“Whole Lotta Red” Three Years Later: Sound, Influence, and Thoughts About Playboi Carti’s Next Era
When Whole Lotta Red first dropped on Christmas day in 2020, the receptions were…mixed, to say the least. Pretty much everyone was hating on this album. From people calling it Whole Lotta Skips, to complaining about the wait, to fans getting the word “trash” to be #1 on trending on Twitter, and Anthony Fantano gave the album a 3. But hey, Pitchfork gave the album an 8, so at least someone liked it. I must confess that I wasn’t fond of the album on first listen, or the first several listens, either. It actually took me a couple of months to get into Whole Lotta Red. It was so long, so jarring, and nothing at all like Die Lit, an album that I had been listening to nonstop for months leading up to the release of Carti’s new project. I would get about halfway through on relistens and give up because the album just wasn’t doing it for me. But just like Die Lit had done for me before, one by one the tracks started clicking until I was hooked on this album. It didn’t take long for me to think that this is his best, an opinion that I still hold. I liked it so much that it was one of the first albums that I ever bought on vinyl.
Just like I wasn’t alone in disliking the album upon release, I wasn’t alone in realizing that I actually do enjoy Whole Lotta Red. It took everyone a little while, but listeners came around to this project and began praising it heavily. Every day online, fans were talking about how people were too harsh on it when it dropped and how it is one of their favorite albums to be released in 2020. Clearly, the album was aging well with fans, myself included. But, in the wake of his singles “2024,” “Different Day,” “H00DBYAIR,” and most recently, “BACKR00MS” with Travis Scott, does Whole Lotta Red still sound good three years later? Below, I talk about what grew on me and grew off me and how I feel about the project as a whole three years after its release, plus notes on the album’s influence and the new era of Playboi Carti.
What Grew on Me
Essentially, this whole album grew on me. The first few times I listened to Whole Lotta Red, I didn’t enjoy it very much because of its length and how big of a departure it was from Carti’s previous sound. Pretty much the only two tracks I took from the album early on were “Sky” and “Over,” probably because they were the most Die Lit-esque in a way with the repetitive rage synths (I still love both of these songs and appreciate them now for more than just sounding like they could maybe be on Die Lit). The more I played these songs, the more and more the album started to click for me. The production that I used to find grating, repetitive, and boring now made me excited and was very lively. Some of the songs that grew on me the most production-wise are the intro “Rockstar Made” and “ILoveUIHateU.”
The former is now one of my favorite beats on the album, although at the time I found it somewhat boring. I was more used to hearing Carti over smooth Pi’erre loops that I could get lost in, while this beat was anything but smooth. Because it was so different, I didn’t find the production that inspiring in any way. I was left with the unfortunate old-head takeaway that the new Carti album was “just a bunch of noise.” But after getting into the album more, I love the production on “Rockstar Made” because it starts the project off so perfectly. It shows what the album’s style is going to be like and progresses with added rage synths, and the jingling chains makes it sound like Carti’s jumping around in the studio. It’s high-octane right away, in your face, and has a lot of layers that are fun to pick out while listening. I also love that specifically F1LTHY produced it because his tag is played at the beginning of the song, and his contributions are huge throughout this album, so it’s only fitting that you get to hear his name right away.
I also grew to love the production for “ILoveUIHateU,” with it’s infectious organ notes to the soaring synth lead it’s a wonder this song didn’t land with me right away. I was probably scared off because it’s deep in the track list, and by that point, I had checked out. This beat is catchy and very well-made; my only complaint is that the song isn’t longer. While these are the two songs that grew on me the most production-wise, other tracks that grew on me heavily in this area include “Vamp Anthem,” “New N3on,” and “F33l Lik3 Dyin.”
As I mentioned several times already, I originally didn’t care for how long the album was and the number of tracks that were on the project. After enjoying this album for a few years and recently relistening, I am confident in saying that I appreciate the length and think that almost every single song has its place on Whole Lotta Red (I say almost because…well, you’ll see in the next section) and the length allows for Carti to dig into the different soundscapes he’s playing with for the album. On Whole Lotta Red, it’s about a half-and-half split between harder, rage-styled songs and lighter, more melodic songs (at least compared to the rest of the album). If the album was cut to, say, 15 tracks, this wouldn’t allow for all of the sounds on the album to be fleshed out, especially the rage sounds.
This is because most of the rage songs are shorter, sometimes under two minutes. Songs like “JumpOutTheHouse”, “New Tank”, “No Sl33p”, and “On That Time” are all between the minute thirty — two minute mark and are short, intense bursts of energy that help pick up the pace of the album when things are getting slower tempo wise. One of the album’s most popular songs, “Vamp Anthem” (which features a sample chop of Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by Bach), is only a hair over two minutes. By trimming the track list, Carti would be taking a lot of the energy out of the album. What helps keep the album sounding good the whole time is how Carti brings new inflections, vocal tones, and ad-libs to every song while still staying in his new Whole Lotta Red era vocal direction. It helps connect the sounds of the rage songs and the melodic songs and is probably the best his voice has sounded to me. Some tracks where his voice grew on me the most were “Teen X” with Future and “Stop Breathing.” Overall, what initially turned me off about this album are now the things I love, and I think that this is a truly great album. This album has aged like wine over the past three years.
What Didn’t Grow On Me
Whole Lotta Red is an album I hold very near and dear to my heart, but there are still a couple of tracks that I just haven’t come around to after three years. Those tracks are “Go2DaMoon” and “Place.” “Go2DaMoon” was one of my favorites at first because it is one of the mildest tracks on the album and has Kanye, who I was really huge on at the time. But the more I listened to the album and started loving the rage it brought to the table, this song started to not do it for me. Kanye has a good verse with some funny quotables (“You always askin’ for Buddha, you a Budapest” makes me chuckle every time), but there really isn’t much to this cut. Carti is barely on this song and feels like an afterthought (although I do think that his inflections are cool on this one, just too short to amount to anything), and the production keeps shooting itself in the foot by switching between the eerie sample and brighter, sparse production. Shoutout to Wheezy of course, he’s a great producer with hits under his belt, but this one should’ve leaned more into the sample and some darker production. Also, it hasn’t aged well considering that Kanye and Carti have released significantly better songs together since this one such as “Off the Grid” and “Junya”, and even the unreleased “F — k Sumn” from Kanye and Ty Dolla $ign’s upcoming Vultures album is better than “Go2DaMoon.” It’s not a bad song, but it definitely has some wasted potential and is too short for me to get anything out of it.
“Place” seems like it should be a home run track: produced by Pi’erre Bourne, his other contribution to Whole Lotta Red resulted in one of the best songs Carti’s ever released, and they have a large catalogue of great songs together. Unfortunately, it’s mostly Pi’erre’s production that makes “Place” miss the mark for me. The pause at the beginning of the song has always annoyed me because it doesn’t really serve a purpose. It doesn’t lead into a beat drop, Carti doesn’t kick of the song with a great one-liner, it doesn’t sound “hard” or cool or anything like that; it just feels out of place (no pun intended). The beat itself is okay, but it doesn’t hit very hard compared to the other non-rage tracks on the album and feels kind of sluggish and the constantly ticking hi-hat is kind of annoying. Carti doesn’t do much to save this track either. With a more laid-back beat, he would either have to bring nice melodies and flows to match the energy of the production, or he could contrast with it and bring ferocious inflections and tones like he did on most of the album. However, he did neither, and this results in Carti sounding like he’s just there. The hook isn’t particularly memorable or catchy, he is in pretty much the same pocket for most of the song, and he honestly sounds like he’s bored.
I’m kind of confused how this made the track list given that it doesn’t really match anything that is happening sonically — this album makes it a point for every song to stand out, but there are similarities between the rage songs and the “softer” songs that help the album mesh, and “Place” doesn’t match really anything. Also, in general, the song isn’t that interesting. It’s not bad to the point where I skip it while listening to the album, but I am definitely excited when the next song comes on.
Overall Thoughts on the Album
This album has grown on me a ton since release and has aged extremely well in my opinion. The first few listens were jarring, and the album seemed like a jumbled mess at the time, but I’ve grown to really love this album. It is chaotic and the sequencing can seem a bit off, but I think the variety that each song brings and the almost lack of smoothness in song transitions makes each listen entertaining. I also really like the short bursts of energy that tracks “JumpOutTheHouse”, “New Tank”, “No Sl33p”, and “On That Time” bring and how they keep the album going in between songs that aren’t as high-octane. Something like that is needed for an album as long as this one.
I’ve come to appreciate what Carti is doing vocally on this album, where he makes pretty much any sound you could imagine someone making with their voice. It reminds me a lot of Young Thug in the way that they both manipulate their voices in ways that you would never think of and still manage to make it sound good. I think this is one of the best albums of the 2020’s, and I also think it’s Carti’s best. While I love Die Lit, I like that the spotlight is almost solely on Carti this album. I also appreciate the variety of styles and sounds that are on Whole Lotta Red, and while Die Lit still has a good variety, at certain points on Die Lit it can feel repetitive. Pretty much every track on Whole Lotta Red is a unique experience. Overall, I am glad that I have been able to have time with this album so it can grow on me. I think that there are a whole bunch of really good tracks and only a few that are just okay. Carti underwent a very impressive artistic directional change, and it paid off in a big way. Three years later, it’s still sounding fresh.
Influence and Importance
This album is monumental in terms of what it’s done for Carti’s career and the hip-hop landscape post-release. People weren’t feeling it upon release, but general opinion ended up swaying in his favor and gained him a lot of new fans thanks to big songs like “Sky” and “Vamp Anthem.” While he had been getting lots of attention before the album due to its heavy anticipation, after this dropped, all eyes were now on Carti. How could this be the same person that made “Shoota” and “Magnolia”? What is he experimenting with? Kanye executive produced this thing, what does he see in Carti? Even if people didn’t like it, they were still paying attention to him because you simply could not look away.
And he only got more popular when he was actually able to perform the songs from the album. His “Narcissist,” later called “King Vamp,” tour, along with several performances at Rolling Loud and other festivals, drew people in with his insane live shows where he would essentially just run around the stage and yell but still managed to put on a mesmerizing show. At a show in Arizona, the speakers blew out after one song and the concert was cancelled. In Canton, Ohio, he sat in a ball on the stage while letting out guttural cries. He even played on top of a pyramid during some festival sets. This all gave Playboi Carti the status of being a must-see live performer because you knew every show would be crazy. These Whole Lotta Red songs were made for moshing too. The energy from the speakers, from the stage, from the crowd, was palpable. It was can’t-miss entertainment. Sure, Carti had bangers to play at festivals before. But after Whole Lotta Red, his popularity and live performances took a step up to the next level.
Now obviously I can’t talk about Whole Lotta Red on its three-year anniversary without talking about its already sizable influence on the underground and mainstream with making rage prevalent, but I do need to clarify something: Playboi Carti is not the first person to ever rap over a rage beat. Rappers like SoFaygo, UnoTheActivist, and Opium signee Ken Carson had all released songs that could be considered as rage before Whole Lotta Red was released, and, this isn’t a project with 24 rage songs back-to-back from start to finish. However, there are enough rage-type songs such as “Rockstar Made”, “New Tank”, and “Stop Breathing”, just to name a few, where it’s fair to say that rage was a large part of Whole Lotta Red. But none of this is to discredit the influence that this album does truly have. While some underground guys had been doing their thing with the rage sound, Carti brought this style to the mainstream when he released Whole Lotta Red. Before him, no one with his size or status had really done anything like it. This paved the way for his Opium rappers, such as Ken Carson, Destroy Lonely, and Homixide Gang to make strides in their careers since 2020 and experiment with their own sounds. A Great Chaos, Ken Carson’s latest release, is a rage-filled album packed with heaters and gave a huge moment for Ken and his career. The album sold nearly 50k in its first week and charted just outside of the top 10 on the Billboard 200 at #11. While Ken Carson had been working on his rage style since 2020, and producers like F1LTHY, Lil 88, Art Dealer, and Pi’erre Bourne deserve credit for helping bring the sound to the mainstream, Carti still paved the way for Ken Carson’s success.
Destroy Lonely has offered his take on rage with his albums If Looks Could Kill and No Stylist, locking in with producers like Clayco to release rage music infused with trap and heavy metal guitars. With hits like “Bane” and “No Stylist” under his belt, his career took a big step forward in 2023 when If Looks Could Kill reached the top 20 of the Billboard 200, debuting at number 18. Trippie Redd, who has collaborated with Carti in the past, most notably on their 2021 track “Miss The Rage,” took inspiration on his 2021 project Trip at Knight and 2023 album Mansion Musik. While “Miss the Rage” itself is highly influential and is where we get the term ‘rage,’ the track didn’t blow up until a version of the song with Carti vocals attached to it went viral on TikTok. Trippie Redd deserves credit for the popularity of “MTR” and his albums since that song’s release, but the popularity of Trippie’s rage sound wouldn’t be as high if it wasn’t for Carti.
While the influence Carti had on Ken Carson, Destroy Lonely, and Trippie Redd can be somewhat easy to trace, the clearest example of Whole Lotta Red’s influence in rap is with none other than Yeat. There is an argument that his career would have gone in this direction anyway even without Whole Lotta Red, but the album’s release clearly proved to be a turning point in his career. Yeat dropped a remix of Whole Lotta Red track “Meh” and even used two beats from YouTube that were in the style of Whole Lotta Red for his 2021 release Up 2 Me. While gaining mainstream popularity in mid-to-late 2021 and early 2022, he was receiving lots of Carti comparisons, and for good reason. With production influenced by Whole Lotta Red’s aggressiveness and unorthodox vocal deliveries akin to Carti’s performances on WLR, it is easy to see that his style took inspiration from Carti.
Of course, guys like Young Thug are also huge influences on Yeat, and shout out to Yeat and BNYX and other producers and artists that helped Yeat rise to fame; after all, Yeat is much more than a Carti clone. But Carti is still a clear influence on rappers like Yeat and is responsible for making the sound popular.
These are only a few big examples. Carti, Whole Lotta Red, and the rage sound have influenced a bunch of underground rappers such as Cochise, $not, KanKan, and Yung Kayo, made its way to Europe with some of Lancey Foux’s latest work, and even to other mainstream rappers like Drake with his tracks “What’s Next” and “IDGAF” with Yeat. Overall, while Carti is not the first rapper to use the rage sound, he is still one of the first, and no mainstream rapper had done anything like him before Whole Lotta Red’s release. He made the sound popular, which allowed for rappers such as Ken Carson, Destroy Lonely, and Yeat to all blow up post-WLR. While Whole Lotta Red isn’t the only reason the rage sound or these rappers’ careers exist as some claim, it is very influential and will most likely continue to be throughout this decade.
New Carti Era
Once again, Playboi Carti is changing his entire sound. While this doesn’t come as a surprise seeing as his past three projects are all worlds apart in terms of sound, I thought we might see an evolution of his rage sound given the subgenre’s popularity and his feature work since Whole Lotta Red. But with the songs he’s released so far, “Different Day,” “2024,” “H00DBYAIR,” and “BACKR00MS” with Travis Scott, it is clear that Carti is developing a sinister Atlanta trap sound complete with new ad-libs and his new Deep Voice that could previously be found on Travis Scott’s “FE!N” and beloved internet snippet “All Red.”
It’s hard to say exactly what he will end up going for with his next release, Music, that could be heading our way this month given how mysterious he is. But, from the released songs, snippets, and unreleased stuff he played at his birthday party earlier this year, a new Carti era is definitely upon us and I am confident in saying that this will shape up to be a Whole Lotta Red type of album in terms of importance and influence. Carti is one of the most looked-at rappers right now, with his recently released songs receiving tons of coverage and popularity despite not even being on streaming services. It seems like this might be the album where we see Carti finally collaborate with his Opium rappers, which would boost their careers even further than Whole Lotta Red has up to this point. And I’ve barely heard any songs sound like the stuff he’s put out recently, with the combination of dark and eerie production and Carti’s new vocal deliveries.
This next album could start another wave for people to hop on. But even if it doesn’t, I am incredibly excited for whatever Carti brings to the table. From posting DM’s with Tyler, the Creator, Drake, and Frank Ocean, to Pharell reposting Carti’s “PREPARE” message, to potential new music with Lil Uzi Vert, there are about a million and one reasons to be hyped for new Playboi Carti. For someone who evolves as much as he does, it would only make sense for his next era to be his best yet.
