The modern rapper Questlove prefers to Future
Questlove is a highly established producer, DJ and film director who has been active in hip-hop since the 1980s. The instrumentalist (real name Ahmir Thompson) has worked with the best lyricists in hip-hop. From Common to Jay-Z and Talib Kweli, the Philadelphia knows high-quality hip-hop when he hears it.
That said, it came as a shock to Questlove when, in the Spring of 2022, the esteemed arts and culture magazine GQ showcased its front page featuring Future with the bold title “Future Is the Best Rapper Alive.”
Elliot Wilson, the host of the iconic Rap Radar podcast, wrote the profile of Future (real name Nayvadius Cash). However, some of the claims made in his piece were controversial. One passage in the lengthy profile read, “When you survey the Hip Hop landscape, no other artist has been as consistently excellent, or as influential, for as long as he has.”
Wilson cited Kanye West, who, during an appearance on Drink Champs earlier that year, had asserted, “Future is the most influential artist of the past ten years.” The opinion shared by West was highly polarising.
The extensive GQ profile from Wilson continued, “[Future] invented his own sound, which has since become the dominant style in rap. He has delivered hit after hit after hit. And he’s done it all on his own terms. I’ll say it again: Future is the best rapper alive.”
Elliot Wilson, as prominent as he is in hip-hop, is very invested in the new generation of upcoming MCs. However, many legends see a regression concerning lyricism and a degradation of standards in hip-hop. As such, for swathes of commentators, the notion that Future could be the “best rapper alive” is farcical.
Following a post and synopsis of Future’s GQ cover and profile, Questlove quote-tweeted the photo and captioned it with a simple full stop, insinuating he had nothing to say.
One user questioned Thompson about the meaning of his post, asking, “Is that a good or bad?” to which the musician responded with a link to a Funk Flex freestyle by his friend and longtime collaborator Black Thought.
Black Thought’s 2017 Funk Flex freestyle blew hip-hop away. At the time, Styles P of The LOX tweeted, “@blackthought channelled 10,000 ancestors!! I’m sitting here stuck! He hit glow mode!” Other figures, such as The Alchemist, wrote, “Black Thought left the stratosphere on Flex.”
Several other artists called out the cover, highlighting Cash’s overuse of autotune and often meaningless lyrics about drugs. You can see GQ’s Spring 2022 cover and Questlove’s response below.