Review: Playboi Carti’s “Whole Lotta Red”
The ATL Trap star’s second album sees the rapper establishing an individual identity for himself which doesn’t necessarily save the album
5/10
Playboi Carti is back after a release-less two years, a lifetime in the world of trap music. His 2018 album Die Lit garnered significant praise for the production, features and the overarching product that seemed like an artist letting loose but Carti’s rapping and lyrical skills were seen as the albums low-points. With his debut Carti had established himself as a mainstay in the trap universe not so much for his skill on the mic but just through his grand presentation despite the minimal effort. That doesn’t afford the artist much staying power if he’s just basing his career off of the production rather than your own skill and style, his luck is going to run out. I think Carti knew this as he approached this album
His new album Whole Lotta Red starts off fairly promising with “Rockstar Made” displaying less of a mumble from the rapper but more energy and enunciation. He comes out with all guns blazing and surprisingly, he seems to be establishing an identity for himself that isn’t chaining him down to the average trap artist he appeared to be. He’s been labeled “punk rock” since his self-titled mixtape and in all honesty I couldn’t make the connection when listening to that or Die Lit, save for the cover and its raw minimalism. On Whole Lotta Red I’d make the connection personally. There is a more raucous energy in his voice and you can feel it throughout the albums deeper cuts. The intro songs bass heavy trap beat is accompanied by a haunting keyboard sound that harkens back to the Odd Future days and it’s a bit tacky but it doesn’t ruin the song. He’s still sticking to the minimalism that made Die Lit such a statement two years ago but Playboi is out to put his skills on display, not have his features breathe life into this album.
While Carti really tries to establish his own lyrical skill on this album it does kind of come up short as overall I’m not hearing much improvement from Die Lit. I commend him for continuing to rap about what he knows and having more topics to tackle on this affair but it’s clear he has a lot of work to do on rhyme skills and versatility. Sure a standard trap album shouldn’t be looked at for deep lyrics but there are plenty of trap artists who do make themselves stand out in the trap game through lyrics and the ability to change flows like a chameleon. There’s a reason everyone in trap has studied Young Thug extensively.
There isn’t much in the way of lyrical versatility on the album. He does tone down some of the drug usage in favor of speaking on his excesses. Money, girls, his crew and guns make up the throwaway lyrical endeavors, Carti’s boasting however is where his character comes out. He’s trying to establish this rockstar title for himself and it feels somewhat genuine as it’s something carried over from Die Lit. He sounds like someone whose been on the road and done show after show but the cliché of a rockstar in the 20th century is just not something we really care for anymore. The character of his debut album definitely hangs over Playboi and it’s no surprise that people have been reacting to this negatively. Rap fans want the tried and true playbook when it comes to albums and Playboi isn’t giving them that here and I can at least appreciate that for the album despite it’s shortcomings.
Other lyrical attempts at standing out come on songs such as “Control” where Carti dabbles in yet another trap ballad and shows his sensitive side. He sounds fairly genuine and floats around the idea of marriage which at least sets the song apart from the usual rapping about girls he’s pulling (which is uncharacteristically slim on this album and I can appreciate that). The song does get a bit corny and the single verse is beaten down by the repeated chorus. As much as the lengthy song which only features Carti was impressive considering most of Die Lit’s longer songs needed features, he starts to wear out his welcome at this point in the album.
On “Punk Monk” Playboi established his legacy in the current rap climate, claiming he had put on a lot of people before anyone else was. He states he was “Tryna sign Trippie Redd before they knew about Trippie” claiming he knew about rapper Trippie Redd before anyone else in the game knew about him. It’s comments like this that just feel so backhanded and shallow because despite his claims holding water it really doesn’t matter who signed who first. It does feel like he’s overstating himself here but him claiming he chose neutrality in the Lil Uzi and Offset beef was intriguing considering how fans are currently criticizing him for donning inverted crosses. I think the whole “Satanism” thing people are casting him and Lil Uzi aside for is ridiculous on the fans part but religion runs far too deep I suppose. People like to make too many meanings out of nothing.
Playboi’s lack of substantial features to me shows the rapper is making attempts to set himself as the main focus of this project and play to his strengths. Out of the staggering 24 tracks on this album Carti only has 3 songs with features, an impressive feat considering his last album of 19 tracks had 12 features on them. He does show a lot of promise on many of the tracks but some of them, particularly the tracks which clock in under the 2 minute mark, reaffirm the suspicion that he is dependent on others to complete his projects. There are some standouts in the shorter tracks however and they add weight to the “punk” label bestowed upon Playboi like “Meh” and “New N3on” make for some quick bangers. There are some tracks in this style which start and end without going anywhere, an issue carried over from Die Lit.
Despite the albums lack of features, those who do appear on the album once again blow Playboi out of his own waters. Kanye’s appearance is a particular standout as the rapper opens up the track “Go2DaMoon” and instantly drops one of the best verses on the album. It’s actually kind of disappointing to read Playboi’s lyrics after Kanye’s verse but it is definitely hard to top a Kanye lyric like “Ye Jesus gang, you correct/ You always askin’ for Buddha, you a Budapest (Ayy)/ If they don’t play this, call the DJ/ This verse just shut down the freeway/ Born in the A, you can’t impeach Ye/ The case so brief, don’t bring your briefcase.” It’s definitely a hard feature to top but it makes this track a standout and never surrenders the identity the album holds on to. Carti’s verse sounds more like an outro as the difference in skill is apparent by the end of the song. His performance is underwhelming compared to Ye’s.
Other features on the album are definitely not highlights as “Teen X” sees the rapper paired with Future who really doesn’t add much to the song which features a return of Playboi’s baby voice which he claimed to be ridding himself of. I’m a bit indifferent when it comes to Future but his verse all but melds into Playboi’s style and while I can commend him for that I can’t say it really leaves a sizeable mark of impression on me.
Kid Cudi’s feature on the song “M3tamorphosis” at least puts Cudi’s own spin on the trap genre, something Kid Cudi did to varying degrees of success on his recent album Man on the Moon III. Cudi’s feature, much like Kanye’s, at least adds a larger layer to this album and attempts to bring Carti’s album to the heights he wants to achieve or could achieve. Maybe with more features Carti could have realized these heights and achieved them on his own but I still applaud him for at least trying to put his foot down.
Overall, this album shows improvements in the shortcomings of Die Lit but does not carry over the strengths of that album onto this one. Playboi Carti’s rapping may not have played much of a role in the success of Die Lit but it was an area he sought to improve on this one while giving himself a personality that wouldn’t find him wallowing in the deep dark waters of trap mediocrity. His rapping on Whole Lotta Red is some of his best but it’s the album itself which isn’t an improvement. It has it’s moments of grandeur but they are overflowed with a large amount of overall skippable tracks which aren’t always outweighed by the albums best cuts. Many of the best cuts however should serve as a reminder of the heights Playboi’s skill can achieve when combing the best of this album and it’s predecessor.
I can’t say I hate this album but I also can’t say it’s an overall improvement from Die Lit. I think Playboi’s debut was a superior album experience because of the overall vibe and entertainment but Whole Lotta Red was a more of an expression of Playboi Carti himself. I can’t help but give him credit for the effort he put in to make himself stand out here, he really put his best foot forward but he has to make improvements. This album is definitely not as bad as people on Twitter have made it out to be however. As stated before rap fans can’t get the same album twice and that’s really the only reason I see people hating this on social media so much, at least let an artist attempt to reach their true potential.
