Whole Lotta Red - Playboi Carti
Intro:
Love him or hate him, Playboi Carti is one of Hip-Hop’s most polarizing & influential figures. After 2 years of waiting & constant leaked songs, his highly awaited album Whole Lotta Red is finally here. Playboi Carti is an Atlanta native that has been in the rap industry during the last 5 years. Personally, I’m a huge fan of his work (after spending years trashing him). Despite this, I’ve put my bias aside during my listening sessions for this review.
Strengths:
As usual, Carti finds catchy flows that ride & compliment almost every beat. Songs like “Beno!” showcase the traditional approach he takes when finding pockets. His delivery has evolved & transformed though, as there is a lot of Carti’s new “Vamp Voice” (which sounds very punk, aggressive & sloppy). This new sound leads to some interesting results like the vocals “Stop Breathing” & “New Tank”. Despite this, the baby voice we all love is still present on the project. The song “Teen X” is the most extreme we’ve ever heard Carti’s vocal range reach.
The vampire/rockstar/punk theme & aesthetic work excellently with the music to create a unique listening experience. Topically, he sticks with the typical rap braggadocio, having women, being rich, etc. HOWEVER, I give Carti a lot of credit for sprinkling a few quotable lines throughout his simple/catchy song writing.
He does delve a lot more into his personal life than usual on Whole Lotta Red as well. Specifically, he speaks on his older brother multiple times on the project like on “Die4Guy”. The song Punk Monk touches on several of his industry relationships & opportunities.
Lastly, the production on this album is EASILY the highlight of the entire project. If you love Carti’s music for the psychedelic/trippy/retro sounds & bouncy 808 drums, then Whole Lotta Red will not disappoint (Ex. Slay3r & all the CDQ versions of leaked songs). Additionally, there’s still a bunch of dark distorted anthems that eerily fit the punk, violent & ghoulish atmosphere. Some of my favorite sounds include:
Weaknesses:
Whole Lotta Red still has quite a few flaws. Carti still has lots of lyrics that are either filler and/or just completely random for the sake of rhyming. His simplistic style works extremely well in his discography, but at times it does lead to repetitive tracks such as “Jump Out The House” & “No Sl33p” (yet, I still enjoy both). To add on, I think there are even moments on this album where he reminds me of other artists vocally. A few of his inflections are reminiscent of Young Thug, and his verse on Stop Breathing makes me think of Rico Nasty every time.
All 3 features (Kanye, Future & Kid Cudi) on the project left me disappointed & were not very memorable, outside of Cudi’s hum being sampled. Future actually sounds okay, but he’s pretty much just following Carti’s lead stylistically on their track. In general, the album could’ve used more features to break up the tracklist (which really should have been shortened to way less than 24 songs anyways).
The only other negatives I took away are minor. I think Carti could’ve leaned more into the vampire theme & kept the entire album full of more dark hard-hitting punk tracks. A lot of leaks like “Molly”, “Kid Cudi/Pissy Pamper”, etc. were better than & could’ve replaced the few weaker songs on Whole Lotta Red.
Overall:
Playboi Carti is getting a lot of slander for an album I actually believe is pretty great. Granted, I can hear & understand why a lot of longtime fans were disappointed in the final version of Whole Lotta Red. Any album with massive hype & expectations is already at a disadvantage, as far as living up to the fans’ liking. Regardless, I think Carti has delivered another unique trap project & has pushed his sound into new areas along the way. Thank you all for reading and be sure to listen to the album yourself with the link below.
