The Singles Jukebox

2012: The year the word “simultaneously” became redundant…

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Kat Stevens: “Talking on iPhone/Sippin on Stryofoam” — this is way in excess of my own multi-tasking skills, especially when you have one of the duff iPhone 4s (like mine) which loses signal if you hold it in your left hand. I know it’s technically possible to hold the mug of tea in your left hand instead but it JUST FEELS WRONG. Anyhow, I am impressed at Mr Future’s dexterity.
[7]

Ian Mathers: You know, studies have shown that trying to do too much at once reduces the quality of everything you’re doing; luckily, that applies more to the subject matter here than the actual song, which is pretty monomaniacal (if that synth grows on me, I’ll regret not giving it an extra point).
[6]

Alfred Soto: Rick Ross could have scored with that loop, but only Future can spit rhyme after ridiculous rhyme and make you wish he’d gone on another twenty verses.
[6]

Patrick St. Michel: It’s not quite as good as the cyborg lament of “Turn On The Lights,” but “Same Damn Time” works because of how giddy Future sounds here. The robo-vocals that set him apart don’t jump out here, but rather it’s the way his voice gets progressively dizzier as the song unfolds. He moves from an enthusiastic yelp on the chorus to a near shout on the second verse, to the point he starts sounding out of breath. He only gets more pumped — check the way he says “like I’m driving planes” — and it’s infectious.
[7]

Josh Langhoff: Future captures the exuberance of succeeding at a new job. He’s so immersed in all its tasks and benefits, it seems churlish to tell him they’re not that impressive (cooking dope while on the phone, heavens!) or that, if the recent rapgeist is any indication, his threesomes and acquisitions will turn him into a sad hardhearted drudge before his second album. Let him bounce from kitchen to couch to Pluto to Mars to the Apple store, all the while imagining Spike Lee wants to film him. If he’d assessed his job more realistically, we wouldn’t have this triumphal ring walk of a song, bustling with Future’s giddy shoutouts to himself, Auto-Tuned to make his voice sound even more frayed when it gets up high — the exhausted joy of the all-nighter.
[8]

Jer Fairall: His barking flow, the tightness of his rhymes, and his ability to work in “got some diamonds ’round my neck / no fugazi” all impress every bit as much as his apparent talent for multitasking, but a knack for juggling crass commercialism, joyless sex and illicit capitalism doesn’t exactly constitute an accomplishment.
[6]

Zach Lyon: By default the greatest song about multitasking of all time (welcoming any challengers) but the hook’s in the beat, which raises the bar for sinister, massive, post-Luger beauty. Also I mentally added “AT THE SAME DAMN TIME” to the ends of sentences much more than I thought of doing the horsey dance, and that counts for something.
[8]

Jonathan Bradley: Singing and rapping AT THE SAME DAMN TIME! Auto-Tune and post–Lex Lugar production AT THE SAME DAMN TIME! A trunk rattler and a club banger AT THE SAME DAMN TIME! Rhyming “crazy” and “fugazi” AT THE SAME DAMN TIME! Gurgling off-key on the hook and screaming the same thing over and over AT THE SAME DAMN TIME! Coming from completely different planets AT THE SAME DAMN TIME! Putting this on repeat all day AT THE SAME DAMN TIME! AT THE SAME DAMN TIME AT THE SAME DAMN TIME AT THE SAME DAMN TIME!
[9]

Brad Shoup: If you’re like me, RapGenius Verified Explanations are a gift from the deities. Here’s Future: “It’s music. It’s like, if I walk outside, if it’s a blue fence I’ma just say ‘blue,’ I’m not going to try to make the fence another color.” He goes on to describe his experiences talking on his phone and cooking… food. I can’t fuck with the look-ma chorus, but yes to getting more unhinged with each verse, putting more and more choke into the singing. Still, he’s a guy who likes to tout his extraterrestrial credentials; couldn’t he show us a fence that’s blue and mauve at the same etc. etc.?
[5]

Anthony Easton: I like him as a producer or a guest better than I like him as the main feature. It might be a too-much-of-a-good-thing situation. 
[4]

Al Shipley: Future had a big year largely because of his new twist on melodic AutoTune rap. But my favorite of the five (five!) hits from his debut was the one where he proved that he also sounds great screaming over apocalyptic bells and squealing portamento synths.
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