’, dawg/ In your feelings, n—a, why you playin’, dawg?”

Now, we were aware Metro and Drake had a little thing going with the deleted tweet heard ‘round the world, but the King of North had a falling out with the new King of the South? Many fans had no clue — and now, we bunker down and watch as this lyrical arms race takes place. Future ends his second verse with a very clear message, “Rappin’ so pretend, you a h—/ Now I figure, n—a, tag a toe/ Ain’t no tappin’ in, better blow.” — A.D.