Early years Future began his career under the name "Meathead", as a member of the Georgia-based musical collective
Dungeon Family. He was led to join the group by his first cousin Rico Wade (1972–2024), who was part of the group's in-house production team
Organized Noize and operated the
East Point, Georgia "Dungeon" studio which the collective's name was based from. Future performed in a smaller hip-hop group within the collective who went by the name "Da Connect", where he would later be nicknamed "The Future" by group member
G-Rock. Da Connect recorded one album,
Rico Wade Presents: Da Connect which was slated for commercial release in 2003, but was ultimately shelved. Future had one solo record on the project titled "Belly of da Beast", which is considered to be his first song. He did not use autotune in his early career with Da Connect compared to later in his career. During this time, Future appeared in numerous Dungeon Family
music videos, and received his first songwriting credit on the Organized Noize-produced single, "
Blueberry Yum Yum" for rapper
Ludacris in 2004. Wade encouraged him to sharpen his writing skills and pursue a career as a rapper, as recording would create temporary respite from street life. Future voices his praise of Wade's musical influence and instruction, calling him the "mastermind" behind his sound.
2010–2014: Mixtapes, Pluto and Honest From 2010 to early 2011, Future released a series of mixtapes including
1000,
Dirty Sprite and
True Story. The latter included the single "
Tony Montana", in reference to the
Scarface film. a
strip club in Atlanta deemed "largely responsible for launching the careers of artists." In April 2011, he co-performed with Atlanta rapper
YC on his single "
Racks", which would become his first
hit song and
Billboard Hot 100 entry—peaking at number 42. In July of that year, Future and rapper
Gucci Mane would release a collaborative mixtape,
Free Bricks. Future signed a major label
recording contract with
Epic Records in September 2011, days before the release of his next mixtape,
Streetz Calling. The mixtape was described by
XXL magazine as ranging from "simple and soundly executed boasts" to "futuristic drinking and drugging jams" to "tales of the grind". Though Future had told
MTV that
Streetz Calling would be his final mixtape prior to the release of his debut studio album, another mixtape,
Astronaut Status, was released in January 2012. In December 2011, Future was featured on the cover of Issue 77 of
The FADER.
XXL's Troy Mathews wrote, "While
Astronaut Status is up and down and never really hits the highs like 'Racks', 'Tony Montana', and 'Magic' that fans have come to expect from Future, it's apparent that he's poised to continue the buzz of 2011 humming right along into 2012." Future was selected to the annual
XXL Freshmen list in early 2012. His debut album
Pluto, originally planned for January 2012, was eventually released on April 17. Its first three singles were
mastered re-recordings of pre-existing songs, "Tony Montana", "Go Harder", and "Magic", the latter contained a
guest feature from high-profile hometown native, rapper
T.I. According to Future, "'Magic' was the first record T.I. jumped on when he came outta jail. Like, he was out of jail a day and he jumped straight on the 'Magic' record without me even knowing about it." Other collaborators on the album include
Trae tha Truth,
R. Kelly and
Snoop Dogg. On October 8, 2012, Future would perform the hook for
Pusha T's single "Pain", which preceded his 2013 debut studio album
My Name Is My Name. It was announced that Future would be repackaging his debut album
Pluto on November 27, 2012, under the name
Pluto 3D, featuring 3 new songs and 2 remix songs, including the remix for "Same Damn Time" featuring
Diddy and
Ludacris, as well as his single "
Neva End (Remix)" featuring
Kelly Rowland. In November 2012, Future wrote, produced, and co-performed with Barbadian singer
Rihanna on "
Loveeeeeee Song", from the singers seventh studio album,
Unapologetic. On January 15, 2013, Future released the compilation mixtape
F.B.G.: The Movie which features the artists signed to his
Freebandz label:
Young Scooter, Slice9, Casino, Mexico Rann and Maceo. It was certified platinum for having over 250,000 downloads on popular mixtape site
DatPiff. Future said of his second studio album
Future Hendrix it will be a more substantive musical affair than his debut album and features
R&B music along with his usual "street bangers". The album was to be released in 2013. The album featured his then-fiancée
Ciara, as well as other high-profile artists including
Kanye West,
Drake,
Kelly Rowland,
Wiz Khalifa, and
André 3000, among others. The album's lead single, "
Karate Chop" featuring Casino, premiered on January 25, 2013, and was sent to
urban radio on January 29, 2013. The song, produced by Atlanta-based producer
Metro Boomin, spawned an official remix featuring
Lil Wayne, was sent radio and was released on iTunes on February 19, 2013. On August 7, 2013, Future changed the title of his second album from
Future Hendrix to
Honest and announced that it would be released on November 26, 2013. It was later revealed that the album would be pushed back to April 22, 2014, as it was said that Future has tour dates with
Drake on
Would You Like A Tour?. Along with "Karate Chop", the album was preceded by the singles "
Honest", "
Shit", "
Move That Dope", featuring
Pharrell and Pusha T and "
I Won" featuring Kanye West; "Honest" peaked at number 55 on the Hot 100. Upon release, the album was received generally positively and peaked at number 2 on the
Billboard 200. During this time, Future also made a slew of guest appearances on hit songs including Lil Wayne's 2013 hit single "
Love Me", Rocko's single "
U.O.E.N.O." the same year, and
DJ Khaled's 2014 single "
Hold You Down". The former became his first top-10 entry on the Hot 100 and received
diamond certification from the RIAA.
2015–2017: DS2, Evol, Future, and Hndrxx Future released
DS2 on July 16, 2015. On September 20, 2015, Future released a collaborative mixtape with Canadian rapper
Drake, titled
What a Time to Be Alive. The album debuted at number one on the
Billboard 200, Billboard R&B Charts, and Billboard Hot Rap Songs, marking the first time a rapper was able to score two number one albums in a year, in 11 years, since
Jay Z back in 2004. The mixtape has sold over 334,000 copies in the U.S. On January 17, 2016, Future released another mixtape, titled
Purple Reign, with executive production from
Metro Boomin and
DJ Esco, as well as beat credits from
Southside,
Zaytoven and more. On February 5, 2016, Future premiered his fourth studio album,
EVOL, on
DJ Khaled's debut episode of the
Beats 1 radio show
We The Best. In 2016, Future became the fastest artist to chart three number-one albums on the
Billboard 200 since
Glee soundtrack albums in 2010. On June 29, 2016, he appeared in an issue of
Rolling Stone. On Valentine's Day 2017, Future announced via Instagram that his self-titled fifth studio album would be released on February 17, 2017. Exactly one week later, he would release his sixth studio album titled
Hndrxx. Both albums went number one consecutively, which made Future the first artist to debut two albums at number one at the same time on the
Billboard 200 and
Canadian Albums Chart. On October 20, 2017, he alongside
Young Thug would drop their collaboration mixtape Called
Super Slimey. He, along with
Ed Sheeran, collaborated with singer-songwriter
Taylor Swift on the song "
End Game" from her album
Reputation. The song peaked at number 18 on the
Billboard Hot 100 and was Future's eighth top 20 hit.
2018–2019: Superfly, Wrld on Drugs, and The Wizrd On January 11, 2018, Future collaborated alongside
Kendrick Lamar,
James Blake and
Jay Rock for the song, "
King's Dead", from the
soundtrack album of the
Marvel Studios superhero film Black Panther and Jay Rock's third studio album
Redemption. At the
61st Annual Grammy Awards, the song earned two
Grammy nominations, for
Best Rap Performance and
Best Rap Song, marking Future's first career Grammy nominations. Future curated the
soundtrack for the movie
Superfly, which was released in June 2018. On October 19, 2018, Future released
Wrld On Drugs, a collaborative mixtape with fellow American rapper
Juice Wrld.
Wrld on Drugs debuted at number two on the US
Billboard 200 behind
A Star Is Born by
Lady Gaga and
Bradley Cooper, with 98,000
album-equivalent units, which included 8,000 pure album sales. It became Future's tenth top-ten album in the United States, and Juice Wrld's second.
The Wizrd received generally positive reviews from critics and became Future's sixth US number-one album, debuting at number one on the US
Billboard 200 with 125,000 album-equivalent units (including 15,000 pure album sales). With the release of
The Wizrd, several songs from the album charted on the
Billboard Hot 100, leading to Future becoming the artist with the 10th most entries in Hot 100 history. At the
61st Annual Grammy Awards held on February 10, 2019, Future won his first
Grammy Award for
Best Rap Performance for his collaboration alongside
Jay Rock,
Kendrick Lamar and
James Blake for the song, "
King's Dead", from the
soundtrack album of the
Marvel Studios superhero film Black Panther. On June 7, 2019, Future released his second project of the year, his debut solo EP titled
Save Me.
Save Me received mixed reviews from music critics and debuted at number 5 on the US
Billboard 200. , Future's frequent collaborator, in 2023|246x246px
2020–2021: High Off Life and Pluto x Baby Pluto On January 10, 2020, Future released the third single for his then upcoming seventh studio album: "
Life Is Good", which features
Drake; the song peaked at number two on the
Billboard Hot 100, and eventually was the highest charting song off the album. On February 15, 2020, Future released an official remix of his song "Life Is Good", the remix kept Drake’s feature—and added new verses from
DaBaby and
Lil Baby. On May 1, 2020, Future guest appeared on Drake’s sixth mixtape
Dark Lane Demo Tapes; on the mixtape—Future appeared on the tracks "
Desires", and "D4L" alongside
Young Thug. Both tracks charted within the top-30 of the
Billboard Hot 100. On April 1, 2020, Future released the fourth single for his then upcoming album, "Tycoon"—the song debuted and peaked at number 76 on the
Billboard Hot 100 chart. Later that month (April), Future announced his eighth studio album, at the time titled
Life Is Good; The title was later changed to
High Off Life and the album was released on May 15, 2020. The album became Future’s seventh consecutive number one album, debuting at number one on the US
Billboard 200 chart with 153,000
album-equivalent units in its first week. The album sales week also became Future’s largest week since 2015, when his third album
DS2 debuted atop the chart with 151,000 album-equivalent units. On May 26, 2020, Future released the ninth track from
High Off Life as a single, becoming the albums fifth and final single—the track being "
Trillionaire", which features
YoungBoy Never Broke Again. On July 21, 2020, Future and fellow rapper
Lil Uzi Vert both deleted all posts on their
Instagram pages respectively and proceeded to upload a visual teaser directed by
Hype Williams, intending to announce an at-the-time upcoming album titled
Pluto x Baby Pluto. Later that month, on July 31—which is Uzi’s birthday, Future and Uzi both released the collaborative singles "Patek" and "Over Your Head", both singles would later appear on the deluxe edition of
Pluto x Baby Pluto. On November 13, 2020, after extensive promotion—Future and Lil Uzi Vert released their collaborative album
Pluto x Baby Pluto, which was both artists second project of the year; the album debuted and peaked at number two on the US
Billboard 200 with 105,000
album-equivalent units. The album was blocked from the number-one spot by
AC/DC’s album
Power Up—which debuted atop with around 12,000 more units (117,000 units). Throughout 2020, Future guest appeared on many songs, all of which either performed well on music charts, or didn’t chart. Future was featured on "Big Drip" by
Ufo361 on January 17, 2020—"Dead Man Walking" by
2 Chainz also on January 17, 2020—"1st n 3rd" alongside
Lil Baby by Marlo on January 23, 2020—"
Happiness Over Everything (H.O.E.)" alongside
Miguel by
Jhené Aiko on February 26, 2020—"What It Was" by
Lil Gotit on June 26, 2020—"Rari" by Octavian on July 27, 2020—"Thrusting" alongside
Swae Lee by
Internet Money on August 21, 2020—"Gucci Bucket Hat" with
Pap Chanel featuring Herion Young on October 20, 2020—and many other features. On March 26, 2021, Future collaborated with rapper
Moneybagg Yo to release the single "
Hard for the Next", which became the second single from Moneybagg Yo's fourth studio album: ''
A Gangsta's Pain''. On May 28, 2021, Future collaborated with
Hotboii to release the non-album single "Nobody Special." On September 24, 2021, Future collaborated with rapper
Gunna to release the single "
Too Easy", which happened to be the lead single from Gunna's at-the-time upcoming third studio album:
DS4Ever; the song charted in the top-twenty of the US
Billboard Hot 100 chart. On December 15, 2021, Future collaborated with rapper
Rvssian to release the non-album single "M&M", which also features vocals from
Lil Baby. Throughout 2021, Future appeared on many songs as a featured artist, most notably—he broke the record for the most
Billboard Hot 100 entries (125) until a number-one song was captured, he earned his first number-one with his feature alongside
Young Thug on
Drake's single "
Way 2 Sexy", which debuted in the Hot 100's number one position.
2022–2025: I Never Liked You, ''We Don't Trust You, We Still Don't Trust You, and Mixtape Pluto'' On February 11, 2022, Future released his first solo single in over a year, "
Worst Day", which happened to appear on the deluxe edition of his at-the-time upcoming ninth studio album. On April 20, 2022, Future was named the "best rapper alive" by
GQ. On April 29, 2022, Future released his ninth studio album
I Never Liked You after it was previously announced earlier that month. The album was a commercial success, becoming his eighth number one album and debuting atop the
Billboard 200 chart—moving 222,000 album-equivalent units in its first week, becoming Future's largest sales week by album-equivalent units.
I Never Liked You notably spawned four simultaneous top-ten entries on the
Billboard Hot 100: "
Wait For U" featuring
Drake and
Tems (at No. 1), "
Puffin On Zootiez" (at No. 4), "
712PM" (at No. 8), and "I'm Dat Nigga" (at No. 10). All sixteen tracks from the album debuted on the Hot 100; as well as two additional tracks charted by Future, causing him to have 18 simultaneous entries that week. On May 3, 2022, Future released the seventh track from his ninth studio album
I Never Liked You as a single, "Wait for U", which features Drake and Tems—the track previously became Future's second number one single on the
Billboard Hot 100, Drake's tenth, and Tems' first. On May 6, 2022, Future released "
Keep It Burnin", the third track from
I Never Liked You as a single, the track features vocals from
Kanye West. Future released ''
We Don't Trust You, a collaborative album with Metro Boomin, on March 22, 2024. The duo then released the sequel album, We Still Don't Trust You, exactly three weeks later on April 12, 2024. On September 2, 2024, he confirmed the release of his seventeenth mixtape Mixtape Pluto''. In early 2025, Future featured on the song "
Fxck Up the World" from the album
Alter Ego, the first solo studio album by Thai rapper
Lisa. On March 28, 2025, longtime Freebandz affiliate and best friend of Future,
Young Scooter, was killed in Atlanta, Georgia, leading Future to take a break from recording.
2026–present: Upcoming untitled tenth studio album In March 2026, Future confirmed that his tenth solo studio album was on the way after having previously teased it throughout January and February. Alongside the announcement, he debuted a new song, "Ready to Slide", during a live performance, which is anticipated to appear on the album. ==Musical style==