Disclaimer: The album featured in this review has a parental advisory for explicit content.
One of the most anticipated rap albums of all time just came out on March 14. Originally slated for release in 2024, after many delays, Playboi Carti’s “I AM MUSIC” released. It was released to mixed reviews from fans and critics alike, questioning how it took five years to make. Here is my review of some of the standout tracks and the worst as well.
Starting with the negative, nearly every song with Kendrick Lamar I feel fell flat. Despite the interesting beat selection, Kendrick and Carti do not mix at all. It makes sense, with Kendrick being a more conscious rapper and Carti being more into “mumble rap.” The tracks seemed more forced rather than actual quality tracks worth re-listening to. Going off of this, a lot of the songs featuring Carti’s deep voice blend together too much. They lack unique beats and all have practically the same flow.
Some I do like in that area are songs like “EVIL J0RDAN” and “WAKE UP F1LTHY” featuring Travis Scott. They make use of interesting beats and unique enough flow to make them highlights of the tracklist. Going off of the features, almost all of them were pretty uninteresting except for Lil Uzi Vert’s practically solo track “TWIN TRIM,” which was one of the more energetic performances Uzi has had in a while. Another thing to mention is the content matter, which is the same stuff you come to expect from Carti being about money, drugs, and women, which isn’t really a negative as nothing more is expected. Also, there are some weird mixing and production choices, like excessively loud adlibs and certain parts of instrumentals that can take you out of a song.
Now for the good, a lot of the songs with Carti’s regular or high-pitched voice show pretty dynamic performances with some unique flows. Specifically on “RATHER LIE” featuring The Weeknd, my favorite song from the album, there is a serviceable hook from The Weeknd with Carti utilizing different flows and tones of voice to make it a very entertaining listen as well as more introspective lyrics about not wanting to lose a relationship.
Another very unique track is “******* NOSE” which is a very raw song with a gritty guitar instrumental and equally gritty vocals from Carti. It is one of his most unique songs in his discography and is a great song. Some other highlights are OLYMPIAN for its relentless exciting beat, FINE **** which is similar to the “Cash Carti” era, being more upbeat and cloudy, and “I SEEEEEE YOU BABY BOI,” which features an alien-like beat with electronic sounds that is very unique.
Overall, I think this was still a very good album despite some questionable features and some tracks that blend together too much. The highlights definitely outweigh the negatives and even if it wasn’t worth a nearly five-year wait, I do enjoy the album and think it is the start of a new sound for Playboi Carti. I just hope it doesn’t take another five years to see him expand on this album. I would give it a 4/5 rating.
