"That love thing kinda hindered him I think, it slowed him down mentally," the friend said.

Multiple requests for comment from reps for Future were not returned, and the friend suggested that Future will only talk about the apparent split in his music.

"Future's one of those dudes you don't really interview," he said. "To know what's going on in his life that day, you gotta go to the studio that day. He just takes longer to put his words together and his thoughts."

Future's working now, the friend said, on a mixtape to be released to iTunes later this fall titled Evol. Pronounced like evil, that's "love spelled backwards," the friend explained, suggesting that the forthcoming songs are not specifically about falling out of love, but rather about the unexpected forms love can take. "Future has a weird way to love. You might see it's not all the way right, but it's still love. It's not traditional love."

The friend said that, in spite of the engagement's end, Ciara and Future may remain friends. Future's had children with at least three women before Ciara, and the friend says they're all a part of a family, if a non-traditional one.

"When I was in L.A. with him, he has all of his kids and babies' mothers with him there. When he was in Atlanta on tour with Drake, all of his baby mothers, including Ciara, were there," he said. "Future loves all his kids and babies' mothers. I think he's loved all of them equally."