All too often, it goes forgotten that Future once went by Meathead, coming up alongside the legendary Dungeon Family in the late nineties and early millennium. So the story goes, it was producer Rico Wade (Future’s cousin) of Organized Noize that actually gave him the Future moniker we’ve all come to know and love. And while remnants of his early days are few and far between, a previously unearthed Meathead track gave an interesting peek into what might have been — check it out for yourself below.
Curiously enough, Future’s hip-hop roots were explored during our recent interview with Yelawolf, who recently wrapped up his April Onslaught with four brand new projects — including his brand new studio album Mud Mouth. A clear student of the game, Yela took a moment to reflect on how the past era of MCs stacks up to the present, citing the importance of recognizing and appreciating different talents.
“I feel like the era of MCs that I grew up on has never been superseded. Kendrick is the closest, and I say that with all due respect,” he begins. There’s a lot of talent out here man, a lot. I’m not going to go down the list of people that I listen to currently, but it’s long. There’s a lot of new talent that I’m into, but I’ve learned to appreciate it in a different way.”
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“I’m not looking for their lyrical capabilities, I’m more vibing with the music for vibe’s sake and appreciating what they’re doing,” explains Yela. “I’m a huge fan of Future, but then again, Future is a son of Organized Noize — that’s Atlanta. I didn’t know that before I loved it so much, but then I was like aww that makes sense, the cleverness of it. How clever it is musically, how clever it is melodically, how clever it is lyrically.”
“I’ve always had an appreciation for the more simple style of music,” he continues.” I mean you always crave what you don’t have yourself. So like it’s easy for me to be complex, that’s why I appreciate listening to Crunchy Black from Three 6 Mafia. I was a huge fan of Group Home and the Nutcracker when I was coming up. People didn’t understand why. I was like “Damn, it’s hard to be that simple and dope.”
It’s refreshing to see an MC like Yelawolf not only giving Future his flowers, but recognizing the lineage of his craft and how it still lives within his music — especially in his lyricism — today. For much more insight from Yela, be sure to check out our interview with him right here.
