Future’s “Purple Reign” mixtape was released on January 17, 2016, via LiveMixtapes. It followed the collaborative commercial mixtape “What a Time to Be Alive” with Canadian rapper Drake, but positioned itself as a more personal project. Frequent collaborators such as Metro Boomin, Southside, and Zaytoven, among others, handled production. The title and the font on the cover art are a tribute to Prince’s iconic 1984 album Purple Rain.