If you’re anything like me, you probably started the day by recognizing that the start of a new work week had indeed arrived and then immediately began shaking your fists at the sky in anger. Monday is rarely anyone’s favorite day, and from what I have seen firsthand it feels safe to say it’s the one day of the week some people outright hate. I guess to them the arrival of the work week symbolizes the end of their quote/unquote freedom, and as a result they head into the office/factory/restaurant/store with a negative outlook already on their mind. This leads to bad attitudes, which only makes the experience of being at work worse, and for some reason it also seems to make time slow to a crawl. We’re not about that life, and we hope this post can do the same you that the song contained within it did for us.
Generally speaking, we tend to keep a running list of artists and releases to feature in this column that outlines the next several weeks or even months of content production, but every now and then a release comes along that is so good we scrap our plans and talk about it instead. Such is the case today, as we woke and realized it was Future’s new release Dirty Sprite 2 that we needed to cover instead of the record we chose back in June. This was unexpected. It’s not that we don’t enjoy Future and his unique brand of hook-laden rap, but we never really saw his work as something substantial until this release hit our inbox early Friday morning. Now, we may be fans for life.
Now it’s important for those unfamiliar with the work of Future to know he’s not a rapper like Drake or Kendrick Lamar, and by that I mean he’s not someone whose music is necessarily praised for its lyrical content. The infectious nature of Dirty Sprite 2, like most of Future’s catalog, is owed to the way it makes you feel when it plays. There is a vibe to this record that is downright empowering. You hear it and you want to fight a little harder for whatever big dreams you possess. You want to ball as hard as he does, but you don’t necessarily want to be him. The joy Future speaks of is the result of being himself, and it’s that self-assurance in his own greatness that listeners will want to replicate in their own lives.
On a less serious note, Dirty Sprite 2 is also the perfect soundtrack for keeping the feeling of freedom the weekend offers alive throughout the busy work week. You can put it on to and from work, in between meetings, or while you’re at the gym and find that little extra boost of energy you need to push through whatever challenges may present themselves. You bob along with the beats and, even if just for a moment, feel as if your life has temporary transformed into the glossy world only found in music videos. It’s a fleeting effort in low level escapism, but it’s an escape nonetheless.
The reason I chose Dirty Sprite 2 for today’s motivational post is similar to the reasons behind our selection for last week and the week before, which is the presence of undeniable originality and the ability of that force to influence positive life changes in whoever happens to hear them. We don’t want you to catch yourself pissing codeine syrup like Future mentions doing on DS2’s opener, but we do want you to hear what is possible when someone throws caution to the wind and presents themselves to the world without any sense of hesitation over revealing their true selves to the world. Future hasn’t always been able to do that, but having emerged from the end of a deeply intimate relationship with Ciara feeling a new drive to create he’s finally reached that point and it’s good enough to make you work a little harder to be you in everything you do. Don’t miss out.
