Rap beyond the Afterfuture

A comparison of two visions of the future from the year 2000: Deltron 3030 by the trio of the same name and Welcome to the Afterfuture by Mike Ladd. Many aspects of these albums are considered, including production and even the cover art, although the focus is on the lyrics. Del the Funky Homosapien draws on The Matrix, Ghost in the Shell and Akira and is broadly concerned with the plight of humanity and the downtrodden, while Ladd riffs on Star Trek, Star Wars and Blade Runner and foregrounds racial concerns. The sound and range of references on Afterfuture take the idea of a syncretic future to the extreme. The trajectory of Del’s rap leads to the blaring ‘Memory Loss’ and the seeming eradication of hope, while Ladd memorializes Amadou Diallo and ‘all those killed by cops’ in a surprisingly gentle and expansive finale. The close consideration allows us to wonder what the imagination of rappers (and others in hip hop) can uniquely offer as we envision the future – and why there has been so little future-oriented rap.