Playboi Carti delivers ‘MUSIC’ to our ears

On March 14, an album that would shock fans around the world was released to all streaming platforms. With 30 songs, rapper Jordan Carter, professionally known as Playboi Carti, dropped his fifth album titled “MUSIC” after five long years of minimal releases and virtually no teases.

Carti is known for setting up album releases and never dropping. This dates back to the album, “Whole Lotta Red,” which took two years to come out following the release of the album “Die Lit” in 2018. Playboi Carti is the type of person to get fans excited, and then keep disappointing them over and over again. There was a point where people would leak his music just to hear the baby-voiced rapper. 

Songs from “MUSIC” were leaked on social media and fans started trends with them prior to their actual release. A very popular trend was the “Raise your ya ya ya” trend, where people would have a clip of the original “Ya ya ya” trend and create basketball edits using the song “EVIL J0RDAN.” Another trend that spread was people lip syncing lyrics from the song “HBA” singing, “All of my friends are dead, leave ’em in the cold, put ’em in the tundra // I go Ray Charles, I cannot see her, I make her fumble.” These videos built anticipation for the album to drop, which would finally release months later. 

Being an avid Carti fan, I was astounded when I found out he was dropping “MUSIC” days before the release. In usual Carti-fan fashion, I thought it was “cap” — a slang term used for a lie — and was not going to read into it too much. When midnight hit in New Jersey and the album was supposed to drop, there was no music. I went to check social media, and saw Playboi Carti tell fans that the album would drop at midnight in Pacific Standard Time. Again, I thought that was a lie, but I still had hope. I just knew I was not going to stay up until 3 a.m. for an album. Hours later, I went to check Apple Music, and saw the thing I was waiting for, “MUSIC.” I immediately pressed play, and was greeted by the song “POP OUT” to start my morning. 

Carti released 30 tracks with features from several musicians such as Future, Travis Scott, Lil Uzi Vert, The Weeknd and even Kendrick Lamar. With songs like “GOOD CREDIT,” Lamar provides a verse and says, “Cardo my evil twin, Carti my evil twin.” With the rapper being a feature on this song and adlibs on two additional songs, Lamar continues to stay in the limelight after the Drake feud and Super Bowl performance. It was a shocker to hear him on the album as this was a very unique collaboration between Carti and Lamar. 

Another song that stood out was “RATHER LIE” featuring The Weeknd. The two artists go back and forth with The Weeknd saying in the hook, “I’d rather lie than to lose you, girl // I’d rather lie than confuse you, girl // Truth is, we lapped them, they want us gone // Truth is, they can’t handle me at the top // I’d rather spare you the details, my love.” It was not a surprise to see the two artists on the same track, as they have collaborated multiple times on songs like “Popular” and “Timeless,” where Carti provided a feature. Hearing melodic songs from the two is refreshing, and instantly became a classic. 

A few favorites on the album are  “K POP,” “WALK” and “TRIM,” where Carti continued to experiment with his voice. Being known for his baby-voice rapping style, Carti branched away from that sound after his 2018 album, “Die Lit,” and brought a deeper voice to his tracks in the  2020 album, “Whole Lotta Red.” 

In this most recent album, Carti brought a rendition of his baby-voice sound, but with a more mature tone. This is heard on “K POP” where he says, “Ice on my body, I’m the coolest // Trampoline jump for a c— // Jump out the jungle, go hectic // I’m leavin’ that boy in his ‘dulla.” 

Carti’s song “WALK” introduced a sound very similar to the rapper, Future. He goes on to say, “Made a lot of paper, l might just spin up on your payday // Pull up on your partner, yeah, we put some on his forehead,” in a deep Future-like sound. Both Carti and Future collaborated on the song, “TRIM,” where the two made a banger for the car speakers. Future started the song with a solid verse and went into the hook saying, “I bossed her up, she better not do no cap s— // (Really, I’m trim) // I’m a real one, I can’t never be on no rap s— // (Really, I’m trim).” The two go back and forth on the track with Carti laying down a verse saying, “I’ma blow up, l’ma blow up (Ah, ah) // Got two on ’em (Really I’m trim, ha, ha) // Double-0, double-0 (Double-0, double-0).” Carti’s choice in who he collaborates with plays a huge role in the type of music he makes, and ends up producing hits on top of hits.

The production on the entire album played a huge role in the vibe it had. The album’s producers consisted of Metro Boomin’, F1lthy, Wheezy, TM88 and BNYX to name a few. All the songs had insane 808 patterns and creative melodies, keeping the album turnt and exciting. As someone who does a fair share of production, I felt like the beat selection was super important to the album’s creation. All the songs had their own unique flair to it, and the producers did a great job at making sure the tracks had your head bumping.

With a five year wait and multiple false hopes, I believe “MUSIC” was most definitely worth the wait. It is immaculate. Carti made sure his fans were fed with thirty songs, and four additional songs on the deluxe album titled, “MUSIC – SORRY 4 DA WAIT,” released 11 days after the original album’s release. This deluxe consisted of songs Carti had previously exclusively released on YouTube, but not on any streaming platforms. It is refreshing to see him dropping more music consistently now, and I am looking forward to his next album that apparently is almost done called, “Baby Boi.” This album was teased after the release of “MUSIC,” and has fans super excited. Overall, I suggest giving Playboi Carti’s “MUSIC” a listen as there might be a song out of the 34 that may have your head bumping, leaving you with that stank face.

This album is not merely “MUSIC,” it is perfection.

Josiah Thomas is a senior graphic design major