A song by song lyrical breakdown of Future’s most vulnerable album.
“Oh Fuck, I Have Made A Huge Mistake,” Future pinned as his location above his seemingly impetuous album announcement post. The Atlanta legend has returned to bring us what may be his most vulnerable project yet. Save Me (its title is a clear prognostication of the album’s themes) is a tight seven tracks, only twenty-minutes in total, but Future is able to pen some of his best lyrics into this condensed EP.
Beginning with “XanaX Damage,” Future introduces us to a toxic relationship. Future knows the woman in question is wrong for him, he knows she only brings out the worst in him, but he can’t resist. Life alone is too hard for him.
But I’m not my best with you, I’m so depressed with you
But it’s so hard, I don’t think I can exist without you
It’s a rather distressing open to an EP. Future is lonely and this time around, it’s evident beyond face value. There are no features on this album, no one to make the loneliness more bearable. Even on the next track, “St. Lucia,” where Future is at his most boastful, there’s an underlying sense of melancholy. Laced in between two self-aggrandizing bars about a trip to the titular island, Future eulogizes the recently passed Nipsey Hussle.
I had a rendezvous, I was on an island (Big dawg)
Nipsey made it rain outside, had an umbrella in his hands (Rest in peace)
I sold the dope a triple-double, did the money dance (Russell ‘Brook)
Future (perhaps ostensibly– more likely not) reaps the rewards of his lifestyle but this time around, his usual friends aren’t here with accompanying verses. Even while basking in the paradise of Saint Lucia, he can’t help but reflect on the passing of Nipsey Hussle.
“Please Tell Me” returns us to Future’s toxic relationship. He attempts to win over his girl’s heart with material items. Rolex’s, cars, and designer brands, Future uses all of his usual means by which he expresses his braggadocious personality to reason with his girl. Perhaps, Future’s affinity towards the lavish lifestyle from the previous song has caused a rift in the relationship, a rift that Future hopes can be fixed the only way he knows how.
Please tell me I’m the fuckin’ boss, won’t you? (Please, please)
Please tell me I can buy Chanel for you (Please)
Please tell me one Rolex won’t do (One won’t do, please)
Future falls back on his fortunes to find a way back into the heart of his lover. With an emphatic imploration, Future spends the next three minutes and twenty-five seconds pleading with his girl to accept his material gifts as a sign of good faith, a redemption back from the dog-house he has found himself in once again.
“Shotgun” has a softer feel. The song plays as if a track from Future’s HNDRXX, lost in his extensive discography and somehow found its way here. Future’s girl has taken him back and together they ride the highs of their relationship, as well as, the highs of drug use. It’s the type of song you drive along to in the summer. The lyrics here are more straightforward but he comes through with the following bars:
My brother Detail live like Einstein (Like Einstein)
We in the Matrix, we can rewind time (Rewind time)
Thirty-foot ceilings in my glass house (In my glass house)
You could’ve quit but you ain’t give up on me, you stayed down (Stayed down)
Similar to “St. Lucia,” “Government Official” takes Future back to the wild lifestyle of money and misogyny he’s spent his career rapping about. Right as he’s back in good graces with his woman, he falls back into the same patterns that almost cost him his relationship in the first place. The track is over the top and riddled with lyrical gems such as:
Fuck the government official, we plugged with Putin (Yeah, yeah)
Got two twin sisters, yeah, they squirt, they be shootin’ (Yeah, yeah)
Don’t get your squirt-squirt on the shirt-shirt, be a fool (Yeah, yeah)
It ends with a foreshadowing of the next song when Future uses the final verse to tell us how he gets “emotional with the bitches” when under the influence of drugs.
“Extra” is packaged with more emotional bars from Future. He’s fallen back into the same place in his relationship that he started. Here, his girl argues with him about his extravagant lifestyle. Future finally faces the truth, admitting he uses material items as a coping method for the pain. The chorus reads:
My bitch asked me why I always stay extra-d out
All my whips got extras now
Why so many hoes on the low? You know
Why my niggas extras? (Extra, extra, extra)
And Future responds in the second verse:
Benjis on benjis on benjis again
Thats all I been on since you got with him
Ain’t been the same since, I wanna save my pain
It’s a dark realization at the climax of the EP that leads into the final track.
“Love Thy Enemies” is a final acceptance, an acquiescent admittance of the darker side of the life Future leads. He cathartically sings through the pain of his past, his fear of what his children will think of him and the decisions he’s made, all in hopes to come to terms with them, to love his enemies. The last lines on Save Me read:
Roses, roses, I sent, they forever died, oh
Chosen, frozen, livin’ in paradise, woah
Love thy enemy
Walk through the valley of the shadow of death, oh, oh
