What a Time to Be Alive caught two rappers at the peak of their powers: Future, on the heels of his 2015 three-peat (Monster, 56 Nights, DS2), and Drake, fresh off winning a high-profile rap beef. The success of WATTBA, then, was hardly surprising, as it birthed multiple hits (“Jumpan,” “Big Rings”), gave rise to a co-headlining concert tour, and, even helped transform the tape’s executive producer, Metro Boomin, into a mainstream star.
Four years removed from its release, the anticipation for a WATTBA sequel couldn’t be higher. And now, after months of rumors, it looks like Drake and Future might be ready to deliver new music of sime kind. The latest details emerged on Sunday, when Drizzy teased a new collaboration with Future titled “Life Is Good” on Instagram. Only time will tell whether this title pertains to a song or full-length project, but until an official announcement arrives, here’s everything we know about a possible Drake and Future collaboration.
Something called “Life Is Good” is coming ‘soon soon’
Drake took to his Instagram on Sunday night, January 5, to tease a potential collaboration with Future titled "Life Is Good." On his Instagram Story, Drake posted the words "Life is Good. Future + Drake,” below a photo of his computer screen and hookah pipe. Tagged in the photo, of course, is Future, who then reposted the story shortly after the original went live. Drake also left some choice words in the comments, which seem to point to the imminent arrival of “Life Is Good”: “soon. soon.”
The project is rumored to be titled ‘What a Time to Be Alive 2’
Rumors of a WATTBA follow-up began to swirl last April, after Future popped up as a special guest performer at a few of Drake's Assassination Vacation Tour dates in Europe. Following one such performance, the pair took to Future's Instagram Story to tease new music on the way. In the video, both rappers hint that ‘What a Time To Be Alive 2’ is in the works.
“What's that? We gotta cook that up. That two,” Drake says in the video, while holding up two fingers. While this mere gesture convinced fans that any potential Drake-Future joint project would indeed be titled What a Time to Be Alive 2, their belief was justified several months later when, in December, a video emerged of the rappers’ matching FBO/OVO chains—one in silver and one in gold.
Drake says they’re ‘always working’
During a two-hour Rap Radar interview released on Christmas, Drake briefly hinted at the collaborative relationship he shares with Future at 2:08:40 mark. When asked if he and his WATTBA collaborator were “cooking up again,” Drake responded, “We’re always working. We’re always working. We got some stuff.” Given the way in which he quickly moved to the next topic, some fans interpret Drake’s response as further proof that he and Future are working on something bigger than a single song.
Future and Drake have already shot a music video for an unreleased song
The week before Christmas, Drake and Future joined forces for a music video shoot in Atlanta. Outlets like Hypebeast reported that there was a casting call for an upcoming music video. Filming location: Atlanta, of course. Days later, the rappers were spotted inside a McDonald’s, and they were wearing what appeared to be fast food uniforms with “H” logos.
Several potential tracks have surfaced online
Over the past year, a handful of new Drake-Future collaborations have leaked online—both in the form of snippets and full songs. In July, an unreleased collaboration titled “Big Mood” hit the internet. The track sees Future and Drake boasting about their exotic possessions and flexing their exorbitant wealth. No one in either camp has yet to even acknowledge the song’s existence.
On Instagram in August 2019, Future teased a snippet of another track titled “I Know”—featuring vocals from both him and Drake—before a second snippet leaked in late December. Hours before Drake would tease “Life Is Good,” the full cut of “I Know” hit SoundCloud and was taken down.
On December 18, 2019, Future took to his Instagram Live to preview “Doing Too Much,” along with a caption that read: “OVO/FBG.” A week later, a second snippet of the track was played at a club, and subsequently posted to Instagram.
Rumored collaborators include Mike Will Made It, 21 Savage and ATL Jacob
2015’s What a Time to Be Alive featured a short list of collaborators. There were no guest rappers or singers, and executive producer Metro Boomin handled the bulk of the production, crafting the beats for every song except three: “Plastic Bag” (Neenyo), “Change Locations” (Noel), and “30 For 30 Freestyle” (Noah “40” Shehib). For the sequel, however, don’t be surprised if Drake and Future bring in multiple acts to assist.
In May, Freebandz producer ATL Jacob added fuel to the fire with an Instagram post. The story showed a photo of Jacob’s hard drive with over 20 audio files, several of which were labeled “FUT X DRA,” and dated from May 23. There were also files labeled “FBG” aka “FreeBand Gang.”
During last month’s video shoot in Atlanta, 21 Savage and Mike WiLL Made-It were also spotted on set in one photo, which Future posted on Instagram before deleting. Of course, only time will tell if this means we should expect such a song, produced by Mike Will and featuring a guest verse from 21, to make WATTBA2’s final tracklist. Stay tuned.
