The Trap

Nayvadius Wilburn, a 38-year-old Atlantan who performs under the name Future, is one of the great musicians of the 21st century. Future is often classified as a rapper, but he is really an all-purpose vocalist, a man who sings, chants, rasps, yelps, and growls, frequently through Auto-Tune. In Future’s music, that vocal-processing software becomes less a melodic device than a textural one, blurring the boundaries between human and machine, embodiment and alienation.