Playboi Carti’s newest release, MUSIC, isn’t an adequate apology for “the wait”
Carti’s homogenous sound and lyrical dullness make for a less-than-inspired record
PHOTO COURTESY OF AWGE and Interscope Records
MUSIC - SORRY 4 DA WAIT
Playboi Carti
AWGE and Interscope Records
March 25, 2025
On March 14, Playboi Carti released MUSIC, his long-awaited third album. Below, Alex and Sabine attempt to make their way through the 30-song tracklist, plus the four bonus tracks on March 25’s MUSIC - SORRY 4 DA WAIT.
ALT: It was maybe in the spring of 2021 when I heard a Carti song for the first time. Foreign. Punchy, vivacious, quintessentially dying lit. I ended up enjoying many of the Die Lit and Playboi Carti tracks. Only after that did I find some of Whole Lotta Red (WLR). It carries an enveloping presence, perhaps one that is too gentle. It embodies cacophony and angst: the sound, or perhaps the noise, awakens the beast inside all of us. When I needed it, it was stronger than any surge of adrenaline.
As heterogeneous and brilliant as WLR was, the way Carti floated on Die Lit was something I wanted to hear more of. I explored some of his fan-made music (pretty good, in fact) and Version 1 of WLR (leaks that were also solid). I even went back to his SoundCloud and Cash Carti phases. Evolution is an understatement when it comes to Carti, so I wanted to hear the beginnings of it all.
“2024” dropped in 2023 and heralded a new Carti. It was nice, the forays into tonal inflections enriched by a strong instrumental backing. However, I didn’t enjoy the other tapes that were released in the later weeks. “Timeless,” now plastered on every corner of the internet, was pretty darn good, but again, The Weeknd has stellar production capabilities.
MUSIC dropping on Pi Day was pretty hilarious. I did lose a little sleep waiting, but I was hardly surprised when Carti delayed the release.
SRC: One thing about me is that I LOVE Whole Lotta Red. “Control” was my most-listened to song of 2024 by… I don’t want to say how many listens. During the Cambridge Half Marathon, I obviously had to listen to WLR. Well, I put it on for the first half, then my phone dropped to 5%. So I had to sing “King Vamp” in my head over and over for the last seven miles. When it came time to post an obligatory race picture, I used “Stop Breathing” as the background music.
So you can imagine how excited I was to listen to MUSIC — and how disgruntled I was to find, in the words of my friend Richard, that it was largely “whole lotta mid,” despite a few sublime moments. Like Track 11 on Whole Lotta Red, MUSIC is “Meh.” Even the four added tracks on MUSIC - SORRY 4 DA WAIT couldn’t save my disappointment.
POP OUT
ALT: To make a horrible analogy, this is a quantum particle in a box trying to leave the box. It’s trying to break the rules. It’s so entropic and jarring, but it’s classic Carti at this point. One could consider this to be an extension of the concepts on WLR: the angst and the monosyllabic lyrics are just daggers. We’ll see how it climbs or falls from here.
SRC: SEEYUH! Okay, basically everyone I talked to agrees that this song is the highlight of the album — which is a bad sign for the opener on a 30-song record, but great news for anyone with 2 minutes and 41 seconds to spare. The intro is quite enjoyable (hi, Swamp Izzo), and throughout the song, Carti brings the energy. His raspy intonation perfectly fits the aggressive, characteristically outrageous lyrics. This dude loves vampires, cool cars, and making incomprehensible noises over and over again. And you know what? So do we.
CRUSH (with Travis Scott)
ALT: Travis and Carti is not a combination that typically misses. Sadly, this one falls a little short. The repetition doesn’t feel invigorating in any sense, and the lyrics raise some ironies. In God We Trust? Antithetical to the demonic Carti persona he’s cultivated lately. This song sounds like a rough draft. A pilot. A work in progress.
SRC: I wonder what shawty’s going to let them do — the song was kind of ambiguous. I wish there had been another repeat of that titular lyric to clear things up! Just kidding. On a musical basis, I like this song; the electronic style is nicely floaty. On a feminist basis? Not so much.
K POP
ALT: Yeah, I think I just wasted two minutes of my life right there. To be honest, this was the background noise as I tried to turn on another monitor. RIP.
SRC: Jordan Terrell Carter is not known for the ingenuity of his lyrics. This chorus-free, 112-second track doesn’t exactly change my opinion of him on that front.
EVIL J0RDAN
ALT: What is that gunshot? The build-up was totally reasonable and then you just empty the chamber? Evil. The instrumental is the wave, and Carti rides it with his custom surfboard. It’s pretty decent. To be honest, this came out last year, so this is not my first listen.
SRC: I liked “EVIL J0RDAN.” In my opinion, Carti’s idiosyncratic accent is one of the best parts of his music. His exaggerated vowels on “syrup” (or was it “zero”?) make up for the fact that he says the word four times, or precedes the line with “I’m an emo thug in my phase.” I also enjoy the little pauses between lines.
MOJO JOJO
ALT: Kendrick said extraterrestrial? Not to get derailed, but that was hands down one of Future’s best projects (Project E. T.). That album sent me to space. Carti stays on Earth with this one, though. Kendrick is a feeble attempt to enter low orbit, but to be fair, this song is far from something stratospherically good. There are ephemeral moments of a decent flow from Carti’s end, but then it drops off. The instrumental is mediocre. Not much mojo in this one.
SRC: I first listened to “MOJO JOJO” on the radio of some Uber that was speeding through Boston to Harvard Square in the early morning. Did Kendrick, possibly the best lyricist in contemporary rap, need to be on a song that rhymed “window, woah” with “window, ho”? Let’s not talk about it. Instead, we can focus on the beats, which are simple but smooth and classic. They get the job done, just like the obligatory villainous metaphor and the random chorus.
PHILLY (with Travis Scott)
ALT: Vintage. Travis is back. Maybe I am a sucker for 808s, but it’s sublime here. Carti is a bit unsteady, but it doesn’t hurt too much. Also, the mixing sounds off? The volume seemed to oscillate a few times. Nonetheless, this one will end up on loop. Probably because of the instrumental.
SRC: The sound on this is great. Between the vocals and the beats, the song purrs like the Bentley that they shout out. I think Carti and Travis did a better job of combining their styles here than on “CRUSH.”
RADAR
ALT: Metro! No Pierre Bourne thus far, which makes me sad because Pierre is Carti and Carti is Pierre. But this is the flamboyance and flashiness of Metro fused with the rasping and ranting of Carti. It’s alright.
SRC: I did interval training on the bridge to this song. Did you know 60 smoots are about 100 meters? Overall, I found this track pretty enjoyable — nothing to write home about, but good to run home to.
RATHER LIE (with The Weeknd)
ALT: I hated The Weeknd until “Timeless.” I wanted to become a fan, but this one kind of starts out too canonically Weeknd, the Weeknd I grew up hating. It’s trying to be profound, just like when I try to use metaphors in my writing and it falls so flat that everyone becomes a hater. Carti is trying to be lyrical here, but perhaps Mr. Carter should realize that this was not a step below “Timeless,” it’s a whole couple of floors below it. I’d rather not lie about taking an elevator between these tiers.
SRC: I find The Weeknd so insanely annoying. He has the unique ability to make almost any song worse, even when he’s collaborating with undeniably great artists. (FKA twigs, Lana Del Rey, and I could go on.) To Carti, another great, I say: this is not “Control”! The people (me) want “Control”! You’re more romantic when no one can understand what you’re saying!
FINE SHIT
ALT: This one is decent. The instrumental is nice, but the lyrics are plain. It might be one of the lighter songs here, and I’m actually pleased this works. It’s almost like an interlude.
SRC: Boring, sorry. Could have been cut and I would not have cared. Good to know he can spell DIE, though.
BACKD00R (feat. Kendrick Lamar & Jhené Aiko)
ALT: A very loaded resume on the features on this album. And here, Kendrick is better than he was earlier. Big-time loop potential. It’s honestly like an unclouded sunrise after a rainy day. It’s good.
SRC: This track has grown on me. Jhené Aiko’s inclusion makes “BACKD00R” much more melodic than the other Kendrick features. Chill song, chill flow, chill beats.
TOXIC (with Skepta)
ALT: Does anyone not hear an air-raid siren in the background? Too jarring. It’s an E and F dissonance. As a former violinist who sucked at double stops, it’s soft enough to not hurt, but it still irks me a bit too much. My ears are ringing. Next.
SRC: I cannot take Skepta seriously. This is a “leader”? A “genius”? The line about “your boyfriend” being “a follower” just made me think about that meme that reads “when you gon stop eating shrimp with the wimps.” The alternative no one’s talking about: put down the seafood and this lame track.
MUNYUN
ALT: Swamp Izzo aside, this instrumental sounds like the younger brother of “PHILLY.” There’s so much untapped potential for a flow on this, and it lasts for like a maximum of 15 seconds. And Swamp Izzo, your tag is about as good as Sports Illustrated articles. Rethink the tag brother.
SRC: Swamp Izzo: he’s lowkey featured on this record! I feel like it’s not a great sign that in all these song reviews, I keep mentioning the features or producers instead of, you know, Carti himself. The arrhythmic flow is annoying, not innovative.
CRANK
ALT: Can Swamp just shut up and cook up his instrumentals? Minus him, this is alright. An attempt to mimic some WLR-esque sounds, but this is a free throw that’s a straight brick.
SRC: I like this song! Carti does brio like almost no one else. He sounds genuinely happy on “CRANK,” and this elation makes lyrically lazy lines like “my vibes are top floors” sing.
CHARGE DEM HOES A FEE (with Future & Travis Scott)
ALT: Future carried this. That’s it, that's all. Thank you very much. I’m sure Pluto charged an astronomical fee for this one.
SRC: Future sounds sleepy, but somehow he dominates this track. Carti doesn’t really play a role here beyond making his noises.
GOOD CREDIT (with Kendrick Lamar)
ALT: This is Kendrick’s song, not Carti’s. The evil twin repetition is… interesting. Kendrick isn’t an evil twin, he’s a dark horse, a disruptor, a man who pops out and shows them what’s up. Give credit to Kendrick for not making this track a straight-up skip.
SRC: As with the previous track, the featured artist both outclasses Carti and underperforms. Kendrick’s voice is whiny. Why should I care if they’re evil twins? Is this a continuation of the Powerpuff Girls motif from “MOJO JOJO?” Who’s the last triplet? No one can say, but King Kunta seems strangely petulant.
I SEEEEEE YOU BABY BOI
ALT: Angelic instrumental and intro, but the vocals don’t come even close to doing it justice. Carti is too passive. It could be more aggressive, more punchy, more physical. The theme of the album is coming into the limelight — it’s not I am Music, it’s I am Potential.
SRC: I liked the intro, and the thrumming instrumentals and beat remain the high points of the song. Carti’s rapping left much to be desired, though. At some point, it felt like he was repeating himself because he ran out of thoughts.
WAKE UP F1LTHY (with Travis Scott)
ALT: The beat sounds like something off Heroes and Villains (produced by Metro Boomin), but I can’t believe the vocals are somehow not making me feel anything. I was expecting something along the lines of “Rockstar Made,” and this came up woefully short. I should readjust my expectations.
SRC: As I reviewed this album across various coffee shops, student lounges, and campus benches, I often found myself embarrassed to Google the lyrics in public. This humiliation reached its apex with “WAKE UP F1LTHY.” Suffice to say, this song lives up to its title’s final word.
JUMPIN (with Lil Uzi Vert)
ALT: Too short. It’s Lil Uzi Vert, the co-author of the all-time classic “Shoota.” It falls short, again.
SRC: Were they too busy on the PlayStation? I wish this song was longer; 92 seconds isn’t enough for either artist to perform at their proper, braggadocious heights.
TRIM (with Future)
ALT: Future carries once again. Maybe I’m noticing this a bit late, but it feels like Carti is cramming syllables in an attempt to stay in time with the instrumental. Two syllables can’t become one, especially when you’re coming right after Future. The cadence on Carti’s end feels like an abnormal EKG. Perhaps that’s the whole point of this album.
SRC: I like this one! A very solid track. Nice instrumentals, nice flow. They both sound relaxed but disciplined. The beat’s strong enough that you can imagine yourself slowly dancing at your computer while typing along to this song. Or, like, just dancing, I guess.
COCAINE NOSE
ALT: This is the closest to WLR in terms of sound. Despite what Sabine says below, I honestly don’t think it’s that bad. It’s neither a skip or a loop. It reminds you that Carti is capable of this sound; he’s just choosing to make it the foreground rather than the centerpiece.
SRC: This song feels like WLR B-roll. Despite the title and his best attempts at a menacing rasp, Carti’s not particularly euphoric. He may be sniffling, but this song sounds like it’s from a bad cold.
WE NEED ALL DA VIBES (with Young Thug & Ty Dolla $ign)
ALT: Thugger’s back after a hiatus with the law. He’s ok. The overall vibe is like a summer beach song. Blast it out of a portable speaker or something like that.
SRC: I certainly hope these are not all “da vibes.” If they are, then this song, which ChatGPT could have made, is what your 18.100A grader might call “necessary, but not sufficient.”
OLYMPIAN
ALT: The mixing feels off. This should be the last song of the album; it’s giving closing up shop vibes. The instrumental deserves so much better.
SRC: Even the initial “seeyuh” is muted. Carti’s quiet here — more human than Herculean, much less godly — and the whirring background can’t save him.
OPM BABI
ALT: This is a skip. I’m sorry if I hurt anybody’s feelings. Next, please.
SRC: Swamp again? The crashes in the background seem random, as does the outro. Despite the attempted pyrotechnics, this track’s a snooze.
TWIN TRIM (with Lil Uzi Vert)
ALT: 33% of this song is its intro. Hilarious. Lil Uzi is flamboyant, but I feel like he could have taken the vocal progressions in directions more like his true self. Perhaps he needed to be more Carti-esque and monotonal to get a solo work on this album?
SRC: Lil Uzi Vert does a great impression of himself here, by which I mean that this song does not belong on an album allegedly belonging to Playboi Carti.
LIKE WEEZY
ALT: If there’s a meme on the album, this is it. I don’t know what I was listening to. I will defer commentary to Sabine.
SRC: I can’t pinpoint exactly why I like this song — it’s definitely not the line “I’m big like Bieber” — but I suspect it may have something to do with the instrumental vortices swirling around Carti’s upbeat flow.
DIS 1 GOT IT
ALT: This sounds mainstream, and because I possess truly poor music taste, I like it. Up there in loop potential, but nothing extraordinary.
SRC: I think that the averagely competent listener should be able to distinguish between a chorus and a verse in an averagely competent artist’s work. Here, I cannot — not sure if that’s a judgment of me or Carti.
WALK
ALT: The flow here is very Future-esque, which is pleasing. On the contrary, I’m irritated by Swamp Izzo’s crap. He’s being paid big bucks to shout into a mic. Well, it’s not like Carti isn’t being paid bigger bucks to do the same thing either. Who knows.
SRC: “WALK” is another short song, clocking in at just over 90 seconds. It’s certainly not a standout, but Swamp Izzo’s outro is enjoyable.
HBA
ALT: HBA leaked last year, and I’m not really sure if this version is any better. The snares are very metallic and bitter. Have you tried smelling what the handles to the nice Lobby 7 doors are like? That’s kind of like what the instrumental sounds like here.
SRC: Appropriately for a track whose outro shouts out his children, Carti sounds strangely grown up. Although he indulges in the usual rasps and screeches — after all, as he “told ‘em,” he’s “comin’ normal” — our favorite vampire also takes his sweet time between lines, giving his words an uncharacteristically adult weight. (Also, Alex, why are you smelling door handles?!?!)
OVERLY
ALT: Very mid. Cruising altitude type of song. You don’t need to pay attention to this one.
SRC: Another SVJ mention, another “chorus” that only appears once, another sub-two minute song. Kill your darlings, king.
SOUTH ATLANTA BABY
ALT: Not a bad ending to the original 30-song album. As you can read, I’m so burnt out from listening that I can’t even form proper sentences. My ears hear things, yet my mind is empty. It’s alright. It’s alright.
SRC: This is vintage Carti. He’s loose, fun, swinging from line to line. I like the background vocals and the instrumentals too.
DIFFERENT DAY
ALT: The instrumental captures you in place, in neither a good or a bad way. Carti’s voice is somewhat bland. Not a skip or a loop.
SRC: Carti’s sighing baby voice works in “DIFFERENT DAY,” unlike many other songs. The simple, pulsing instrumental combines with his conversational tone to justify the less-than-inspired lyrics.
2024
ALT: Yes, this one’s good. There’s actual synergy between the instrumental and lyrics. I’ve heard this enough times that it’s somehow nostalgic. What a weird thing to be saying.
SRC: Once again, a song is carried by Carti’s talent for saying words in a unique way. I’m a particular fan of the sibilance of “news,” then “something” and “wassup” in the chorus of “2024.”
BACKR00MS (with Travis Scott)
ALT: Not the type of thing I would listen to. It came out a year or more ago, too. Not sure what to feel about this other than as an apology for leaving us fans in agony.
SRC: Shoutout to Carti’s grandmother and… body positivity? I don’t think lyrical analysis will prove particularly fruitful here. Anyways, fun song, but nothing groundbreaking.
FOMDJ
ALT: A very solid track. I enjoyed it.
SRC: Another track that made me go, “Well, that was a good song, and it seemed to be by Playboi Carti,” and nothing else. If “FOMDJ” hadn’t been the 34th song on the deluxe record, maybe I’d have been more generous. Most of the time, though, I doubt that I’ll make it all the way through the album and let myself appreciate this track’s merits.
Final Verdict
ALT: The homogeneity of sound on this album made it noisy. The sheer quantity of songs contributed to the noise; it was hard to distill the highlights. I’m not sure why this project took essentially five years when some tracks felt unpolished. In the future, I’ll only want to sample individual bites at best and not devour the full meal. There are fleeting moments of greatness, but the chord progressions fall flat, Carti’s arrhythmic rasping limped along far from anything lyrical, and the overall composition of the album was rather entropic. 6/10 because it might grow on me, we’ll see.
SRC: I’m a harsh critic. Did I enjoy some of the songs on this album? Yes. But did it work as an album that I’d want to listen to in full? No way. After five years, you’d think the self-accused King Vamp would have experienced some bouts of insomniac creativity, but MUSIC is nothing new. I’m granting it a 4/10, though like Alex, I’ll keep listening. Hopefully, the next record will prioritize innovative quality over quantity.