Nayvadius DeMun Wilburn (born November 20, 1983), known professionally as Future, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Wilburn first became involved in music as part of the Dungeon Family collective, where he was nicknamed “the Future”. After amassing a series of mixtapes between 2010 and 2011, Future signed a major record label deal with Epic Records and A1 Recordings, which helped launch Future’s own label imprint, Freebandz. He subsequently released his debut album, Pluto, in April 2012 to positive reviews. Future’s second album, Honest, was released in April 2014, surpassing his debut on the album charts.
Between late 2014 and early 2015, he released a trio of mixtapes: Monster (2014), Beast Mode (2015), and 56 Nights (2015). His next releases, DS2 (2015), What a Time to Be Alive (2015, in collaboration with Drake), EVOL (2016), FUTURE (2017) and HNDRXX (2017) all debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200. The latter two made him the first artist to debut to two albums consecutively at the top of that chart. Future has also released several singles certified gold or higher by the RIAA, including “Turn On the Lights”, “Move That Dope”, “Fuck Up Some Commas”, “Where Ya At”, “Jumpman”, and “Low Life”.