Vocal styles would suggest that this is a collaboration made in heaven. Both are very emotionally raw on their tracks, with a very melodic delivery style. Even the way their voices behaves in between lyrics has an eery similarity!

Future is widely regarded as the granddaddy of mumble rap. Coming out of Atlanta, Georgia, he championed the cities dominance over the American Billboard chart in the early 2010s as he gained notoriety. He worked a lot with Atlanta producers Metro Boomin and Mike WiLL Made-It and has given the world 11 full-length projects to date (as well as venturing into visual production as he was apart of the remake of blaxploitation cult sensation, Superfly).

Juice WRLD is one of the forerunners of the next stage of evolution of mumble rap. Making music from as young as 4 out of the Chicago area, he made his mark on Soundcloud and gained a dedicated, passionate fan base on that platform,leading to a reported $3 million deal with Interscope Records. His songs incorporate a lot of emo influences and it is this new breed of rappers that are really speaking to the youth of today. (the genre was solidified after the untimely death of Juice’s contemporary, Lil Peep in November 2017).

The third song from the pair’s collaborative album WRLD On Drugs, Fine China combines both artist’s penchant for outbursts of emotion. It fits the monotony that mumble rap is associated with, with a very memorable hook from Juice WRLD. Comparing a girl to fine china and lusting over her is the MO of this track, but I do hold issue with one of Juice’s lyrics. So if she leaves, I’ma kill her, oh, she’ll die/Did I say that out loud? I’m so crazy about mine is an indictment of this generation’s views on women and relationships. To normalise and trivialise domestic abuse and murder of a loved one obviously isn’t acceptable, especially when so many young minds are streaming Juice WRLD and his peers. It brings to mind the actions of fellow young star, the late XXXTentacion who, whilst receiving a great deal of aplomb for his musical catalogue, had numerous domestic abuse charges filed against him.

We live in a modern, more mature and more accepting world than previous generations have had. As such, the talented young stars of today need to take more responsibility for their actions and realise the position they hold so that we can all grow and thrive as a global community.

 

Spotify Playlist Link: https://spoti.fi/2CKuVex