The East Coast underground is full of busy producers who churn out dope albums on a near monthly basis. Think of V Don, 38 Spesh, Nicholas Craven, even Harry Fraud. If you know you like their style, you’ll be spoiled; how much you enjoy any given project just comes down to whatever rapper they’re collaborating with that day, and there’s crossover aplenty given all the different collectives. Toronto’s Futurewave is certainly among these producers.
Futurewave came up close with Rochester crew Da Cloth and stays true to his Canadian roots, working closely with artists like Raz Fresco, Asun Eastwood and of course Daniel Son; however, his most high profile releases came with Rome Streetz and Boldy James. It seems like he could easily cash in on the Griselda connection more often, but he really seems content with his inner circle and hard-hitting, yet hypnotic takes on the well known grime formula.
Here, we’ll discuss Futurewave’s major releases from 2024.
McFly
As a film, Back to the Future is actually a great analog to Futurewave’s production style. Rooted in a time long past with a sleek, fresh bend, the same way his sound is obviously indebted to classic New York boombap despite the dark polish.
It’s been awhile since Futurewave dropped a solo project, so McFly is quite a departure from the grimy collabs we’re used to him churning out. He clearly had a lot of fun with this wasn’t so obligated to make the type of beats his collaborators usually want. Now that he’s got an instrumental album checked off the list, it would be great to hear another compilation a la 2018’s Wav.God.
Listen to McFly
Stone Temple Pyrex (w/ Estee Nack)
Estee Nack’s early work felt like it had a lot of potential and it would just take the right placements and curating to bring it all together. It’s unfortunate that by the time he started dropping all his best work in 2023 (Nacksaw Jim Duggan, Live at the Tabernackle and BRAP!), I had grown a little fatigued by his abrasive delivery and songwriting. That being said, he seems to finally be on top of his game and this project with Futurewave, Stone Temple Pyrex, is such a natural fit. The samples aren’t as jazzy as he usually goes for, but he rides the smoother beats nicely; and that’s not to say they aren’t hard hitting. Futurewave always let’s the drums and bass do the talking where others in this lane would focus on the sample.
Plus, how fucking cool is the album cover and title? Futurewave has the best art style in the game.
Listen to Stone Temple Pyrex
Bushman Bodega (w/ Daniel Son)
Ransom and Nicholas Craven. Boldy and The Alchemist. Willie the Kid and V Don (or is it Dark Lo?).This scene is fully of MC / producer duos who just gravitate toward each other and their careers become intertwined through such constant, quality output. Daniel Son and Futurewave are certainly among them by now.
Their latest release Bushman Bodega doesn’t do much to reinvent their wealth of previous work together, but it does a great job of transporting you right to the street corner where so many stories are to be told. Daniel Son always comes correct over a Futurewave beat, sounding particularly hungry this time around and helped by the collab format (Northside with Raz this year proved it). If you ever feel possessed to check out a Daniel Son album, this is quintessential.
Listen to Bushman Bodega
Dirtwave vol. 1 & 2 (w/ Pro Dillinger)
I’ll respectfully admit that Pro Dillinger can be a hit or miss solo act for me; but, being core to the Umbrella Collective, he’s inescapable and you have to respect his place in the game. That voice is just so gruff though, and not necessarily in a cool, mean rapper way. Futurewave clearly loves working with guys like that though (see, the aforementioned two albums listed in this article, among others), crafting a filthily hypnotic foundation for them to attack. More acoustic, stripped back beats like “Pray 2 God” are an even better contrast to that sort of delivery. Dirtwave is easily the most I’ve enjoyed a Pro Dillinger project so far, so credit where it’s due to both artists. Maybe the next logical step is a Mickey Diamond collab?