You’d be forgiven for thinking this day would never come. Playboi Carti’s new album, simply titled Music, is finally here. With a whopping 30 tracks, it’s proven to be a bountiful feast for Carti fans who have been clamoring for new music since he began teasing Music at the end of 2023. The rapper’s first new release since 2020’s Whole Lotta Red offers a bit of something for everyone. With DJ drops from legendary Atlanta rap figure DJ Swamp Izzo and production from the likes of Cardo, F1lthy, and Kanye West, the album moves through a variety of sonic palettes, all held together by Carti’s singular vibe.
With features from Future, Lil Uzi Vert, and, perhaps most notably, Kendrick Lamar, the album is a major statement for Carti, who has long commanded the adoration of hip-hop’s younger generation. With Music, He is cementing his position as one of the biggest names in the genre. Here are five takeaways from Playboi Carti’s new album Music.
Whole Lotta Songs
Playboi Carti takes a long time to drop. This much we have established. But he doesn’t get enough credit for the abundance he tends to heap on his fans once it’s finally time to release music. Whole Lotta Red clocked in at 24 songs, and he’s upped the anté with Music, dropping 30 new songs on us all at once. It’s a lot to get through, at an hour and sixteen minutes, and places Carti in a league all his own as far as the sheer volume of music he’s able to put on each project.
Kendrick and Carti Link Up
One of the most-talked-about features on the album comes from a handful of collaborations between Kendrick Lamar and Carti. Kendrick, fresh off of one of the biggest years in any rapper’s career, first shows up on “Mojo Jojo” and shows up again on “Backdoors” and “Good Credit.” While the move might at first seem left field, one need only look back to Kendrick’s collab with Baby Keem, “The Hillbillies,” to understand how Carti’s universe overlaps more with Kendrick’s than it might initially seem. Still, Kanye West was apparently not feeling it.
Uzi and Carti Finally Collab Again
A key piece of Playboi Carti lore is the collaborative project with Lil Uzi Vert, reportedly titled 16*29, that never materialized. The two are among the leaders of their generation in rap, and both came up at the beginning of the so-called SoundCloud era. They also have an undeniable chemistry when they’re on the same song together — which, up to now, hadn’t been since 2018’s Die Lit. Uzi shows up for a long overdue pair of collaborations on Music: “Jumpin” and “Twin Trim,” two tracks that bring you right back to the vibe of 2018.
Literally, Bring All Da Vibes
Carti recruited Young Thug for “Bring All Da Vibes,” a song whose title sums up the feeling of the entire record. Thug arrives in prime form, and the song feels like an homage to an innovator in the genre who undoubtedly paved the way for Carti’s distinct sound. Thug and Carti have pitch-perfect chemistry on the song, Carti seamlessly matching Thug’s delivery with his out-of-this-world cadence. Ty Dolla $ign offers up a featherlight touch on the hook as well, making for one of the album’s standout moments.
Atlanta Love
Perhaps more than any of Carti’s previous releases, Music feels distinctly Atlanta. From Swamp Izzo’s presence throughout to the features from Future and Young Thug, the album has the feeling of the kinds of boundless mixtapes that flourished in the city in the 2010s. Songs like “Walk,” featuring Future sounding like he did during the Obama administration, or album closer “South Atlanta Baby,” manage to do more than tap into simple nostalgia, either. In the way that Gen Z has found a way to repurpose Y2K aesthetics, Carti has managed to reach into the past and create something that feels genuinely new.
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