WE STILL DON’T TRUST YOU – Future & Metro Boomin

Album: WE STILL DON’T TRUST YOU

Artist: Future & Metro Boomin

Year: 2024

Genre: Trap, Hip Hop

Grade: B

Houston rapper Future never misses an opportunity to let his listeners know that he can go all night. But when it comes to his music, he still hasn’t learned the age-old adage of quality over quantity. We Still Don’t Trust You is his second collaboration with producer Metro Boomin and the sequel to We Don’t Trust You, which was only released three weeks earlier. That album suffered from bloat, repetition and inconsistency. The follow-up takes things to the next level: a 90-minute double album that alternates R&B on disc one with trap bangers on disc two. Unfortunately, the formatting is the LP’s only distinguishing feature.

It’s similar to what he pulled in 2017, with FUTURE (released on February 17 of that year) showcasing his harder edge and HNDRXX (released one week later on February 24) showcasing his softer, more experimental side — a good demonstration of his various styles and apparent dichotomy.

Unlike those albums, however, the quick-succession collaborations with Metro Boomin too often tread familiar territory. Nevertheless, I applaud the ambition — double albums are a dying art, after all. But I question Future’s economy: what is the point of 18 songs and 70 minutes of material on one disc and only seven songs, 20 minutes on the other?

Obviously, disc one is the meat of We Still Don’t Trust You, a slowed-down serving of Future’s gentler side, in which his mumbled misogyny takes the form of a croon, with plenty of features by The Weeknd that set the mood. Compared to traditional trap music, Metro’s production on this “half” of the album is more spacey and melodic, inspired by R&B and southern hip hop. Yet the songs all sound pretty much the same.

Disc two seems like more of a tacked-on bonus, returning us to the fast-paced, hi-hat heavy trap that is Future’s forte. Exit Abel Tesfaye, enter A$AP Rocky and Lil Baby. Filled with taglines and shout-outs and a few decent beats, it’s more of the same old, same old.

All in all, We Still Don’t Trust You isn’t a bad album — Future has mastered his own style to the point that every song he makes will satisfy his diehard fans. It’s just that he’s clearly on autopilot, and has been since 2015, and is likely to release Grade-B albums until his dying day. There are certainly worse ways to go, that’s for sure.

NOTES & CHORDS

• The best song is “All to Myself,” a groovy downtempo love jam with soulful bass and electric guitars. If all the songs were like this, then we’d have something special on our hands.

• Another highlight is the seven-minute “Red Leather,” the final song on disc one. It’s a fitting conclusion, which makes disc two even more superfluous in hindsight, or foresight in this case. And once again, electric guitars are the secret ingredient.

• J. Cole features on “Red Leather” (a good verse, too), but doesn’t strike back at Kendrick Lamar this time. The entire feud, if you will remember, was all started because of Lamar’s verse on “Like That” from We Don’t Trust You.

• Future’s vocals on “Always Be My Fault” (when he sings “I can’t let you break my heart” with a forced rasp) is grating.

• Metro’s production on “Gracious,” which features Ty Dolla $ign, seems inspired by the chipmunk-soul sampling of Kanye West’s earliest work, while the synthpop of “Right 4 You” seems inspired by 808s & Heartbreak.

• There are simply too many Metro tags on disc two. Every song seems swamped by the endless catchphrases: “Southside!” “This beat is so, so Metro” “Hasla la vista, baby!!” “Wheezy outta here” and the trademark “If young Metro don’t trust you, I’m gone shoot you.” But I guess this is his album, too.

• The good thing, and also the bad thing, about We Still Don’t Trust You is that you can pick any song at random and enjoy it in moderation (even the throwaways on disc two). Every song taken individually is somewhat catchy, but a collection of 25 somewhat catchy songs does not a great album make.

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