By commercial rap standards, Playboi Carti was always a little bit out there. Interesting production, a willingness to make moves that jerked his songs out of alignment, and an overall exuberant energy all contributed to music that wasn't quite safe by conventional metrics, but connected with enough mainstream listeners to consistently land the Atlanta rapper in the Billboard charts. Whole Lotta Red, Carti's second studio album (and third project if one includes his 2017 self-titled mixtape), takes his experimental impulses to unforeseen places. Instead of the youthful-sounding kid brother mumbles and repetitive hooks that characterized some of Carti's best-performing hits, he spends much of Whole Lotta Red sounding possessed, with blown-out instrumentals complimenting his demonic vocal performances. Most of the hour-long album is comprised of a background of chaotic synthesizers and distorted bass while Carti rushes chaotically through a frenzy of ideas. Tracks like "New Tank," "Stop Breathing," and "JumpOutTheHouse" are violent in a way that pushes beyond the menace of everyday rap brags and bravado, tapping into something more immediate and frightening than lyrics about guns and money. This evil atmosphere is best exemplified by "M3tamorphasis," a drawn-out track featuring Kid Cudi. Like many of the tracks, swirls of ad-libbed backing vocals chirp like a chorus of goblins, but here Carti rasps about feeling on an elevated, god-like level after changing his style up. It's an evil track that sounds like a play-by-play of a deal with the devil. Kanye West acts as executive producer on Whole Lotta Red, and shows up for a guest verse on "Go2DaMoon." West's association with the project makes sense in that Whole Lotta Red is Carti's Yeezus, with a caustic energy unlike anything he has turned in before. It's an album that's bound to be polarizing and will likely alienate fans looking for the quirky fun of earlier releases. While losing some of the pop appeal of his previous work, Whole Lotta Red represents Playboi Carti coming into a new phase of his artistry, however jagged and disorienting the process may be.
Fred Thomas. Allmusic.com
