QUICKSPINS: Playboi Carti – Whole Lotta Red

On Whole Lotta Red, Playboi Carti found a new sound, which results in his boldest album to date.

It has been more than two years since Whole Lotta Red was supposed to drop, but due to complications like Playboi Carti’s fans leaking songs online on platforms like Soundcloud and YouTube, it ended up being released only last month. Some of the leaked songs even ended up on the album. Carti added the word “new” in front in the title of the leaked songs like “New Tank” and “New N3on,” the latter being one of the most popular leaked tracks.

Lyrically, Carti does not say much — as usual, he uses a lot of repetition. For example, on the first track “Rockstar Made,” he says the words “never too much” 44 times. Fortunately for him, it does not affect the record since he is not known for his lyrical capabilities. He compensates with his weird yet ear-pleasing voice, his unmatched energy and infectious beats.

With this album, Carti embarks on a new sound. He hops on a lot of aggressive beats with some punk and electronic elements on top of the usual trap drums, 808s and loud bass, especially on the first half of the record. Instrumentals on songs like “Stop Breathing,” “On That Time” and “JumpOutTheHouse” are some of the wildest he has ever hopped on.

To accompany these beats, Carti sings and raps with some of the rawest inflections he’s ever had in his voice, almost shouting at times. On the track “Teen X” featuring Future, he even raps in a baby voice, surprisingly creating one of the best tracks on the record. The combination of such eclectic beats and insane vocal inflections leaves the listener with some pure bangers and some high energy tracks to mosh to.

On the second half of the record, Carti slows down a bit and raps over some more familiar beats that could have been on Die Lit. Some of the songs on the second half like “Control,” “King Vamp,” “Sky” and “Over” all sound similar, which left me wondering if most of these songs could have been left out of the album since the record is already 24 tracks long. To have a 24-track album is a lot and if some of your songs sound alike, although it is good for streaming revenue, it affects the quality of the record in a negative way. The album could have easily been 16 to 18 tracks and it would have been just fine.

Whole Lotta Red contains a lot of high energy songs which are, for the most part,enjoyable. Although the album could have been shorter, it is still a good project and a fun listen.

 

Trial track: Vamp Anthem

Score: 7/10

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