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Early works like 2017sPlayboi Cartiand 2018sDie Litdocumented the birth of an increasingly bit-crushed mutation of southern hip-hop.
His persona teetered on a razors edge: He must look magisterial but seem nonchalant.
The screaming is the point.
Youre paying for a portion of devil-may-care cool and a semblance of dominion over darkness.
The aim is to carefully brandish chaos.
The unpredictability fueling these triumphs is just as often a cause for concern.
Its been a fussy four years since the last Playboi Carti album, 2020s goblin-infestedWhole Lotta Red.
Uzis curtEternal Atake 2dragged, as did Scotts Hot 100 shooting star 4x4.
(The label feels like a Galactus arrangement.
The result is imperfect but instructive.
It communicates why, in spite of anyones reservations, Carti is a rappers rapper.
The big guns clearlystudyhim, excitedly adopting the house style.
Those qualities dont necessarily dominateMusic, which is more interested in reveling in the tonal breadth of the voice.
This is an artist obsessed with the marriage of high- and lowbrow.
Carti is, as oldheads assessed, somewhat enthralled by pissing on tradition.
Its almost entirely horny buildup, echoing grunts occupying spaces where a series of verses usually goes.
Musicregroups the way many works by artists a decade into their careers tend to nowadays: It reaffirms foundations.
Sometimes this means cannibalizing aspects of older songs.
The video-game-y topline of Crush brings to mind a similar sequence inWhole Lotta Reds Sky.
At first pass, the slurring trunk-rattler Toxic conjures the image of theDS2star rhyming his way through anaphylaxis.
Walk and Dis 1 Got it sell self-destructive chants like Futures drug jams.
But Charge Dem Hoes a Fee with actual Nayvadius makes the Carti deep voice all overMusicfeel small.
But the familiarity grows oppressive.
It hits more like a survey of what the rapper has been up to than a self-certain step forward.
The issue, then, is thatMusicis a lesser work in the catalogue.
The instrument is astounding, but the guy cant decide what to do with it.
Restlessness sources both the most grating and the most intriguing performances.
But nobody showed up for earnestness.
Carti is here to facilitate people ramming into one another.
In this objective, he gets his way.
