Southern Plug Magazine: Leaders of the New School 2017 Volume 2 Issue 1 A | Page 18

Future, also known as as Future Hendrix, Astronaut Kid and Super Future,
is a songwriter and music artist that can both rap and sing. He was born
with the name Nayvadius Wilburn in Atlanta, Georgia on November 20th,
1983, but that name has now been legally changed to Nayvadius Cash.
The Astronaut Kid inked a deal with L.A. Reid in September, 2011 by
signing a contract with Epic Records. He is also affiliated with A1
Recordings, a record label founded by Rocko, and is the founder of his own
label called Freebandz Entertainment aka F.B.G. (Free Band Gang/Global).
More information on Future’s label and the artists affiliated can be
found here. His stage name came about after some of the members from
the Dungeon Family kept calling him “The Future”. They also nicknamed
him “Meathead”, but of course he was going to go with the name “Future”
over “Meathead”. The Dungeon Family were also a big influence to Future
as he learned a lot from them while he watched them work in the studio.
One of Future’s cousins, Rico Wade, who is a producer and the founder of
the Dungeon Family, was the main person that helped the Astronaut Kid
start writing and choose a career path in rap. Future’s start in the music
industry was from his songwriting. The first big music artist to pay
attention to the Astronaut Kid was Ludacris back in 2004 after he gave him
the hook for “Blueberry Yum Yum“, which is a song that can be found on
Luda’s The Red Light District album. His songwriting work finally made it’s
way mainstream in 2011 when YC’s “Racks” single was released. The
record was penned by Future and also featured him as an artist. It even
had major artists such as Lil Wayne, Wiz Khalifa, and Nelly remixing the
song. From the day “Racks” was released to today, it has been purchased
over 500,000 times making it certified Gold.
Capitalizing off this buzz, Future started to drop mixtape after mixtape.