Welcome to the Afterfuture

Okay at times but in totality I couldn't really get into it, and its runtime is definitely longer than what it can keep my interest.

I didn't find this all that interesting.

Suprisingly very much enjoyed this one. Nice sound and always interesting. Probably went on a little too long which is why it's 3 stars and not 4 but something i do intend to hear again.

I cannot in good conscience give an album a very high star rating for something I think I could have done. Maybe not the music, but definitely the lyrics. Also I might think way too much of myself. 4/10 Top song... To the moon's contractor

7/10

2.5

Dull, repetitive, ordinary - to quote from the track 'Bladerunners' - "I can't handle this shit" (because it is a tired recycling of other people's ideas, and it thinks that putting some slightly wonky string samples over some beats is a Major Artistic Statement). To pick one example, David Torn was making far better (both more interesting and more innovative) use of loops and noise on "What Means Solid, Traveller?" in 96 - there's another ground-breaking album that should be on the list.

These beats fucking suck but the message was important.

Not totally sure THIS is the alt hip hop record I'd pick for a list like this, but maybe I'm missing some context. I might pick something by MF DOOM, or maybe El-P's I'll Sleep When You're Dead instead. The latter of which also contains some futuristic concepts that compare to this record. I think this album does come together and figure itself out in the back half, but the early tracks felt a little disjointed. I'll give it another listen and see if I change my mind.

Interesting style. I enjoyed the theme and lyrics. 4 out of 5

Weird vibe based rap and it rules. The longer it goes the deeper it pulls you in; hypnotic in a great way

The Guardian once described Mike Ladd as “the king of the hip-hop concept.” Unfortunately, this concept became a reality, and now we all have to suffer through it. This sounds worse than the local rappers who used to try to sell me their CDs outside the grocery store. The production is rough, the vocals are weak, and the beats are boring. A miserable experience from start to finish.

Not really for me, was a 2 but saved by last track, poetic rap

Was so surprised to like this, I can’t say I would listen to it a lot or again almost at all but it was so diverse and interesting sound wise - or maybe i just haven’t heard much hip hop before

Unique

Ugh, this album was so bad. The most boring hour ever.

Loved the jazzy instrumentals , rapping doesn’t quite match. But the overall style and experimental vibe make this worth a listen l. Low 4

He gets some credit for being creative with the form . Not everything lands though

The beats on this LP are more expansive and multi-layered than you'd typically the expect, the product of various different collaborators, they lift this album to a whole different level. Mike Ladd has a funny attitude that gives his jazz rap an amiable vibe. His rapping and occasional singing does not match the quality of the beats but they do add to the overall strangeness of this record. It's all pleasingly weird.

Mike Ladd gets a low 4, never heard of him before but exactly my type of hip hop, nice and abstract/experimental, and a bit jazzy

never even heard of this artist! Whoops! But I enjoyed parts of this dark, moody sci-fi-ish album. I'm not much of a hip-hophead but some of this was kind of my speed!!

Horrible

No thank you

Ambitious but ultimately doesn’t quite execute the ideas.

After tracks 3 & 4 I pencilled in ‘1 star’. Nothing after that was quite as bad but also heard nothing to change my mind.

2.5. Fun and interesting beats/lyrics, but some of the periods felt like filler. I enjoyed it, but it didn’t draw me in completely.

Tries to do some interesting things, but I personally don’t feel like it’s pulled off well.

Deltron 3030 is the future I would rather go back to.

그냥 살짝 아쉬운 3점 같은 느낌이었다. 뭔가 아쉬웠다. It felt like a 3-point performance that just fell a little short. Something was lacking.

I suspect 𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 earned its place on the 1001 Albums list more for its unusual sound and atmosphere than for its individual songs. The murky, futuristic production is intriguing at first, and a handful of tracks made me curious about where Mike Ladd was taking all this. Unfortunately, the longer the album goes on, the less interested I become. What initially feels inventive gradually turns repetitive, and the atmosphere alone isn’t enough to sustain such a lengthy record. There are interesting ideas scattered throughout, but far too much time spent waiting for the next one. The afterfuture might be worth a visit, but I certainly wouldn’t book an extended stay.

Pojma nimam, kar je refreshing. Ufff, glede na to, da me je basically prvi beat odvrnil (literally gave me the ick), sklepam, da tole ne bo zabavna ura. Ne maram te early 2000s sounding beate. Ooo fak. This is bad. Prou vsak komad najde nek nov slab zvok. "Bladerunners" je opazno boljši. I guess zato k rappajo Company Flow. What the fuck je "No. 1 St."?! Iz Wiki: The Guardian once described him as "the king of the hip-hop concept." Bahahhaha. I'm in a hell of my own creation.

Por momentos me ha sonado a Damon Albarn, o debería decir, como si Damon Albarn se hubiera copiado descaradamente de gente como Mike Ladd...

That was one of the most unusual albums of the collection so far. I liked it pretty well too. It was too far out there to categorize it simply as hip-hop or rap, it was too experimental for that. I highly recommend for those with an open mind. It also felt like a spiritual successor to Dr. Octagon's self-titled album.

Weird mix between ambience and hip hop, which isn’t as bad as a fully hip hop album to me

What a pile of shit!

great value mf doom. those slight bits of doom are the reason why this isn't a 1.

interesting. flows were pretty good and a lot of the production was beautiful or at least entertaining. will revisit

If this is the future then I have nothing to look forward to

Interesting

Man this album was really good! I especially liked Bladerunners, No. 1 St., To the Moons Contractor, (10:36 min long!), Wipeout on the Wave of Armageddon, the poetry on the last track was really good too. Feb 4 '99 (For all those killed by cops). I think I'll give this one 5 stars.

Ambient electronic hip hop? This one took me by surprise--I hadn't heard of the album/artist, but I'm working through this project to find new things, and this fits that bill.

A nice mix of interest lyrics and total bullshit. I probably wouldn’t listen again but it’s far from the worst thing I have heard on here

not a fan. wonder how they created this list honestly when choosing rap records. it isn't actively bad so I'll give it a 2 instead of a 1.

I didn't love it but it was different and incorporated a variety of sounds and genres. Was it for me, no but it was different. Some of the lyrics were really good and the way he incorporated techno, rap and other sounds was really cool.

This felt like a weird acid trip, man.

This sounded a lot like the Hip Hop music that I do not like. The only track I really enjoyed was the ambientish 10 minute song To the Moon's Contractor. While I do like some Hip Hop, it is mostly not a genre for me. ⭐️⭐️

3.5/5 https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/mike-ladd/welcome-to-the-afterfuture/ This switches too much between 'this is great!' and 'this is cringy' to really work for me (not too strange, given it was released in 2000), but overall I get it's placement in the list from the perspective of being influential for a lot of (current, still) underground/alternative hiphop. Compared to contemporaries, this is a lot more experimental, which we still see now with acts like billy woods. The flows were generally nice, but sometimes it lyrically sounded a bit too on the nose. Not sure this is something I'd check out again, but it was pleasant for what it was.

Thick dark beats populate this album with influences of Deltron 3030 and MF Doom. It’s an uneven album but one I’ll listen to again.

I really tried to give this a chance, but it's some of the laziest production I have ever heard. Like YouTube creator with 2 followers levels of embarrassing. Mike Ladd: stay home.

This did not do it for me.

Very cool album. Thought-provoking and funny lyrics accompanied by rich and creative instrumentals which draw from genres ranging from electronic to classical. Never heard of this album or artist before, but I really enjoyed it.

(Light 4/10) Yeah idk, his vocals don't really command a ton of the presence that his poetry would require. There's some really neat stuff going on with the beats, but really at the end of the day this is not a memorable album and only a couple songs felt like they stood out. "Bladerunners" was pretty good actually, but I sort of attribute that to the featured artist. " To the Moon's Contractor" is actually a pretty mesmerizing instrumental, that on it's own is pretty fantastic. In the album though it sucks the progression through the floor and just makes this album DRAG. Idk, this is one of those confusing 1001 album entries and frankly, not having Deltron or Aesop Rock or El-P in the book is really really confusing when you listen to this.

A broad conceptual idea of future hip hop which starts quite well but descends into a long, messy mix songs that are not fully realised. It's ok, but inclusion here smacks of a 'flavour of the month' that ultimately didn't stand the test of time. Perhaps as the concept would be usurped just two months later by the brilliant Deltron 3030, which should be on her over this.

Another unknown for me, and you know what - everyone else who's rated this low can get lost because what a record this is. I've heard a lot of abstract/experimental hip hop but Mike Ladd's After future creates a soundscape akin to nothing else I've ever heard. It's a record shrouded in a warm ambient fuzz that almost sounds like Eno or Richard D James at times. Every new track seems like a new experiment in how far hip hop as a bar could be pushed. Very beautiful.

Muy bueno el hip hop…es del 2015 pero no tiene un solo auto tune 👏👏👏👏

Nothing to write home about. I have never heard of this guy before. It was nothing special.

als dit de afterfuture is, dan hoef ik deze niet

I was vibing with the first 3 songs on this, then it became more uninteresting (for me). Bestie sometimes you're just saying things for the sake of saying things, and sometimes you sound like Multiple Miggs. Not much shouting until the shouting one.

Два дня подряд «мой любимый» хип-хоп? А почему бы и нет… Альбом длиной больше часа? СЮДААА Ещё и судя по цифрам в спотифае, альбом не больно и известный. Чем он так примечателен составителям рейтинга – для меня загадка

Alright

Another new one to me. Moody 90s/00s beats. I like this kind of thing, even if it doesn't really go anywhere or do anything new.

"To the Moon's Contractor" is an early favorite to make "Top Ten Songs I Never Want to Hear Again From This List."

First track started with some potential, but the album progressively devolved into unlistenable

no me interesó

Some interesting stuff surrounded by absolute navel gazing.

A lovely surprise. I’d never heard of this album or this artist before, but I really enjoyed it. And that’s enough for me to give it a good rating ;-)

Found it very interesting and really liked some moments throughout. Worth a revisit one day.

I didn't hate it, but it was a tad bit too long. Still, definitely see something here.

Very interesting production. Like the strange electronic sounds with the spoken delivery.

An awesome surprise.

I’m willing to give this another shot in the future

I didn't really like this that much

This album was pretty good. I'm typically not a hip hop person, but this had moments that were really interesting.

I definitely like it, but I can’t tell how much. I think I like it a lot.

BKB Somerville circa 2016 vibes. I don’t hate it.

Tom Floppy’s quick capsule review: piece of shit.

Did not like this

It was fine, but it didn't seem special. Not sure why it was included here. Maybe I missed something.

Really interesting, fun to listen to, but way too long and don't know if there is anything really outstanding.

Seems like nobody really liked this (not just the anti-rap weirdos on here but across a lot of different platforms) but really special I think, futuristic and strange and a bit of a gem

- Starts out kind of annoying with the pauses in the music on the first song, but gets better with some cool experimentation and laid-back beats. - That said, the songs don't really go anywhere or make much of an impression on me, overall. - Vocals are okay, but hate the addition of those high, child-like, out of tune ones (e.g., Planet 10, I Feel Like $100, etc.). - I wasn't drawn in enough to fully listen to the lyrics, but caught some of the conscious themes. There's also obnoxious misogyny/hyper-sexuality (e.g., Bladerunners), so I'm not really sure what this album wants to be. - Felt like it went on forever - they really should have cut (at least) Bladerunners and that 10-min song that does nothing. - The last two songs were my favourite on the album. The second last one actually had a nice melody instead of all the dissonance, and the last song was the most powerful (lyrically - it's spoken word) to me.

Despite probably not being the target audience, I really like the beats. 4 stars

Not bad

Interesting, yes. Sometimes arresting. Intriguing. Enjoyable, clearly, but I think I'd need plenty of listens in the afterfuture to responsibly evaluate.

There were lots of cool moments, though I ultimately felt like the production antics were more of a crutch than an asset. As the album lost focus, I was way less interested in what was being offered.

I really don't think Robert Dimery understands hip-hop. This wasn't terrible, but it wasn't exceptional. It started off very strange. Although I appreciated their attempt at something off-kilter, the results didn't resonate with me. Anyway, the grooves were often decent, but the rapping was pretty poor.

This starts out so promising. Banging electro hip Hop. But at track 3 it just starts to fade into mediocrity. Shame.

bollocks

prova de resistência

errr

I'm sorry, I'm going to be harsh here. A few of the tracks almost got this to a 3 for me but it's just not there. Far from a 1, but I don't feel the extra umph needed to get it above 50%. Would be a 2.5, but rounding down because of the disappointment.

2.77

I had never heard of this guy. I liked it! Good combo of rap and electronic music.

The 1001 album list creator doesn't understand Hip Hop as a genre, musically or culturally.

Another album that I can’t quite make sense of its inclusion here. Nothing about this feels very essential to me. If we really needed more white boy rappers on this list they should’ve gone with El-P or something. Anyways shout out to Company Flow who’s featured on “Bladerunners” Favorite track: To the Moon’s Contractor 2.5/5

Only recognizing Mike Ladd from his feature on billy woods’ 2022 album “Aethiopes,” I had to triple-take that this was the same artist. As a die-hard fan of experimental and alternative hip-hop (though this project hasn’t really given me the chance to express that yet), I’d never listened to Ladd’s music and can honestly say I’m a little embarrassed that this website was my introduction to him. That said, this was a fantastically grim and dynamic album that thoroughly captures the best of Definitive Jux-era rap music. The wide array of Middle Eastern samples and globalist ideals feel prophetic of the attitudes that would soon run rampant in the United States following 9/11. More than anything, though, this album feels like the Dickensian version of “Deltron 3030.” The production is the clear standout, as Ladd’s monotone delivery can sometimes fade into the periphery. A very solid rap album, and one that definitely deserves to be talked about in the same breath as “Amethyst Rock Star” and “The Cold Vein.” Fav Tracks: Airwave Hysteria, Planet 10, No. 1 St., To the Moon’s Contractor, The Animist, Red Eye to Jupiter (Starship N***a), Wipe Out on the Wave of Armageddon Least Fav: Welcome to the Afterfuture Score: 8

This is a really interesting concept, but I just didn’t enjoy it very much. I’ll return to it at some point.

Mike Ladd had the imagination of a great speculative-fiction writer and the instincts of an underground hip-hop producer—but sometimes he forgot that an album still needs to be an album. Welcome to the Afterfuture is full of extraordinary ideas. It just needed someone to walk into the studio and say: “That’s brilliant. Cut it.”

Great samples. Vocals feel less interesting.

Garbonzo