Future is the most influential rapper of the last decade –so says Charlamagne Tha God.
Speaking on his Brilliant Idiots podcast with Andrew Schulz, the radio personality heaped high praise on Hendrix’s career since his emergence in the early 2010s.
Weighing on the reignited rivalry between Kendrick Lamar, Drake and J. Cole, the Breakfast Club host said: “They talking about a Big Three but really there’s a Fantastic Four. If you really wanna get a little spicy, Future could be in the Big Three.”
He added: “For better or worse, I can find a million Future clones all around the world. I don’t think there’s any rapper that’s influenced culture and music more than Future over the last decade. I think Future has influence. People wanna be Future, people wanna sound like Future.”
Charlamagne cited some of the rapper’s more recent achievements, including simultaneously topping the Billboard 200 and Billboard Hot 100 with his joint album with Metro Boomin, We Don’t Trust You, and Kendrick-assisted hit “Like That.”
“I would have Drake, Future, Kendrick, personally,” he added, nudging J. Cole out of Hip Hop’s widely-accepted Big Three. “Statistically, if you’re talking about numbers and all of that, Future’s over Cole.”
Charlamagne did, however, acknowledge that Cole is a stronger lyricist than the Freebandz boss.
Watch his comments at the 1:14:55 mark below.
Future has also called himself a top five rapper of all time.
In a chest-thumping social media post back in 2018, he shared a picture of himself in a fur coat along with the caption: “Top 5 dead or alive and I’m #1.”
T.I. also put the “March Madness” hitmaker on his Mount Rushmore of trap.
He explained in an interview with AllHipHop last year: “There were always three figureheads in trap music: myself, Jeezy, and Gucci. That was always like unanimous, and nobody could even question or you can’t add or remove anybody from that. Over time, there have been conversations about who else should be allotted.”
Tip then gave the fourth spot to his “Magic” collaborator: “We finally came to the conclusion from the people that the fourth figurehead is Future.”
Lil Wayne has also bestowed an esteemed title on Future, recently crowning his and DJ Esco’s 56 Nights as the greatest mixtape of all time.
The 40-year-old’s prolific run looks far from over as he and Metro Boomin are set to release their second album of the year, We Still Don’t Trust You, on Friday (April 12).
