Greed trumps artistry as Playboy Carti defrauds listeners through vapid MUSIC

Playboi Carti’s long awaited third studio album, MUSIC, has been met with a strange combo platter of harsh criticism as well as pomp from fans ecstatic that he returned from his absence. The album suffered many delays and false announcements during the five year wait since his sophomore record, Whole Lotta Red. His new record was hardly worth the wait through its abrasive sound, rushed production, and “questionable” features.

MUSIC blasts listeners with strident and cyclical notes, blending a lack of thematics with an overwhelming sense of cacophony. The record suffers from sonic bloat with a lengthy tracklist of 30 songs. Even worse, this initial foray would be further plumped up through a deluxe album, MUSIC - SORRY 4 DA WAIT, only 11 days later. This addition added four new tracks, notably “2024” and “BACKR00MS” which were published on the artist’s YouTube channel a year prior. The album’s perceived rush derives from its length of 1 hr 29 min. Over 34 songs, that is an average of two minutes and 37 seconds per track. Many songs seem like filler because some rappers were featured multiple times across different tracks. Kendrick Lamar appears three times, and Future ties that count with three of his own. Lil Uzi Vert pops up on a couple of tracks,  and Travis Scott moved in with a whopping five appearances. MUSIC is mixed and mastered in a typical, rough way for Carti as plenty of sounds are overly distorted and clipped with unbalanced dynamics. Many sounds, like the hi-hats or snare-rolls, pierce ears with their atrocious balance, turning what could be a fun listen into a challenge to slog through with ear drums intact.

“WE NEED ALL DA VIBES,” featuring Ty Dolla $ign, Young Thug, and Gunna, was originally a Young Thug and Gunna joint song that was teased four years ago with no feature from Carti or Ty. Carti only has six lines on the entire song and the quality of recording is questionable; many speculate he recorded it on his iPhone or used AI to create his verse to quickly push it on the album.

This can also be seen on “TWIN TRIM” featuring Lil Uzi Vert where the song appears to be a Vert demo that Carti slathered his ad libs and snare-rolls all over the track in an attempt to blend it in with the album with no actual vocals from the rapper.

Other songs on this album struggle from a lack of focus like “RATHER LIE,” featuring The Weeknd. It seems to have been recorded at the same time as their joint release “Timeless,” which was released in September of 2024. Carti’s alleged use of AI to record his verse on both songs further illustrates the laziness of the record.

The album also features DJ Swamp Izzo, who tags his name over every song, oftentimes intruding on the progression of a song, if it has one. Tracks like “OPM BABI” struggle on this side with many lyrics being completely inaudible under an onslaught of gunshot sound effects, Swamp Izzo’s tags, and a distorted and unbalanced mix.

EVIL J0RDAN falls the hardest for a common fault on the album, mainly being TikTok bait and chart chasing. The original song previewed in December 2023 with a transition from his previous song “Popular” with The Weeknd and Madonna, featuring an electric guitar lead over the original beat, which became very famous on TikTok. On release, the track had a riser drowned in reverb to build up to the fan named “popular intro,” and disappointment washed across all of his fans as the track does not have the electric guitar. Many of the tracks on this album follow this same fate where it has a very stale and uninspiring intro or sound to simply appeal to TikTok edits. His plan, though lacking in both taste and artistry, apparently worked as the entire tracklist appeared on the Billboard’s Hot 100 in week one.

A majority of the tracklist consists of old demos that Carti took from other artists, tracks that were finished years prior, and a selection of beats that were made a month before the release. The album didn’t receive a rollout in a typical sense as he teased it for years but ended up bailing on the release. All that was shown was a billboard and a couple of Instagram posts.

As per usual with many of Carti’s tracks, there is very minimal lyrical content within the record. A majority of the hooks simply repeat  the title of the song for a couple of lines, in some variation. Carti’s lyrics tend to remain flat, one-dimensional, and dull, failing to use any artistic devices. Kendrick Lamar is notorious for his ability to write multi-layered tracks, almost taunting Carti on the record by mimicking his subpar writing skills and raps, emulating his lack of focus, guide in his rhythm, and rhymes. Compared to such strong and prominent figures in the rap scene, all of the features on this album felt dull. The production is hardly redeemable for the flaws found everywhere; songs like “POP OUT” lack true progression with minimal melodic components, distorted instruments, and an unbalanced mix.

Some songs have beneficial qualities on the side of production, as with “CRUSH,” where the lyrical content is iffy at best, but an infectious lead and enchanting choir tempt the listeners' ears. “PHILLY” has a very bouncy drum pattern and “COCAINE NOSE” has a very powerful electric guitar riff throughout the whole track.

The album does have a huge diversity in its genre, for better or for worse. Songs like “POP OUT” and “COCAINE NOSE” were most definitely built for a live performance with their rough and grunge aesthetic and songs like “RATHER LIE” have a synthetic pop feel to them. 

Notably, Lamar has three appearances on the record which have brewed dispute between fans and haters. Some celebrate, and some critique, Kendrick’s victory lap after his recent feud with Drake. Carti suffers from things that Kendrick criticized Drake for, like being a dead-beat father and dishonest. Kendrick also accuses Drake of being a hypocrite, which Kendrick falls under the same branch for the collaborations on this new record.

Many superfans are also outraged at the fact that not a single one of Carti’s signees appear on the record, but many tracks still reference the label name “Opium,” as Carti has chosen to not abandon it.

Various tracks manifest amateur productions like “I SEEEEEE YOU BABY BOI,” “MUNYUN,”WALK," and "OVERLY " just to name a few. They either sound so busy or so lackluster that there was no review stage in these songs and they immediately got published. 

The later release of the deluxe served as Carti’s minimal indulgence in fan service. Carti himself even took to Instagram to claim that only 25 of 30 tracks are hits. The release of MUSIC - SORRY 4 DA WAIT seemed to serve only as a backup plan for if the album didn’t perform how he expected. Tracks such as “2024” and “BACKR00MS” were fan favorites on their unofficial release and the other two bonus tracks “DIFFERENT DAY” and “FOMDJ” match the quality of the record with sounding unfinished and rushed to flood the charts.

Carti also had a large rollout of merchandise to go with this album with a grand total of 35 items, not including pre order box bundles and CD variants. Most of the items are copy and pastes of each other with slightly altered colorways or cheap trinkets like duct tape with his logo, incense holders, and lanyards. These cheap products further push that the release of this album was simply rushed for his own profit with little passion put into the project. Choosing to leverage his influence as much as he can, Carti continues to let his greed consume his artistic ability.

Ultimately, the album’s pieces fall into a similar tempo and rhythm where, when looking back at the record, it is hard to distinguish each track from the rest. MUSIC manages to be both unforgettably horrible in its flops and also absolutely forgettable in anything considered passable. The record is not something that should be digested like other albums, but enjoyed through the singles appearing in a playlist or on a live set. It is hard to imagine anyone but superfans enjoying this album or finding much value in it over its controversial rollercoaster release.

Grade: D

The album proves extremely one-dimensional and lacking sufficient development as Playboy Carti trades in originality for TikTok bait and empty profits.  

by Trent Messa

Published April 28th, 2025

Oshkosh West Index Volume 121 Issue VII