Okay, hear me out. When I first saw the headlines about Future’s *DS2* being turned into a ballet, my initial reaction was probably the same as yours: *What? How? Why?* I mean, we’re talking about an album filled with trap anthems like “Where Ya At” and “Stick Talk.” This is music for turning up, not for pirouettes… right?
But the more I sat with it, the more it started making a disturbing amount of sense. This isn’t some random, gimmicky crossover. This is a moment.
Let’s break it down. *DS2* is an album about excess, hedonism, pain, and the surreal highs and lows of fame. It’s raw, emotional, and deeply physical. Sound familiar? That’s literally the foundation of classical storytelling in dance. The drama, the passion, the tragedy—it’s all there, just masked in 808s and ad-libs.
Translating that energy into ballet isn’t a dilution; it’s an elevation. It forces us to listen to the music differently. To hear the anguish in “Thought It Was a Drought” not just as a street anthem, but as a modern-day lament. To see the aggressive flexing in “Stick Talk” as a powerful, almost desperate, physical performance.
This is what happens when art forms collide without ego. Grand Marnier (random, but okay, sponsor the arts!) and the Brooklyn Academy of Music didn’t try to make *DS2* “classical.” They remixed it. They let the music breathe in a new space, allowing dancers to embody the rhythm and the emotion in a way only they can.
It makes you wonder: what other hip-hop albums are secretly begging for a ballet interpretation? *My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy*, anyone? *To Pimp a Butterfly*?
This one-night-only event is more than a performance; it’s a statement. It proves that great art is timeless, formless, and fearless. It tells us that the stories Future told in 2015 have the same emotional weight and theatrical potential as any classic tragedy.
So no, it’s not weird. It’s iconic. It’s the future of how we honor and re-imagine the classics of our time. Now, excuse me while I go practice my pliés to “I Serve the Base.”
