On Christmas day Atlanta-bred rapper Playboi Carti released his second studio album "Whole Lotta Red". "Whole Lotta Red" was highly anticipated due to its release being constantly pushed back for around two years and the numerous leaks that Carti and his team had to overcome to finally put this project out. Now that it's finally out, do we think that it's a whole lotta red or a whole lotta trash?
THE SOUND
Whole Lotta Red is more of a rock album than a hip-hop/rap album. Chances are if you were expecting a sound similar to previous Carti projects and to all of the leaks that were supposed to be on previous versions of "Whole Lotta Red", you may not like the sound of this. So, challenge yourself to consider the sound from a rock point of view and not from a comparative point of view. From the first track on the album "Rockstar Made", we can immediately hear the rock-based sounds. There is an electric guitar aspect of the beat that continues through the entire song and it doesn't stop there. Carti's voice isn't his typical baby voice. There is more of a base in it and he does a lot of rock-like voice inflictions. Another example of this rock sound comes about in "Stop Breathing" and "JumpOutTheHouse". Both of these tracks are mosh-pit bangers. When you hear them you think of nineteen-year-old boys knocking each other out in a circle. They lack that smooth sound that we heard in previous Carti projects. But, once again, from a non-comparative point of view, they are quality tracks. As an artist, it is you and your team's prerogative to release whatever genre/type of music you would like and I believe that Carti was leaning toward rock. The instruments were on point, and the sound inflicted tons of headaches just like a lot of rock music does. Does that make it trash? No. Does that make it a rap-lovers' favorite? No. Although the majority of the tracks were rock-based, we did get a taste of some old Carti with tracks like "Beno!". If you were expecting an album full of old Carti-like songs, "Beno!" will most likely be your favorite song on the album. In this track, we hear Carti switch to his signature baby voice, and his smooth sound comes about. One of the most impressive tracks on the album was "Go2DaMoon" featuring Kanye West. This track was impressive because it had a sound that was unexpected. Before I clicked play, I did not expect the collab between the two artists to sound good. But, the way that the track was executed was flawless. The track sounds very Kanye and very Carti at the same time. It was literally a YEEZY show at Paris Fashion Week in a song. In summary, when we listen to the album as a whole without a comparative point of view, we hear a variety of instruments, versatility, and we see Carti's confidence and effort as an artist to venture into a new/different sound, especially at a time when a lot of artists are attempting to sound like his previous sound. Due to this, on the Intersect rating scale of 1-10, the sound on "Whole Lotta Red" receives a 9/10.
THE RAPPING
Unique flows on unique flows. Count on Carti to sound different. Whether it be his emo-rap flow, his baby-voice flow, or his new rock flow, Carti aims to be different. That is what makes an artist a true artist: experimenting with sound and versatility. On "Whole Lotta Red", Carti's flow wasn't super different from his previous flows, but he changed it a little bit by deepening his voice, adding even more rock-like voice inflictions, and adding even more repetition of lyrics than usual. That fed into the rock-album goal. Yes, there were points where to a rap-lover the flow was annoying, but from a rock perspective, it was a pretty decent fusion of rock and rap. A lot of rock music is annoying to a rap-lover. In terms of the lyrics and word-play themselves, the best way to describe them is very much Carti. Carti has never really been a lyrical genius with his ad-lib full and mumble rap music, but he gets the sound right. On the Intersect rating scale of 1-10, the rapping on "Whole Lotta Red" receives a 7/10.
THE ART BEHIND THE ALBUM
The most artistic part about "Whole Lotta Red" is literally the fact that Carti had the confidence and artistic ability to go out of the box and put together a rock-life album. That is not something we see in a lot of artists because of the fear of what the public will say. It is also nice to see Carti persevere and put out "Whole Lotta Red" after the many leaks that the previous versions have had. In case you did not know, you can find over thirty Playboi Carti leaks on Soundcloud that were said to have been made for Whole Lotta Red. It is impressive that Carti and his management/Interscope team kept pushing and put this project out. The art behind "Whole Lotta Red" receives a 9/10 on our Intersect 1-10 rating scale.
MY FAVORITE TRACKS ON THE ALBUM
Rockstar Made, Go2DaMoon, Beno!
APPLE MUSIC'S FAVORITE TRACKS ON THE ALBUM
Go2DaMoon, Beno!, Slay3r, Vamp Anthem, New N3on, Sky, ILoveUIHateU
"Whole Lotta Red" may have not been the die-hard Carti fan or the rap-lover's favorite, but it is quality music. Because of this, the total score for "Whole Lotta Red" is 8.3/10. Listen to the album below.