Future

Nayvadius DeMun Cash (né Wilburn; born November 20, 1983), known professionally as Future, is an American rapper and singer.

Known for his mumble-styled vocals and prolific output, Future is considered a pioneer of the use of auto-tuned melodies in modern trap music.

Due to the sustained popularity of this musical style, he is commonly regarded as one of the most influential rappers of his generation.

Nayvadius DeMun Wilburn was born on November 20, 1983, in Atlanta, Georgia.

He attended Columbia High School in Decatur.

At age sixteen (c. 1999/2000), Future described getting shot in the hand and robbed, an event he regards as a major turning point in his life.

Future began his career under the name "Meathead" as a member of the Georgia-based musical collective Dungeon Family.

He performed in a smaller hip hop group within the collective who went by the name "Da Connect", where he would later be nicknamed "The Future" by group member G-Rock.

The group recorded one album, Rico Wade Presents: Da Connect which was slated for commercial release in 2003, but was ultimately shelved.

Future had one solo record on the project titled "Belly of da Beast", which is considered to be his first song.

His first cousin, record producer and Dungeon Family member Rico Wade, encouraged him to sharpen his writing skills and pursue a career as a rapper, as recording would create temporary respite from street life.

During this time, Future appeared in numerous Dungeon Family music videos, and received his first songwriting credit on the Organized Noize-produced single, "Blueberry Yum Yum" for rapper Ludacris in 2004.

Future voices his praise of Wade's musical influence and instruction, calling him the "mastermind" behind his sound.

He was thereafter discovered by fellow Atlanta rapper Rocko, who took Future under his wing as a solo artist on his A1 Recordings record label.

From 2010 to early 2011, Future released a series of mixtapes including 1000, Dirty Sprite and True Story.

The latter included the single "Tony Montana", in reference to the Scarface film.

He gained regional popularity after his songs were played by DJ Esco at Magic City, a strip club in Atlanta deemed "largely responsible for launching the careers of artists."

Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Future signed a recording contract with Rocko's A1 Recordings and Epic Records in 2011, and released his first two studio albums—Pluto (2012) and Honest (2014)—to critical and commercial success.

The albums contained the platinum-certified singles "Turn On the Lights", "Honest", "Move That Dope" (featuring Pharrell Williams and Pusha T), and "I Won" (featuring Kanye West).

In April 2011, he co-performed with Atlanta rapper YC on his single "Racks", which would become his first hit song and Billboard Hot 100 entry—peaking at number 42.

In July of that year, Future and rapper Gucci Mane would release a collaborative mixtape titled Free Bricks.

Future signed a major label recording contract with Epic Records in September 2011, days before the release of his next mixtape, Streetz Calling.

The mixtape was described by XXL magazine as ranging from "simple and soundly executed boasts" to "futuristic drinking and drugging jams" to "tales of the grind".

A Pitchfork review remarked that on the mixtape Future comes "as close as anyone to perfecting this thread of ringtone pop, where singing and rapping are practically the same thing, and conversing 100% through Auto-Tune doesn't mean you still can't talk about how you used to sell drugs. It would almost feel antiquated if Future weren't amassing hits, or if he weren't bringing some subtle new dimensions to the micro-genre."

In December 2011, Future was featured on the cover of Issue #77 of The FADER.

XXL's Troy Mathews wrote, "While Astronaut Status is up and down and never really hits the highs like 'Racks', 'Tony Montana', and 'Magic' that fans have come to expect from Future, it's apparent that he's poised to continue the buzz of 2011 humming right along into 2012."

Though Future had told MTV that Streetz Calling would be his final mixtape prior to the release of his debut studio album, another mixtape, Astronaut Status, was released in January 2012.

Future was selected to the annual XXL Freshmen list in early 2012.

His debut album Pluto, originally planned for January 2012, was eventually released on April 17.

Its first three singles were mastered re-recordings of pre-existing songs, "Tony Montana", "Go Harder", and "Magic", the latter contained a guest feature from high-profile hometown native, rapper T.I. According to Future, "'Magic' was the first record T.I. jumped on when he came outta jail. Like, he was out of jail a day and he jumped straight on the 'Magic' record without me even knowing about it."

The track became Future's first single as a lead artist to enter the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at number 69 in April 2012.

His subsequent projects have each peaked the US Billboard 200 and saw continued success upon release; his third and fourth albums, DS2 (2015) and Evol (2016) were supported by their respective lead singles "Where Ya At" (featuring Drake) and "Low Life" (featuring The Weeknd).

Future has released the mixtapes Beast Mode (with Zaytoven), 56 Nights (with Southside), and What a Time to Be Alive (with Drake) in 2015—the latter included the single "Jumpman".

Future's eponymous fifth album and its successor Hndrxx (both 2017) made him the first artist to debut two chart-topping albums on the Billboard 200 in consecutive weeks—the former contained the international hits "Used to This" (featuring Drake) and "Mask Off."

He has released the full-length collaborative projects Super Slimey (2017) with Young Thug, Wrld on Drugs (2018) with Juice Wrld, and Pluto x Baby Pluto (2020) with Lil Uzi Vert.

Among the best-selling hip hop musicians, Future's accolades include three Grammy Awards from a total of ten nominations.

After departing A1, Future released the albums The Wizrd (2019) and High Off Life (2020)—the latter spawned the diamond-certified single "Life Is Good" (featuring Drake).

Future guest featured alongside Young Thug on Drake's 2021 single "Way 2 Sexy," which became his first number-one song on the Billboard Hot 100 after a record-breaking 125 entries.

His ninth album, I Never Liked You (2022) spawned the single "Wait for U" (featuring Drake and Tems), which became his second to peak the chart and first to do so as a lead artist.

The song won a Grammy Award for Best Melodic Rap Performance, while its parent album received a nomination for Best Rap Album.