On March 14th, up and coming rapper, Playboi Carti, released one of the most anticipated albums in not only hip hop history but music history as a whole. It’s a highly ambitious project, simply titled, MUSIC. Playboi Carti’s last album, Whole Lotta Red, dropped over four years ago which was a large reason why MUSIC was so long awaited.
Track one instantaneously lets listeners know that they are in for a wild ride with the intro track, “POP OUT.” This song alone was somewhat controversial due to its very intense nature with extremely distorted sound and synths. “POP OUT” isn’t something most are really coming back to often but it definitely serves its purpose as an intro.
The second song, “CRUSH,” continues building up to the highs of the album. Its distorted synths, slight metal instrumentation, and intense choir in the background lead to another level of grandness in production. Unfortunately, the song consists of mostly adlibs from both Carti and the feature Travis Scott, there is some substance from Playboi Carti near the end but it doesn’t make up for the lost time, making the phenomenal beat feel almost wasted.
“EVIL J0RDAN,” is the major hit off the album. It had already been leaked prior to its official release however it now has a very cinematic intro to start the song off. With lines like “You was asking for some change, now you changed,” and the sample saying, “Begging on her knees to be popular,” Carti goes into his experiences with people suddenly acting differently around him. Directly after, in the song “MOJO JOJO,” a similar theme is continued, claiming everyone is nice to him due to him becoming rich.
MUSIC is 30 tracks long, not including the deluxe version he released only a couple weeks later. This led to lots of hidden gems across the album. “OLYMPIAN” is quite the fan favorite while also being one of the lesser streamed songs. It’s got the classic distorted synths that a typical song in the rage genre has. “TRIM” has a sickeningly hard feature from Future, it almost feels like his own song due to his relentless flow. Another less recognized moment is “COCAINE NOSE.”
While its length creates some gems, it’s really the biggest draw back on MUSIC, as it has led to a bloated feeling. Songs like “TWIN TRIM” and “WE NEED ALL DA VIBES” feel completely unnecessary, as if they were complete throw-aways. The first of the two is 1 minute 34 seconds long, consisting of 1 Lil Uzi Vert verse. His performance is solid, but it’s strange having a song with no Playboi Carti on a Playboi Carti album.
Nearing the album’s end, “HBA,” is one of the greatest highlights, consisting of strong baselines and very high energy instrumentals. Throughout MUSIC, it’s quite evident that Playboi Carti still hasn’t improved on his writing skill, this is definitely present in “HBA” as there clearly is a narrative being pushed, with him going back to the way people have reacted to his fame, however the execution is lyrically weak.
The album feels like a respectable successor to his prior works, continuing with his very experimental production. Sadly, it seems not much attention was paid to the flaw throughout Playboi Carti’s catalog. Many tracks come off as repetitive, and some feel as though they did not serve any purpose, all mistakes Carti has made in before.
