ALL RED by Playboi Carti | Song Review

The hip hop artist continues to bait fans with more new music

Listen to ALL RED: Apple Music | Spotify

Being a Playboi Carti fan is not easy. The Atlanta based rapper has developed a knack for constantly baiting fans with new music, and failing to live up to his promises time and time again. If you can recall, between last December and March of this year he dropped a handful of singles via Instagram/YouTube, and teased the potential release of his next album I AM MUSIC.

Last night Carti took to IG to make an announcement at 9:30 PM ET. In true Carti fashion he was late, but did deliver some good news. Firstly we have a new single titled “ALL RED”, and secondly he updated his website with a few merch box sets for pre-order containing his new album. There’s still no date as to when the full project will drop, but buyers can expect to receive their box sets sometime within the next 6 months. So there’s a possibility that I AM MUSIC will release within that timeframe? However again, knowing Carti’s history of lying I’m extremely doubtful.

Besides that though, we do have this new single to tide us over. “ALL RED” is your standard trap affair from Playboi Carti, with a production style very reminscent to the other singles he’s dropped in the last year. While we do get a glimpse at what sounds like a new vocal inflection, there isn’t much here to really gloss over.

Based on this (and his last few songs) Playboi Carti is tapping back into his Atlanta roots with this trap beat. Producer F1LTHY steps away from the rage inspiration of a Whole Lotta Red in favour of a more basic trap sound. We get these glitchy synths and what I think are electric guitar samples that work quite well with the bassline and percussions of the whole track. It’s these small nuances that kind of give the track it’s own flair that feels uniquely “Carti”. Like you know within the first few seconds that this will be a Playboi Carti song.

The rapper introduces us to a new vocal inflection, and he straight up sounds like Future. This deeper tone he takes on throughout the song is very similar to the other artist that at first I was confused as to whether or not Future was featured on the track. However Carti’s signature “Hol’ Up” ad libs on his verse disputed that claim for me. I think it sounds fine but I much prefer his other deep vocal inflection that we heard on “FE!N” or “CARNIVAL”.

Lyrically, I honestly don’t quite care what Carti talks about as he doesn’t say anything that’s new for him. On the chorus he references his upside down cross tattoos, luxury brand VETEMENTS and his gang affiliations: (“All red, I stay with the Five5s, all red, we pull up and fire. All red, somebody died.”). On his only verse he pretty repeats the same sentiments. Talking about shooting up somebody’s spot and also hinting that he’s been crafting new music: (“I got some shit goin’ crazy, I need a whole ‘nother layer I’m on a whole ‘nother level.”).

But that’s it. Nothing more and nothing less. It’s the same tried and true type of stuff Carti’s been rapping about for a while and I don’t see him deviating from this kind of material at all. It’s serviceable and he does flow with the beat well, but there’s nothing here that makes me want to come back to this song.

Overall “ALL RED” while being something to tide fans over while they wait for I AM MUSIC, doesn’t do anything new or noteworthy for me. I feel like Carti put this out to say “Fine here! Happy? now shut up.” So people could stop bugging him for not dropping music. The track itself is nothing special, plain and simple, and I much preferred the other singles like “2024” over this one easily.

I’m giving “ALL RED” a solid 4/10. I’m quite disappointed with Carti’s rollout over the last 9 months or so, and this new track just doesn’t do it for me. At this point I feel like Carti will just continue to keep baiting his fans with mid-tier singles until he decides to drop I AM MUSIC at some point. Even then I’m doubtful that the full project will even be worth the years of waiting but we’ll have to see for ourselves.

Final Rating: 4/10