By L’Rae Celestine
Artwork by L’Rae Celestine
After five years, Playboi Carti finally delivers MUSIC, a chaotic, feature-packed album that fans may never fully recover from. With 30 tracks and a 77-minute runtime, the project is massive in both sound and range, and it’s sparking conversation across the Internet and music industry.
Originally teased under different names such as Narcissist and I Am Music, Carti began hinting at a new album in 2021, just months after Whole Lotta Red came out in December of 2020. Since then, fans have been awaiting the new album, even trying to piece together clues, song leaks, and Carti’s Instagram posts to figure out when exactly the album would arrive.
While fans expected MUSIC to release in 2024, based on Cartis own promises, the album didn’t drop until March 14, 2025. Even with a clear release date, the album rollout was still messy. While people expected it to drop at 12 a.m. EST, Carti stated it would drop at 12 a.m. PST instead. And this still didn’t happen, which left fans feeling played by Carti, constantly refreshing streaming platforms hoping for the album to drop.
MUSIC didn’t actually release until about 4:45 a.m., supposedly due to sample clearance issues. But when it did drop, fans went into an uproar.
The album has a stacked line up, featuring Travis Scott, Kendrick Lamar, Lil Uzi Vert, Future, Skepta, The Weeknd, Young Thug, and Ty Dolla $ign. Productionwise, Carti tapped into his Atlanta roots with hard trap beats, distorted sound effects, and samples from artists like Rich Kidz, Ashanti, and SpaceGhostPurrp. Of course, Carti included his signature baby voice that has had fans hooked for years. Kendrick even acknowledged Carti’s sound in the song “MOJO JOJO,” calling it “extraterrestrial,” which is the perfect word for Carti’s unique vocal style.
One of the biggest contributors to MUSIC, besides Carti, is DJ Swamp Izzo. Swamp Izzo is an Atlanta legend known for his work in the mixtape era with artists like Young Thug and Gucci Mane. His voice and ad libs play a major role in the album, much like DJ Drama on Tyler, The Creator’s Call Me If You Get Lost. In total, Swamp Izzo’s tags appear 195 times on MUSIC, with the most memorable one being a self-call, “SWAMP IZZO.”
The buildup to MUSIC was full of twists and delays. Early song leaks like “All Red” and “Wicked/Killers” hit the Internet in 2023. Then, Carti released videos for songs like “2024” and “HoodByAir” exclusively on Instagram, leaving fans hopeful for an album to come soon. Meanwhile, British artist BlackHaine became a key figure in Carti’s rollout, showing up in teaser videos and becoming a signal that new music was coming. Fans dubbed Carti “I Am Liar” after the album didn’t drop in 2024 as expected. Finally, on March 12, 2025, Carti posted a video of Blackhaine saying, “New Carti, opium, this Friday,” officially starting the hype of the album. On release night, streamer Kai Cenat had a live call with Carti while thousands of fans watched online, refreshing their screens into the early morning hours.
Reactions to MUSIC have been mixed. Pitchfork critic, Alphonse Pierre, felt Carti borrowed too much of Future’s flow and lacked energy on some songs. Meanwhile, NPR critic, Sheldon Pearce, praised the album’s creativity and unpredictability. Fans, as always, are split. Some love the chaos, yet others feel underwhelmed by Carti’s performance. Whether you like it or not, there’s one thing for sure about MUSIC: people can’t stop talking about it.
Just days after the album’s release, Carti dropped a deluxe version titled, MUSIC: Sorry For Da Wait. It includes some of the most requested songs from his 2023 Instagram drops and fills the gaps for fans who felt the original album was missing something.
MUSIC might not be Carti’s most polished work, but it’s definitely his boldest. With its experimental sound, stacked features, and wild rollout, it captures everything fans love (and love to hate) about him. Whether it’s a masterpiece or a mess to you, Playboi Carti’s MUSIC has taken over the conversation in hip hop once again.