132,969,600,132,969,600 seconds.
1,539 Days.
Over 4 years.
This is how long it has been since Playboi Carti dropped his sophomore album, Whole Lotta Red.
With the highly anticipated, much delayed, and long awaited release of Atlanta rapper Playboi Carti’s third studio album, “MUSIC”, there were a lot of expectations to fulfill. 30 songs in length, multiple mainstream staple features, and advertised as Carti’s best album yet, this project had big shoes to fill. However, fans would have to wait until 7 AM EST instead of the promised 3 AM EST he announced for the album to drop on streaming.
When the album finally released, both Spotify and Apple Music experienced increased usage to the point where Apple Music crashed, making Apple Music subscribers wait another half hour before finally listening. With all of the delays and difficulties out of the way, “MUSIC” would finally be in the hands of the public.
The first song, POP OUT, sets the tone for the album. From a fan’s standpoint, it is nice to see a song that first got previewed at Londons’ Wireless Festival in 2023 make the cut for the album throughout a chaotic rollout. On the other hand, it feels like the song hasn’t changed a bit since the premier, with murky production and questionable mixing imminent on the final version.
The main goal of POP OUT is to appeal to a crowd full of sweaty teenagers, ready to create a mosh pit. While it is intoxicating in the moment of a concert, on its own only a few of its musical features end up standing out. I believe that the delivery that Carti provides on the song where he explodes into the chorus around five seconds into the song is a very fun feature, however the guitar is better on songs such as K POP, COCAINE NOSE, and even the background guitar in CRUSH makes me more interested in the song than the combination of the guitar and that weird screeching synth that sounds like nails on chalkboard.
Overall, it feels like some songs have the same idea as POP OUT, but are just executed better. The two aforementioned K POP and COCAINE NOSE do this extremely well, especially the F1LTHY produced ladder. The song finds a way to appeal to both a concert crowd while standing out in a shuffled playlist, a quality that is, spoilers, rare in this project. The relentless, eardrum rattling, 808’s, to Carti’s raspy delivery, to the chorus of “cocaine nose” chanted over and over again, this song is one of one and delivers exactly what it needs to be a standout song.
On the contrary, songs like RATHER LIE, WE NEED ALL DA VIBES, I SEEEEEE U BABY BOI, BACKD00R, OLYMPIAN and FINE SH*T do exactly what they set out to do; create a vibe. I really appreciate these types of songs on the album, especially OLYMPIAN. The guitar led instrumental, flashy synths, addicting drums, and a beautiful hook, chorus and bridge delivered by Carti make the song a template of something you might hear off of a more progressive and modernized version of his debut project, “Die Lit”.
Another song that could fit onto Die Lit is the track TOXIC, featuring UK rap pioneer Skepta. Skepta was featured on the track “Lean 4 Real” off of Die Lit, and he collaborated with Carti for the second time, again delivering one of the best verses on the album. The intoxicatingly simple instrumental and dumbed down flows Carti and Skepta present make for an incredibly enjoyable listen.
For the most part, the features do a great job on the album. The features include the likes of the previously mentioned Skepta (1 song), but also names like the psychedelic rap pioneer Travis Scott (5 songs), Atlanta musical mastermind, Young Thug (1 song), R&B Superstar, The Weeknd (1 song), and all time great, Kendrick Lamar (3 songs). Carti’s old soundcloud duo reunites, as Lil Uzi Vert features on a song as well as getting a solo interlude. Atlanta trap curator Future also features on a couple songs, along even names you wouldn’t expect on a Playboi Carti album such as Ty Dolla $ign and Jhene Aiko appear on a track each.
The features are a big part of the project, with 12 out of the 30 songs including another collaborator. One of my favorites is RATHER LIE, which the Weeknd features on. Both Carti and Weeknd do amazing work gliding over the instrumental, continuing their run of collaborations, which started with Carti featuring on The Weeknds’ single from his album Hurry Up Tomorrow, Timeless.
Carti released the deluxe to MUSIC a mere few days after the major release of the album, titled MUSIC – SORRY 4 DA WAIT. The deluxe adds 4 more songs, 3 of which are the unofficial “singles” Carti teased the album with back in late 2023 to early 2024. The only new song, FOMDJ (G Wagon), has already cemented itself as one of the best tracks Carti has ever put out. An electric flow, video game-like synths, and the baby voice that Carti featured throughout his second album, Whole Lotta Red, the song features a lot of the genre bending style that audiences and critics expected from the main project.
In total, the album feels like it drags at a run time of 89 minutes and 12 seconds. There are some great moments on the album, sure, but there are some pure duds such as MUNYUN and OPM BABI. It feels underwhelming and as if Carti was fine with settling with a semi-regular trap/rage rap album.
LYRICS: 5.5/10
INSTRUMENTAL: 9.1/10
EXPERIENCE: 7.1/10
QUALITY: 5.2/10
FINAL RATING: 6.72/10
