Dirty Sprite

Dirty Sprite

For Future, Dirty Sprite is where it all begins. Released in 2011, the third mixtape from the rapper born Nayvadius Wilburn allowed Future to finally break out from the saturated Atlanta trap scene. It was about time: Though it initially seemed as though Future had simply emerged from obscurity, he’d actually come up in the Dungeon Family—the collective that had fostered the early careers of Outkast and Goodie Mob—through Rico Wade, a cousin who worked as a producer for Organized Noize. It was during his Dungeon Family era that Future ditched his original alias—which was, no joke, Meathead—and came up with a far more fitting handle. But Dirty Sprite doesn’t just mark the arrival of a bold new name in rap; it’s also an artifact from a transitional era in hip-hop’s Southern epicenter. The Travis Porter-assisted “Pop Them Bands” channels the bubbly strip-club sound that had long been a staple of the scene, while “Yeah Yeah,” which co-stars a freshly renamed 2 Chainz, borrows from the bombast of late-2000s Gucci Mane. It’s all kicked off by the striking titular intro track: Over a creepy beat from producer Mike WiLL Made-It—who’s about to become a force in his own right—Future sing-songs a startling ode to his prescription-strength soda of choice, at one point confessing, “I think I lost my heartbeat for a second and a half.” (Don’t try this at home, kids!) Dirty Sprite was the opening salvo in what would be a lengthy run of early hits. A few months after its release, YC released “Racks,” the crossover hit with a hook that would introduce Future to the charts. It was soon followed by Future’s Drake-assisted debut single, “Tony Montana,” on which Future slurs one of the best-worst Scarface impressions in rap history. They were all part of the lead-up to Future’s hook-heavy 2012 hit Pluto—one of the strongest major-label rap debuts of the decade, and the album that would launch Future’s career into the stratosphere. Yet Dirty Sprite remains a crucial release in Future’s discography (so much so that, in 2015, he’d return to the album with the blockbuster follow-up DS2, in which Future continues to chronicle his tortured relationship with his double cup). But the original mixtape still resonates, mostly due to the shock of Future’s voice, which comes off as uncannily Auto-Tuned—before any effects are even applied. It’s the sound of a future superstar.

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