Rapper Jordan Carter, better known as the mysterious emcee Playboi Carti, released his third studio album “MUSIC” after almost four years of delays.
The album, featuring contributions from massive stars like Travis Scott and Kendrick Lamar, smashed streaming records and rocketed to No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Despite its commercial success, the album represents a new era of creative bankruptcy from an artist content to rest on his laurels.
Five years have passed since Playboi Carti released his second album, “Whole Lotta Red,” an ambitious project which garnered critical praise for its experimental, rage-inspired production and Carti’s leaping vocal performances. Never known for his lyrical mastery or technical prowess, Carti’s popularity stemmed from his experimental approach to a time-tested genre.
For three years, little was heard from Playboi Carti outside of news on his various arrests, including gun and drug charges, reckless driving and domestic violence. He teased projects that were never released and canceled multiple tours.
Carti released a set of singles, with the tagline “2024, music” in 2023. While he featured on numerous massive releases that year like The Weeknd’s “Timeless,” Kanye West’s “Carnival” and Travis Scott’s “Fein,” his much anticipated album didn’t see the light of day in 2024.
“MUSIC” as a project has been long overdue, and yet, even three years after it was originally announced in an interview with XXL Magazine, it still feels half-baked. The album even had to be updated post-release to fix glaring mixing issues and mistakes. Spanning 30 tracks and over an hour of runtime, “MUSIC” is a hastily compiled collection of Playboi Carti’s unfinished ideas that never strives to be anything more.
The album’s first track, “Pop Out,” is an ode to the rage music found on “Whole Lotta Red.” The song’s intentionally rough production seems to allude to a new direction in Carti’s musical style, emphasizing harsh sounds and aggressive flows. Carti also flexes deeper vocal fries and his boomy bass range, a new addition to his vocal arsenal that complements his high-pitched “baby voice” he fleshed out on his debut album “Die Lit.”
After a heavy introduction, Carti’s next song, “Crush,” comes out of left field with a lighter beat, courtesy of producer F1lthy. Despite its incredible instrumental filled with chopped-up soul samples and ethereal synths, Carti and featured artist Travis Scott never seem to take the time to lay down an actual verse on the track, resorting instead to short stanzas and repetitive lines. The entire song seems like an afterthought and is filled with dead space begging for an actual performance.
Later on the tracklist, Lamar and Carti link up on “Mojo Jojo,” trading ad-libs and one-liners over a simplistic beat. Like “Crush,” the pair can’t seem to make anything happen on the track, especially disappointing for such a high-profile cosign.
Carti also teams up with The Weeknd for another duet, “Rather Lie,” featuring the production of frequent collaborator Swamp Izzo. This partnership proves more fruitful as The Weeknd delivers a beautiful chorus to complement Carti’s melodic verses.
Vocally, these are some of the most impressive performances that Carti has ever released, effortlessly switching between haunting highs and piercing lows, but odd vocal effects have led fans to speculate that the vocals are the product of AI.
Keeping with the theme of inconsistency, the album’s production can often be to its detriment, like on the track “TOXIC,” featuring the British rapper Skepta. The instrumental on the song is repetitive and sounds nearly identical to other beats on the project, letting down a great performance by Skepta.
Other tracks, like “Good Credit” with Lamar, revel in interesting and experimental beats that drive the song forward. Lamar’s performance is the highlight-worthy, filled with West Coast references and snappy quips, as Carti fades in the background on his own song.
“I SEEEEEE YOU BABY BOI” features a similarly impressive instrumental with synth arpeggios and chopped-up samples. The song’s short runtime and lackluster lyrics leave much to be desired, however, and Carti seems content to coast on the contributions of his producers and featured artists.
Later on the album, “Twin Trim” doesn’t even feature a word from Carti, allowing rapper Lil Uzi Vert to take complete control. At just over 90 seconds long, “Twin Trim” is a missed opportunity from the two rappers, who collaborated on the hit songs “wokeuplikethis*” and “Shoota” earlier in their careers.
The album’s closer “South Atlanta Baby” is another letdown, mostly due to Carti’s lack of energy and ambition. Carti could have made a true closing statement instead of another lackluster throwaway track, but it doesn’t seem like Carti cares enough to try.
“MUSIC” suffers from a chronic lack of effort, which probably should have been anticipated from the habitually absent artist. Lacking the experimental drive and the kinetic performances of his earlier work, there’s not much to point in listening to “MUSIC,” but its commercial performance proves Carti doesn’t need to do much for people to pay attention.
