10 Things We Learned From Future's CRWN Interview
The most candid moments from his chat with Elliott Wilson.
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He's Just Being Honest - In honor of the release of his second studio album, Honest, Future's been making his media rounds, including a stop by the mobile set of CRWN, a live-audience interview hosted by veteran music journalist Elliott Wilson. This time, the conversation took place in Atlanta, where Wilson and Future discussed his latest music, working with Drake and André 3000, and his relationship with Ciara. Read on for 10 of the most candid moments from the Freebandz founder. (Photo: Prince Williams/FilmMagic)
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Future Bleeds Hip Hop - Future may be mislabeled because he uses a lot of melody in his music, but he definitely considers himself a hip hop artist and not an R&B artist. He also says that although he uses auto-tune and melodies similar to T-Pain, the major difference is that he came into the game as a rapper first — "Racks on Racks," "Same D--n Time" and "Tony Montana," for example.(Photo: Jessica Alexander/Future Image/WENN.com)
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Check the Credits - Besides being a successful artist himself, Future has written and co-written songs for Beyoncé, Ciara and Kelly Rowland, as well as a few rappers. To keep up with the high demand, Future said he writes and works on at least 10 different songs a day. He also admits that he doesn't know which ones are going to be hits and which artists or projects they’ll end up on.(Photo: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Moet & Chandon)
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Slow Grind to the Top - Prior to his takeoff with "Racks on Racks" in 2011, Future was in a group called Da Connect. The group was signed to his cousin and Dungeon Family head honcho Rico Wade, and Future was known by his childhood nickname "Meathead." He began transitioning into the Future we know now when Dungeon Family producers recognized that he would one day be a force on the mic. (Photo: Rico Wade)
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An Inspiration to All - Future and Drake have a musical bond and have collaborated on several songs together. Drake's hit single "Started From the Bottom" was actually Future's accidental idea. The two were in the studio together and Future kept telling his engineer "to start it from the bottom" of the track they we were working on. Drake thought he was referring to a song called "Started From the Bottom." As it turned out, Future wasn't, but Drake took the inspiration straight to the top of the charts.(Photo: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Moet & Chandon)
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Dungeon Family Representer - Future revealed that the first time he ever saw André 3000 recording music was when he went in the booth for "I Can't Wait" from Sleepy Brown's 2006 album, Mr. Brown. He recalled that Dre free-styled the whole verse. Future also revealed that it took a month to finish "Benz Friendz (Whatchutola)" off of Honest because they kept adding things to it and they'd still be finishing the record now if the album didn't have a deadline to be completed. The song wasn't even titled until after the album was turned in.(Photo: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic)
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Where's the Love? - Future has a lot of big-name features on Honest, but his song with Nicki Minaj didn't make the cut. The two have a track together called "Rockstar Life," but another contributor, pop and soul crooner George Michael, wouldn't clear one of his melodies — even after Future offered him half the publishing.Then, after Future re-did the record, Nicki felt like her vocals were off key, so the record was never finalized. Future however hopes that the song will see the light of day and plans to release it on his Freeband Gang compilation album coming later this year.(Photo: Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images)
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Meathead in the Streets - Growing up in the streets of Atlanta is how Future became known as "Meathead." He revealed that he had the name since he was a baby and actually lived up to the name when he was a D-boy running wild in the 'hood. Prior to becoming the star he is, Future was shot and robbed when he was 16. He was hit in the hand and learned the hard way that you "can't block a bullet."(Photo: Bennett Raglin/BET/Getty Images for BET)
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Turn Off That Radio - To keep his mind clear and free when he's creating, Future revealed that he doesn't listen to rap music. There's not one artist that he rides around and listens to because he wants to remain original and doesn't want another rapper's songs, beats or ideas subliminally creeping into his creative thought process.(Photo: Rick Diamond/BET/Getty Images for BET)
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Future Knows Best - Future had to talk Pharrell Williams into keeping his original verse on their hit song "Move That Dope." Because in his verse he speaks about the drug game, Pharrell was worried that he'd be scrutinized by the Academy Awards because he was nominated for an Oscar for "Happy." Future explained to Pharrell that his verse was actually positive and talked about the downfalls of hustling. Pharrell was convinced, and the single remained intact. (Photo: Johnny Nunez/Getty Images)