‘Music’ is an album as audacious as Playboi Carti himself. The maverick born Jordan Carter has been a cult figure for years, forging internet classics with the likes of Lil Uzi Vert and fellow Atlantan Ethereal even before 2017 hit ‘Magnolia’ made him a SoundCloud-era superstar. Nearly five years after his last record, ‘Whole Lotta Red’, the enigmatic trap overlord has finally returned with his third album, ‘Music’ – which, despite the erratic and delayed rollout, is worth the wait. It isn’t just an expansion of his sonic world, but a refinement that spins his characteristic chaos into something cinematic.
As apocalyptic 808s and hi-hats clang, the stirring production of opener ‘Pop Out’ lures you into expecting the wild, rage-baiting energy of ‘Whole Lotta Red’. But instead, Carti – over otherworldly production by the likes of Metro Boomin, F1lthy, Wheezy and more – takes you on a ride through the peaks and valleys of trap music, the heartbeat of his city. There are nods to his last album’s pre-hyperrap sound on tracks like ‘I Seeeeee You Baby Boi,’ ‘Olympian,’ and ‘Like Weezy,’ the latter sampling Atlanta classic ‘Bend Over’ by Rich Kidz.
Elsewhere, pop-punk-adjacent cuts (‘Wake Up Fl1thy,’ ‘OPM Babi,’ ‘HBA’) recall Carti’s 2018 debut ‘Die Lit’. ‘Music’ perfects the blend of ‘Die Lit’’s bass-heavy, soaring synths with ‘Whole Lotta Red’’s fearless experimentation, pushing his sound even further.
Carti adopts a new deep, raspy vocal persona throughout ‘Music’, which makes for some fun moments with Young Thug, Ty Dolla $ign, Skepta and the myriad other guests on the album. He and Uzi reunite for the first time in seven years on two songs here, attacking the ‘Jumpin’ beat like brazen buddies. On ‘Charge Dem Hoes A Fee’, Carti, Travis Scott and Future flex their tough-guy personas, but Future’s absurd lines – “Don’t do dumb shit / Don’t do horse shit… / Don’t do chicken shit / Don’t do cow shit” – adds hilarity to the otherwise bolshy soon-to-be ATL club classic.
But the biggest surprise is, undoubtedly, Kendrick Lamar teaming up with Carti for a three-peat. ‘Mojo Jojo’ serves as a warm-up as Lamar only does ad-libs, but ‘Good Credit’ shows the yin and yang in full effect. His lyrical precision and Carti’s melodic unpredictability are married with their shared love for braggadocio. Lamar is right (again): Carti is indeed his “evil twin”.
‘Backd00r,’ though, is their best team-up. Carti and Lamar become heartfelt crooners in their own right on the indulgent slow jam with the help of Jheńe Aiko. Instead of verses, Lamar delivers a sultry refrain (“I put those VVs on your décolleté / Baby pull up through the-”) before Carti bursts through, chirping: “Backdoor, backdoor.”
Though Carti leads trap’s zeitgeist, his R&B sensibilities shine bright as he marshals his computerised melodies in service of hedonistic earworms. ‘Cocaine Nose’ flips 7 Aurelius’ menacing guitar riff (popularised by Ashanti’s 2004 single ‘Only U’) into an anthemic but repetitive motif – akin to ‘Whole Lotta Red’’s ‘Vamp Anthem’. ‘Rather Lie’ featuring The Weeknd is a toxic yet irresistible knockout, making them three-for-three in the collabs department (including ‘Popular’ and ‘Timeless’ from ‘Hurry Up Tomorrow’).
Carti’s words are often secondary to his hypnotic delivery, but beneath the humour (see the sassy quips on ‘Crank’) and mumbled bravado, moments of introspection emerge. The chorus for ‘Munyun’ reveals a brief moment of humility: “Came a long way, still can’t believe I made Forbes.” But ‘South Atlanta Baby’ is the closest we get to a breakthrough from Carti. As implosive bass and glitched-out notes swell into an astral moment, he leaves us with a raw, unfiltered closing statement about his lifestyle and the violence he has endured: “Belt to ass, get way out the door, uh / I’m a crack baby, ho, I was raised off dope.”
‘Die Lit’ flexed Carti’s eclecticism. ‘Whole Lotta Red’ was conceptually bold (even if it needed a few runs to click). ‘Music’, though, amplifies his unrelenting vision to new extremes. For nearly a decade, Carti’s been a step ahead, dragging rap into the future and leaving everyone else scrambling to catch up. From underground hero to untouchable force, Playboi Carti cements his spot as rap’s feral frontrunner.
Details
- Release date: March 14, 2025
- Record label: AWGE/Interscope