Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcRc2DHHhoM&pp=ygUNcGxheWJvaSBjYXJ0aQ%3D%3D
It's a whole lotta music, and some of it's not the best music.
More rap reviews: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLP4CSgl7K7ormBIO138tYonB949PHnNcP
===================================
Subscribe: http://bit.ly/1pBqGCN
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theneedledrop
Official site: http://theneedledrop.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/theneedledrop
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afantano
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theneedletok
TND Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/theneedledrop
Videos edited by Jeremy and Anthony / posted by Austen
===================================
FAV TRACKS: POP OUT, CRUSH, CRANK, COCAINE NOSE, OLYMPIAN, HBA
LEAST FAV TRACK: CHARGE DEM HOES A FEE
PLAYBOI CARTI - MUSIC / 2025 / AWGE / TRAP, RAGE
4/10
Y'all know this is just my opinion, right?
It's a whole lotta music, and some of it's not the best music.
More rap reviews: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLP4CSgl7K7ormBIO138tYonB949PHnNcP
===================================
Subscribe: http://bit.ly/1pBqGCN
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theneedledrop
Official site: http://theneedledrop.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/theneedledrop
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afantano
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theneedletok
TND Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/theneedledrop
Videos edited by Jeremy and Anthony / posted by Austen
===================================
FAV TRACKS: POP OUT, CRUSH, CRANK, COCAINE NOSE, OLYMPIAN, HBA
LEAST FAV TRACK: CHARGE DEM HOES A FEE
PLAYBOI CARTI - MUSIC / 2025 / AWGE / TRAP, RAGE
4/10
Y'all know this is just my opinion, right?
Kategorie
😹
SpaßTranskript
00:00Hi everyone, Chart the New Top Tannow here, the internet's busiest music nerd, and it's time for a review of this new Playboi Carti album, Music.
00:10Here we have a brand new LP from rapper, songwriter, in-demand artist, hip-hop's current it-boy, Mr. Playboi Carti.
00:21Coming through with a project that is almost five years in the making, Music.
00:27Really one of the most highly anticipated releases in recent memory.
00:31And, you know, you do have to give it to those Carti fans, their devotion to him may borderline on disturbing sometimes.
00:40But they're at least patient enough to have stuck with him while this record came together.
00:45Certainly many fanbases would have moved on at this point, having waited so many years.
00:51Especially with so many copycat artists these days flooding the zone with their own amid-to-respectable takes on Carti's trademark sound.
01:00The aggressive, distorted, cycling, trippy beats he tends to favor.
01:04His experimental approach to flows and vocal inflections.
01:08The dark, elusive, and mysterious ways in which he presents himself, too.
01:13All of which he slowly developed after having blown up off of his self-titled mixtape back in 2017.
01:19But even with Carti's last official full-length album being almost five years old at this point,
01:24his many imitators haven't even come close to lapping him in terms of relevancy.
01:29And that is despite a very frustrated fanbase being subjected to countless leaks, teases, album title changes, singles, pushbacks, weak features, and for some reason, fit pics.
01:42But then all of a sudden, we got music here, which was just announced in a flash last week, dropped the following Friday, and now it's here.
01:51And despite there having been so much time for this project to incubate effectively, it still sounds so rushed and inconsistent.
02:01And, I mean, in some ways, not much has really changed since the release of Carti's last record, Whole Lotta Red, in 2020.
02:07Because, and I know many would disagree with this, that album in its own right was a pretty inconsistent, disjointed project.
02:15I mean, among its 24 songs, there really was no through-line guiding all of the tracks overall.
02:21I mean, a majority of the tracks on this thing didn't even sound mixed and mastered the same as quite a few were actually kind of quite painful to listen to.
02:28By comparison, I will say the overall mix job on music here is slightly better.
02:34Even Cocaine Nose, which sounds like an ultra-distorted throwback to the Whole Lotta Red era, with looped metal guitar licks and all, the track OPM Baby, I would say, sort of feels like it could have come from that same album, too, to an extent.
02:47And yeah, throughout the rest of the album, there are some familiar Carti-isms here and there, like the track Olympian sounds like something that could have been one of the synthier cuts to land on his 2017 Dilette album.
02:59That is, if it were sort of updated with his throatier, froggier delivery style that he's been kind of favoring as of late.
03:05But honestly, tracks like these are more the exception than the rule in this very hefty 30-song tracklist whose worst moments sound near effortless and pretty thrown together.
03:20And look, I know there are some hype standouts and singles and big features in this album that have been a huge point of discussion around this album for sure.
03:31But we cannot allow those flashes in the pan to 100% dictate all the discourse around this album.
03:39Because again, there are 30 songs on this project and they all collectively contribute to this album's overall quality.
03:47And looking at this project as a whole, I feel like I'm pulling up the floorboards on a house and just like seeing termites just devastating all of the wood that the entire house is built on.
03:59Because once again, like with Whole Lotta Red, and that album was like packed with all that vamp shit and so on and so forth.
04:05With music, I just don't really feel like there's a lot of vision pulling these songs together.
04:10Because they're either so short and directionless and underdeveloped that their inclusion on this album is insulting.
04:18Or I'm just left feeling like Cardi and company could have just done more with a track.
04:24We Need All The Vibes, for example, is a track that just kind of sounds like an old, stale, young thug summer jam that was sitting in the vault.
04:32And Playboi Carti just like contributed a couple bars to the second half of it and that's it.
04:37There's also Rather Lie featuring The Weeknd, which kind of sounds like the other side of a coin we already caught wind of from Timeless on Abel's recent full-length album.
04:46It's kind of like they came up with two variations on the same song idea and I think Cardi got the weaker of the two variations here.
04:54There's Twin Trim featuring Lil Uzi Vert as well, which this track doesn't even have a Cardi verse on it.
05:00It just kind of seems like a bunch of synths and grooves from the Lil Uzi Vert vs. The World era, but it's somehow landing on this album for some reason.
05:09I've seen it described as an interlude, but like an interlude from what to what?
05:14Because it just kind of sounds like one more un-groomed random song in a sea of other un-groomed random songs.
05:20And this isn't even the worst Uzi Vert track on the record.
05:23There's also the song Jumpin', which feels like one of those tracks that you get on a posthumous record after a rapper has passed away and a label tasks two or three producers with like assembling a track out of a leftover verse or something that was just like in the vault.
05:39Just chop a few lines together, get them all punched in and then after that just repeat a few so that it kind of makes a refrain or a chorus and just extend it out so it feels like a song.
05:52It's like I'm hearing a Frankenstein monster being assembled of a bunch of different random lines rather than a full and complete verse.
06:00And of course filling in the gaps here and there we have Swamp Izzo, who is screaming all over this record and I will mention again a little bit later into the review.
06:11But yeah, from here we have more tracks on the record that sound rushed and short-winded but just shouldn't be.
06:18Like Toxic featuring Skepta, who is obviously a very interesting feature inclusion for this record but the song that he's on just kind of trails right off as soon as he appears.
06:28The songs Walk, Overly and This One Got It sound like short, incomplete future demos.
06:34Meanwhile the track Charge Them Hosea Fee actually does have future on it and I don't think I've ever heard a song with this much star power because it does have future.
06:44It does have Cardi, it has Travis Scott on it as well.
06:47Yeah, all those names and yet the whole thing sounds like it was produced and assembled on a moldy potato.
06:53We also have other tracks like Find Shit as well as Philly, which also features Travis Scott.
06:58And these are more tracks that feel less like songs and more like rough sketches of songs.
07:03Because, I mean, as much as Travis and Future and Thugger and Kanye may obviously be very big influences on his sound and his style,
07:13he very much lacks the follow-through to really pull together a sound and a song and a vision in the way that they have in the past.
07:21Like, we are not talking about Utopia or DS2 or Jeffrey levels of focus here.
07:29Like, if anything, we're more in like that Dawn to Two ballpark.
07:32Which, mind you, I do think there is a certain appeal in that in some of the most weird, wild and exciting tracks this album has to offer.
07:41Like on the opening track, Pop Out, where Cardi sounds absolutely insane.
07:45With production that features all of these hyper-distorted ringing synthesizers, splotchy pieces of percussion,
07:51and also Cardi's raspy, screamed verses and choruses to
07:56POP OUT! POP OUT!
07:58He's absolutely out of control on this track and does a great job of channeling this pure, visceral energy when he wants to.
08:04The following track, Crush, I thought was also a highlight.
08:07And while this one may not necessarily be like a genius feat of songwriting,
08:10it does feature a crazy combination of disparate sounds that make for a pretty unique experience.
08:16With Cardi's whispery flows, these sliding, Gameboy-type lead synth melodies,
08:22grand gospel-style choruses, very rigid, almost industrial-type hip-hop beats,
08:27some very aggressive 808s too, it's total dystopian chaos.
08:31Now compare that to K-Pop, which the album flows into immediately after,
08:35and with that track's more skeletal layers, the atmospheric synthesizers, Cardi's squeaky vocal delivery,
08:42I mean, the song is passably eerie, but it just doesn't really feel like it's bringing that much to the table,
08:47especially on this very abrupt ending.
08:49Compare that to the following Evil Jordan, which I do think on some level is a step up, sure,
08:55as Cardi's performance on the mic actually does sound organic,
08:59rather than piece together his allusions to being in like his rockstar and emo phase right now are cute.
09:06The beat actually builds up some kind of momentum on the groove side,
09:10the hype Swamp Izzo ad-libs are very aggressive and attention-grabbing,
09:15and there's something about that stuttering, repeating, shrill little synth line that stands out among all the other beats here too.
09:23But beyond that, I feel like once again with this cut, we are just overselling what is actually being delivered to us here.
09:29Because while yes, it is slightly weirder than the average track you'll get out there in the mainstream these days,
09:36is it substantively interesting? Not really.
09:38And is it detailed and layered enough to warrant repeating all that many times? No, absolutely not.
09:44However, I forgot in this section of the review, I think I'm supposed to be talking about the highlights on the album.
09:50There is Mojo Jojo, which is a kind of Kendrick Lamar highlight,
09:54where Kenny mostly provides ad-libs on the track in a very odd intro,
09:59where he's like almost worshipping Cardi in a weird way.
10:02Oh yeah, I need that Cardi, my favorite kind of Cardi, that alien Cardi, I need that Cardi, you know.
10:09The chemistry between both of them on the track is very odd and forced.
10:14It's like Kendrick is trying to create that weird, baby, keem, kooky, crossover type of energy.
10:20But I just don't really feel like, creatively speaking, he has that sort of rapport with Cardi.
10:26It doesn't work in the same way on this track, especially with Cardi taking himself as seriously as he does.
10:32Back Door is another track on the record that features Kendrick Lamar, more Kendrick Lamar, frankly.
10:37And it's kind of like we're being subjected to one of his smoother ballad type cuts,
10:42over a beat that sounds lifted straight out of the Drake Nothing Was the Same era,
10:46which I think Cardi's very spotty, inconsistent flows fail to dominate the space of.
10:51But yeah, as far as Kendrick's contribution on this track goes, it's less than stellar.
10:56I feel like he's dropped at least several very key and impressive tracks in a similar style as of late,
11:03be it Luther or 30 for 30.
11:06And I feel like those tracks would have had to have been just absolutely disappointing crud for me to think of this track
11:13more than twice after I'm done recording this review.
11:16There's also good credit, too, as far as Kendrick Lamar features are concerned on this project.
11:22On this one, Kendrick is at least more in his rat bag, actually delivering a verse.
11:27It's the most impressive of the three tracks here that I'm mentioning.
11:31There's a great key change in the cut as well.
11:35But I feel like, once again, Kendrick is operating at a lower gear than usual
11:40and almost trying to match Cardi's super inconsistent flow style,
11:44allowing for the beat and the ad-libs to kind of take over and interrupt him at points.
11:49The whole thing sort of feels like a, you know, straight-up flex,
11:52maybe an extension to one degree or another of the recent victory lap he's been on post his Drake beef.
11:58That is, until he starts kind of going on about Playboy Cardi being his evil twin,
12:02which not only feels weird, because on some level it is kind of odd and hypocritical of Kendrick Lamar
12:08posturing morally as much as he has in recent months
12:11to be kind of collaborating with Cardi this deeply and unabashedly on these tracks.
12:17I don't think he's calling him his evil twin for no reason,
12:20but even that I feel like he's giving Cardi too much credit.
12:23Because I feel like even an evil twin version of Kendrick Lamar
12:27could give us a solid 16 on a track like this, and we're not even getting that.
12:31And look, not to single out Kendrick Lamar, obviously I expected more from him going into this project,
12:37but honestly, I don't think any guest on this record brings a particularly great feature performance.
12:44I mean, Travis Scott brings quite a few guest performances to this record,
12:48and even what he offers I feel like is pretty average by his usual standards.
12:54I mean, all things considered, it truly is Swamp Izzo who sounds the most excited to be on this album.
13:00Every other appearance from every other person, even Cardi much of the time,
13:04just comes across as repetitive, casual, low stakes, low energy.
13:09Which, yeah, when those are the standards Cardi is setting for his own record,
13:13why wouldn't everybody else kind of follow suit?
13:16Okay, I swear, there are some highlights on this record.
13:20There's Crank, which I feel like is a prime example of Cardi when he is at his best here,
13:26and giving us tracks that essentially sound like the rap equivalent to a chaotic horror movie soundtrack.
13:32And there's Like Wheezy, which I enjoyed quite a bit as well,
13:35and features this very prominent sample of Rich Kid's Bend Over,
13:39with its very bright, cheery, super sweet lead melodies,
13:43which let Cardi come at the track with a kind of happy-go-lucky, almost silly type of energy.
13:50Especially with bars on here where he's going on about spitting on a bitch like Pac,
13:54he sounds absolutely just out of his mind on this song.
13:58There's also HBA, which is another moment in the tracklist where I feel like Cardi is most definitely
14:04channeling some kind of high, otherworldly energy over a hype instrumental,
14:08where he's just purely operating off of intuition, a gut feeling, and that's it.
14:13And again, moments like these are where this album truly feels locked into its greatest strengths.
14:19The issue is, though, that is not where most of the album is at.
14:23As much of this record is unfocused, is sloppy, is inconsistent, rushed, thrown together, messily pieced together.
14:33Yeah, Cardi really managed to give us an album on this one that makes a record as bloated
14:38and as all over the place as Whole Lotta Red sound like it actually really truly had a point to it.
14:45Which is why I'm feeling a strong 3, 2, a light 4 on this one.
14:51Transition, have you given this album a listen? Did you love it? Did you hate it?
14:55What would you rate it? You're the best, you're the best. What should I or Be next?
14:58Hit the like if you like. Please subscribe and please don't cry.
15:00Hit the bell as well. Over here next to my head is another video that you can check out.
15:05Hit that up or the link to subscribe to the channel.
15:07Anthony Fantano, playboy Cardi forever.