After four and a half years of teasing and fibbing about release dates, Atlanta rapper Playboi Carti finally dropped his album “I AM MUSIC” on March 14 and the deluxe with four additional tracks on March 25. True to his flaky nature, Carti released the original album three hours late at midnight PST due to sampling clearances. “I AM MUSIC” stands as the rapper’s lengthiest project, with 30 songs on the original version and 34 on the deluxe version. However, with an 89-minute runtime and each song averaging 2.65 minutes, the project is digestible and appropriate for a young fanbase with short attention spans.
The intro track “POP OUT” is a prime example of this, clearly being a hype track one would mosh to at a concert or party. Carti’s piercing and screechy tone blend into a jarring and industrial production reminiscent of ’80s metal and hard rock. Still, the rapper provides contrast in pitch by showcasing his traditional baby voice and hyperpop sound on tracks like “CRUSH” and “OPM BABI” that excite fans with sharp inflections. Conversely, “I AM MUSIC” also serves as the rapper’s first project to debut his new deep, husky and autotuned voice on “TOXIC” and “CRANK.” The rich timbre meshes with the deep bass and dynamic beats present throughout the album, deviating from the current trap sound in hip hop.
Celebrating “I AM MUSIC’s” passion would be unfair without giving producers WAKEUPF1LTHY, Metro Boomin and Mike Dean their due credit. Notably, WAKEUPF1LTHY’s pulsating beats provide a sonic and avant-garde atmosphere that allows Carti’s adlibs and snappy verses to shine, with track “COCAINE NOSE” excelling in this regard. Despite this, the overall mixing of “I AM MUSIC” is, simply put, impulsive. The frequent snares get redundant and feel pasted in to give every song some resemblance, though it’s not needed. DJ Swamp Izzo’s 152 adlibs of just screeching “SWAMP IZZO” are unnecessary, and the frequent “seeyuh” adlibs become cringeworthy. The most obvious example of this pitiful mixing is the gunshot sound effect on the beat switch of “EVILJORDAN.” The addition taints the transition from the sample into the main verse on the track.
The project boasts a variety of features throughout the tracklist, such as Future, Travis Scott and The Weeknd, staples in almost every mainstream rap album at this point. While these names obviously bring a significant amount of stardom, many of the features are subpar compared to how talented the respective artists are. For example, Kendrick Lamar, a feature seen by some fans as hypocritical, was a mixed bag. “GOOD CREDIT” showcased the rapper’s gritty and efficient delivery, but his autotuned singing fell flat in “BACKD00R.” Young Thug’s verses on “WE NEED ALL DA VIBES” were poorly mixed with the instrumentals, and his shaky breath control felt out of sync, as if he recorded for a completely different song. Contrastingly, The Weeknd was a standout feature in the song “RATHER LIE,” and Lil Uzi Vert, after two disappointing albums, finally returned to his original style on “JUMPIN” and “TWIN TRIM,” a pleasant surprise.
Given the long wait for the album, one of the largest issues with it, ironically, is that it seems very rushed, not giving listeners enough time to sit with each track. With 34 tracks in the deluxe version, and varying aesthetics, the album feels more like a jumble of Carti’s half-baked ideas rather than a cohesive project. Now, with the addition of a deluxe version, it seems like more of a strategy to milk streams rather than a carefully curated extension of the project — especially since adding just four more songs, two of which had already been leaked or released on other platforms, makes for a pretty weak deluxe.
There is no doubt that “MUSIC” is making a huge impact on the industry and achieving historical numbers. Previously Instagram-released songs “2024,” EVILJORDAN,” “HBA” and “BACKR00MS” finally made their way onto a streaming platform and are giving the project a large chunk of its streams. The album had the biggest release for a rap album in 2025, as well as since 2023, when Drake released his album “For All the Dogs.” The album has also had the largest release for any album since Taylor Swift’s “The Tortured Poet’s Department,” garnering around 384 million on-demand streams and marking Carti’s debut into superstar status. Overall, Carti delivers moments of solid production and verses that highlight the signature style that fans missed most. However, despite these strengths, “MUSIC” ultimately feels underdeveloped and lacks the polish that could have made this project one of Carti’s best.
RATING: 3/5
