Keep your nose clean and stick to the bag
December 12, 2025 8:07 pm
South Atlanta rapper Playboi Carti has a considerable history of not officially dropping projects. Which in my opinion, has worked for him throughout his career; hence starting this whole “mysterious aura” mentality that so many rappers are adopting now. But why did it work?
Well, let’s flashback to 2015. Playboi Carti slowly started gaining a name for himself, as people started catching onto songs like “Broke Boi. With that momentum, he signed to AWGE in 2016, and worked on his self-titled project, as well as featuring in A$AP Mob’s Cozy Tapes: Vol. 1Friends-. In 2017, Carti was riding the high of his self-titled mixtape, including hit singles such as “Magnolia”, “wokeuplikethis*”, and “New Choppa”. Simultaneously, he was working behind the scenes, frequently collaborating with Lil Uzi Vert on their infamous collab tape 16*29, which featured tracks like “LEFT RIGHT” and “Firearm”. Based on my research (source: trust me bro), the project was not a top priority for either artist. Uzi was working on Luv is Rage 2 and Carti was focused on Die Lit. For better or worse, it panned out well. 2018 brought us Carti’s sophomore studio album, and from there, he began to focus more on performing and working on his next album. 2019 only brought us “Paid in Full”, as he was slowly developing the iconic rage sound that we would hear on 2020’s Whole Lotta Red. In 2021, Carti would continue to focus on touring, hitting major venues and launching his “Narcissist Tour”. 2022 and 2023 would be rather silent years for Playboi Carti other than “FE1N” with Travis Scott; he continued to focus on developing I AM MUSIC, and touring. He headlined his first Rolling Loud in 2023, in both Miami and California.
2024 would bring his reemergence. First teasing MUSIC in December 2023 with “2024” and an accompanying visual. Fans would eagerly await its release all of the following year. Even bringing the most dedicated of fans to start boycotting him. Despite all of this, he would drop a plethora of singles and visuals, some with huge features, in 2024. The likes of “Backr00ms (feat. Travis Scott)”, “Evil J0rdan”, “Ketamine”, and “H00DBYAIR” would do a great job of building hype for the album, all released with music videos as well. He would also feature on notable songs such as “Timeless” with The Weeknd, “I LUV IT” with Camila Cabello, “CARNIVAL” with Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign, and “Type Shit” with Future, Metro Boomin, and Travis Scott. He also dropped “ALL RED” in 2024. In 2025, he would feature on Latto’s “Blick Sum” and then began teasing the album even more. Fast-forward to March 9th, 2025, he would announce that work on MUSIC was finished, and start contacting streamers such as Kai Cenat and Plaqueboymax. March 14th was set to be the release date, and people all around the world would pull all-nighters awaiting the drop. Finally, sometime in the morning that day, I AM MUSIC would finally release globally on all platforms.
You can see that with the delay of albums such as 16*29, Whole Lotta Red, and finally MUSIC, that this anticipation and absence created a network of unreleased music, and thus helped Carti build a cult following. People, including myself, feel like they are a part of something when they are listening to music that everyone else does not have immediate access to; it helps us forge aspects of our identities. That is why Carti was able to delay MUSIC for over 4 years and still break the internet (in my opinion). It pulled in over 100 million streams the first day on Spotify alone, and was widely reacted to by the internet with mixed opinions. Many popular YouTubers such as Kai Cenat, Anthony Fantano, and Plaqueboymax reacted to it and seemed to enjoy it for the most part. Several popular media companies such as Our Generation Music, Kids Take Over, Pitchfork, Complex, and Rolling Stone also shared their opinions on it.
Even the name of the album has a backstory. According to Complex Music, there are many clues that point to the fact that Lil Wayne was a major inspiration for this project. In the past Carti has stated that he is a “diehard” Wayne fan, and that Wayne inspired him to freestyle his own music. Leading up to the album release, Carti has also been seen wearing a lot of backwards basketball jerseys and oversized tees, which is a nod to Wayne’s era, the early 2000s. Finally, the nickname for Carti’s project which is featured on the cover, “I AM MUSIC”, is most likely a direct nod to Lil Wayne’s greatest hits compilation album released on March 31st 2023. All of these clues show how big of an impact Lil Wayne has had on the development of “MUSIC”.
Now that I have given y’all an unwarranted history lesson about what led to its release, let’s talk about the album itself. MUSIC was released officially on March 14th, 2025, around the same time as the Blood Worm Moon Eclipse (did bro pay NASA for marketing?) With 30 songs and a total runtime of 1 hour and 16 minutes, I AM MUSIC does a lot with a little, compressing a wide range of sounds and moods into a time frame that does not feel annoying to sit through. In my experience, this is rare nowadays for an LP that surpasses 20 tracks. I am not saying that the entire album has no skips and is perfect. Admittedly, there are only a select number of tracks I still bump regularly; I need more time to see how it ages. Overall though, it showcases Carti’s versatility well.
MUSIC is a diverse project, featuring many artists and producers. Important featured artists include Travis Scott, The Weeknd, Kendrick Lamar, Skepta, Future, and Lil Uzi Vert. These industry heavyweights add an air of importance that solidifies MUSIC as a landmark hip-hop album. These artists bring their unique styles to the project, creating a great deal of variety. My favorite feature was The Weeknd on “RATHER LIE”. The Weeknd is able to incorporate his signature melodic style into an awesome hook that turns the track into something greater than the sum of the two artists’ individual performances. The production on MUSIC was done mainly by CardoGotWings and F1lthy, with important contributions from Kanye West, Wheezy, Metro Boomin, and others.
Features aside, Carti’s performances on MUSIC were next-level and are a great encapsulation of his myriad of styles and career eras. In the beginning of the album, Carti focuses on his new vocal style, a deep voice that he’s been perfecting for the last few years. When we get to RADAR, we see his raspy voice return from Whole Lotta Red, and finally upon reaching FINE SHIT, we see Carti’s signature “baby voice” from earlier projects such as Die Lit make a return. He switches between all three styles throughout the album, which is a sick way of adding variation to the project, as well as catering to fans both old and new. Overall Carti does an awesome job of keeping his album unified while also incorporating a great deal of variety and complexity.
A heavy bassline highlights Carti and Uzi’s performance, with both artists experimenting with different vocal styles.
A lively beat with trumpets and heavy bass. Carti provides a low vocal performance with a sluggish and laid-back delivery.
Carti performs one of his most popular early 2024 Youtube tracks over a dark beat with a violin sample.
Carti performs his low vocal style with remnants of his baby voice present. A great example of his vocal abilities.
Carti gives a final performance in his new style over a distorted melodic beat. The choir on the beat is also a great touch.
MUSIC is quite a monumental project with a rich history and backstory. Carti’s blend of various curated vocal styles, collabs with multiple artists, and overall craftsmanship made this project shine from a musical standpoint. Additionally, Carti’s clever marketing tactics and curated aura, fueled by a bottomless well of unreleased music, allowed him to create a massive stir in the industry upon release that was years in the making. MUSIC will certainly live on as a standout project in the world of rap. Who knows what this internet-breaking artist has in store for us in the future?