December 25th, 2020, was the last time famous rapper Playboi Carti released an album, titled “Whole Lotta Red.” While most artists are expected to release an album every two or three years, Playboi Carti didn’t release his next album until four years later. One additional year of waiting may not seem bad, but what made it worse was him teasing his loyal fans with the release of the album.
Then came the day: March 14th, 2025. Playboy Carti released his fourth studio album “I AM MUSIC.” Although fans were happy the album was releasing, they were frustrated with the release date and the release having an eight hour delay. This delay caused irritation for listeners of his that lived in eastern time zones, because they were under the influence of the album releasing at midnight, which was nine at night for pacific time listeners. His eastern time listeners did not receive the album until eight in the morning, which was five in the morning for pacific time listeners. Besides that, the album is praised for having very high-profile features such as rapper Lil Uzi Vert, the Weeknd, Travis Scott, Future, Kendrick Lamar, and Lil Yachty. This surprised fans, because they didn’t expect him to have so many features. Almost every song has a feature, including Lil Uzi Vert having his own song.
Personally, I think the album is great. I have listened to it non-stop since it came out. The features on the album help the songs, but the album doesn’t necessarily need all the features. Some of my favorite songs from the album are “Crush,” “Evil Jordan,” “Backdoor,” “Radar,” “Rather Lie,” and “Philly.” This was my first official introduction to Carti, and I thought this album was good. Throughout the years ranging from several various music artists, there have been hundreds of anticipated albums that fans had waited for. However, I don’t think any of them have had the amount of hype and potential “I AM MUSIC” had to live up to. I would rate this album a healthy nine out of ten, because the majority of the songs are good, and the features he includes in the songs give the fans an opportunity to see unique duos—some that we’ve never seen before.
Aside from my opinions, Journalism teacher Mr. Garett Peace shared what he thought was good about the album: “I really like the production of the album. I’ve been listening to Carti maybe not since the self-titled, but at least since ‘Die Lit,’ and I feel like he continues to explore these really experimental styles of production.” On the other hand, sophomore Josh Hixon shares his opinion on what could be better about the album, “Too short of an album. I need more.” The album “I AM MUSIC” will go down as one of the most awaited albums of all time, making Carti’s resume even more impressive. The album reached number one on the Billboard 200 and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts in just the first week of the release. Carti also has 56.2 million monthly listeners on Spotify, which is expected to skyrocket due to the early success of his latest album, “I AM MUSIC.”
