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Playboi Carti
A$AP Mob affiliate from Atlanta
Playboi Carti
(2017)
-
7/10
Die Lit
(2018)
-
7/10
Whole Lotta Red
(2020)
-
8/10
Music
(2025)
-
6/10
It's been half a decade and much to people's surprise, Carti came out with not a single.
Not a music video, but an entire
album. Needless to say, it's long buildup
was done for the sole purpose of keeping Carti a household name for as long
as
he can. He was completely aware of how legendary and unique Whole Lotta Red was, and
that there's impossible
expectations for him to make an equally as good, if not better record
than Whole Lotta Red.
One thing I praise Carti
as a whole for, this album included, is his ability to
convey a strong sense of urgency in his sound. Most rappers lack
conviction and
in a musical sense rely on large egos and a larger than life attitude, but
Carti has both attention grabbing
lyrics and an otherworldly delivery in his flows to match.
Pop Out is a refreshing return and decent opener, serving his
expected style
vocally and frantically thumping beats.
I was and still am quite a fan of the track K-Pop when it released
as Ketamine, and it's easily the best track on this album.
The kendrick feature on Mojo Jojo is the most authentic personality
kendrick has shown on recording in many years. his adlibs show that
people should really come to terms with the fact that he
isn't this
lyrical rapper people make him out to be and already had more in
common with this corner of music than people
often associate with him.
The first few songs on this record do a good job of giving us what we've been
waiting for as Carti
fans.
Fine Shit is a track that has an acceptable beat that could have gone on a
little longer
Radar is a track produced by
Metro Boomin, naturally making it a highlight on
this, still, otherwise decent project.
Backd00r is one of Kendrick's best
contributions to music in many years, once
again proving that his pen game is not the main attraction regarding his music,
rather his ridiculous voice. The beat is produced by Kanye, and knowing about his
production techniques nowadays, it
wouldn't be a surprise if the entire instrumental
was generated by AI; but it does the job well enough.
The track Toxic is
brief but a striking moment for it's feature from Skepta,
who lays down a great verse.
The next couple tracks Munyun and
Crank don't add much to the album that the
first 6 or 7 didn't. Future's verse didn't do much for me, but it is a bit
entertaining
to hear legends like these juxtaposed directly alongside comparitively
a circus act like Carti these days.
Good Credit adds
yet another Kendrick feature to this album, this track's verse
being his most animated performance of them all. Unlike his
previous
appearances, this one is difficult to listen to, for it's contrast of his
more drugged out demeanor in the others. For
this one, he decided to get a
little closer to the bizarre world Carti's living in, instead of
playing it straight as a feature artist,
but just ends up revealing how much
he doesn't understand in the slightest bit of what makes Carti's delivery
so appealing.
The tracks Wake Up F1lthy and Jumpin are pleasant features from current rap
industry titans Travis Scott and then
Lil Uzi Vert,
Trim has another Future feature, and on his verse, he appears to have woken
up from his nap on the last one.
The adlibs on this one often got clownish.
The next song Cocaine Nose is one of the best tracks for it's many well thought
out
layers and high energy level. Similarly to this entire album, the beat is so
minimal, yet gets it's aggressive spirit across a
lot farther than some of
the other attempts to do so on here.
Young Thug shows up on this next song "We Need All da Vibes"
Olympian is a chill track and is another standout here for the beat's perfect
pairing with Carti's style, creating a harmonious
effect.
OPM BABI is a decent song but it's adlibs don't get any worse than this.
They end up sabatoging the song, but it's
clear they wanted it to add some
dissonance, and ultimately stand out in the loudness wars, but I'm not
sure who will listen
to this song and think they were a good idea.
Like Weezy is a dedication to Weezy, who Carti is a big fan of, clearly.
Dis
1 Got It doesn't do much for me, aside from the interesting horrorcore
style beat.
I feel the same way about Walk, which
is just too short to say much about,
despite it's fantastic production by Metro Boomin once again. Arguably a wasted
beat,
but it doesn't seem like Carti had much inspiration in these verses in
the first place.
HBA is a track I enjoyed for reasons
that have more to do with it's style than
the substance shown here.
Olympian, Radar, Cocaine Nose.
Overly is a forgettable
song, but includes a hilarious stock gun shot sound effect
you'd expect on a Master P album from the mid 90s, and yet
we're hearing the same exact
thing almost 30 years later.
South Atlanta is a decent closing track, but overall..
as disappointing
as it might be, to act like this is anything short of the most
interesting full-on rap album this year would be an abusively desperate lie.