For the past five years, being a Playboi Carti fan felt like a toxic relationship. But amidst the broken promises and manipulative behavior are just enough glimpses of why you fell in love in the first place to keep you around. Since Carti’s last studio album, he’s teased three release dates, various singles, features and snippets through vague Instagram posts, which amounted to absolutely nothing.
Suddenly, on March 14, 2025, the aurora borealis of trap music spread across the sky, beckoning every 17-year-old in Pandabuy designer fits to emerge from their shelters to be graced with the presence of a 30-song behemoth simply titled “MUSIC.” The wait was over. Their mysterious vampire cosplaying aura god finally revealed his work to the masses.
Listening to “MUSIC” front to back feels like a chore. For an album which reportedly took five years, the album feels like Carti’s label threatened him to release every dormant desktop file. Random things feels painfully like they were added last second like the “EVIL J0RDAN” sigma Tik-Tok edit intro and HBA’s painfully loud snares. “WE NEED ALL DA VIBES” is a Young Thug throwaway with a Carti verse stapled into wherever Gunna was supposed to be.Lil Uzi Vert’s feature on “JUMPIN” references two-year-old albums alongside an inexplicable solo cut on “TWIN TRIM.” The sequencing of “MUSIC” is also all over the place. “POP OUT’s” outro was supposed to coincide with the “top 10 fùtbol respect moments” sounding “EVIL J0RDAN” intro, yet they’re respectably tracks one and four. The corner cutting laziness is apparent and disappointing, and the only way this album can be enjoyed is by cuting through the randomness and choosing your favorite 5-10 songs.
Fortunately for all the blunders “MUSIC” makes, I do enjoy 24 songs. Bear with me.
Realistically, Carti could have taken a clean commercial sound with “MUSIC,” yet it’s delightfully bizarre. “POP OUT” serves as an explosive industrial opener, as Carti gutturally wails over high pitched chainsaw synths and unstoppable 808’s. Oppositely, “RATHER LIE” with The Weeknd is a gorgeous pop-rap anthem propped up by angelic F1lthy production and Carti’s eclectic range of voices. The Spaceghostpurrp sampled “Crank” sounds like Carti rapping over an underground squirrel fighting ring, and “I SEEEEE YOU BABY BOI” sounds lightyears ahead of its time with its frenetic synths and high-pitched vocals.
“MUSIC” features assistance from DJ Swamp Izzo, known for work with early Young Thug and Future mixtapes. Constant interjections of “SWAMP IZZO” and “CARTI” flood the album with a swag inverse to DJ Khaled’s corny shenanigans. The madness culminates into “OPM BABI,” which sounds like Carti rapping over cicadas trapped in a subwoofer while Swamp Izzo top rope body slams a strip club soundboard. Every other bar is emphasized with a comically loud gunshot and overstimulating Swamp Izzo adlibs.
“OPM BABI” is pure lunacy, and while might sound entirely ass, is maybe the most fun song I’ve listened to ever. Another highlight, “LIKE WHEEZY,” cleverly samples “Bend Over” by early 2010’s Atlanta rap group Rich Kidz. “LIKE WHEEZY” sounds like what being a golden retriever puppy probably feels like, as Carti glides with clever flows over a jubilant chopped sample. “MUSIC” at its best is a fitting tribute to the mixtape era of Atlanta trap. Bold, brash, ignorant, yet some of the most fun music in the genre, DJ Swamp Izzo’s adlibs and Carti’s unadulterated creativity harken back toward a much less boring era. Less monotony and more like the 24 projects Gucci Mane dropped in three years behind bars.
Unforgiving in its ridiculousness, “MUSIC” is an absolute rollercoaster of an album. One moment you’re scared for your life, the next you’re thinking about falling in love, then Swamp Izzo screams in your ear in the club. The sheer insanity of “MUSIC” is its biggest strength and weakness. There’s no way “MUSIC” took five years of meticulously crafted artistry, but it’s so endearing that it transcends its flaws. In an ideal world, “MUSIC” is shortened by 10 songs with far less half-assedry, but that wouldn’t have left the smile on my face as big as it was by track 30. Unbelievably flawed in everything yet unbelievably charming in its intent, my brain says it wasn’t worth the wait while my heart believes otherwise.
