Perhaps the most unconventional musical artist to emerge as an icon of Gen Z is Playboi Carti, the Atlanta-born rage rap star who has captured this generation’s zeitgeist in a way none of his musical peers have. Everything about Carti comes off as unconventional; being a rapper whose rapping is not the focus of his music, his mysterious public persona, all the way to his mistreatment of every other person in his life, including his own fans. Since his debut 2017 self-titled mixtape and its culture-defining follow-up “Die Lit,” Carti has inspired an unrivaled fanaticism from the youth of Gen Z that has made him incredibly popular and polarizing.
Since Carti played trap Santa and dropped his last album “Whole Lotta Red” on Christmas Day in 2020, he has incessantly teased a follow-up, much to the chagrin of his increasingly desperate fans. First there was “Narcissist,” first announced in August 2021 with a Sept. 13 release date. That day came and went, and it was ultimately revealed that “Narcissist” was actually just a merch drop and not an album like his fans desired. After that, the last few years have been filled with false alarm upon false alarm, with numerous rumored release dates coming and going without notice.
But why drop now? The reason is less artistic and more legal; after physical album bundles were sold starting Sept. 13, 2024, with the promise of the album dropping six months or less from that date, it seems that Carti’s hand was forced by his record to drop on March 14, short of providing a refund. And so, here we arrive: The long-awaited “I Am Music” (which is technically just called “Music,” but most people seem to ignore that) is here, and with it comes the promise of yet another earth-shattering masterpiece.
Let’s get the obvious out of the way first. Carti’s rapping is akin to Ja Morant’s dunking; occasionally one for the highlight reel, usually just an embarrassment to be forgotten. Indeed, while Carti’s rapping is far from masterful, to focus on it would be missing the point. Carti’s music has always emphasized the beats first and foremost, and there are some good highlights here; the synths of “I Seeeeee You Baby Boi” fly fantastically, the heaviness of “Good Credit” plays well and the chopped-up soul sampling of the Jhené Aiko featuring “Backd00r” sounds majestic. Still, as can be expected from a 30-song-album, a large amount of the album’s music is interchangeable; already, accusations of AI usage have levied against the album.
If Carti’s lyrical abilities leave loads to be desired, then he relies on his all-star guest list to pick up the slack. Kendrick Lamar, Travis Scott, Future, Lil Uzi Vert and Young Thug all provide guest verses on the album, as if this were a who’s who of the biggest rappers today. Still, most of their performances are interchangeable, especially since Kendrick and Travis appear the most, with three and four separate features respectively. Really, they mostly just serve as cosmetic dressing, meant to make the album seem more diverse in sound that it is in actuality.
Truthfully, there just is not that much to this album. While “I Am Music” will likely satisfy the people who bump “Whole Lotta Red” incessantly, which, to be fair, is a lot of people, it is not really all that far removed from the Carti mold we are familiar with. Of course, the star-studded list of features and producers will certainly seem attractive to the audience whose musical tastes are dictated by their for you pages, but it does not make for a great album. Still, I must admit that it is entirely possible that 185 million first-day streams cannot be wrong.
