Album Review: Is Playboy Carti's "Whole Lotta Red" Overplayed?

Millions of streams, endless TikTok videos, and countless fans celebrating Playboi Carti's Whole Lotta Red, but is the album really all it's cracked up to be? It was like opening a surprise gift when this album was dropped on Christmas Day, which was interesting considering the whole aesthetic of the album. Despite the number of plays, was it really all that? Majority of the songs or even the whole album spoke three things: aggression, repetitiviness, and vibe. Points for vibe, right? 

The opening track “Rockstar Made” begins with a beat that has been used in countless short videos on social media showing particular outfit checks or just a video of one’s self. This goes in the idea of how this album shows a lot of recognition on how it is portrayed based on it’s vibe. The song details on Playboi Carti's elevated status and lifestyle: “I got some racks, yeah, yeah (what?)”.This opener track had the same three or four lines throughout the whole song. Yeah, there were some changes in the lyrics, but it does not go into further detail on the whole idea of the song. The line “Uh, never too much” was repeatedly used throughout the beginning of the song till the end. The idea of the song was there, however it could have been more expressed with different lyrics.

Despite numerous monotonous tracks throughout the album, the highest played track on this album was “Sky”. This track was another extremely popular song on social media. It additionally goes into the idea of how Playboi Carti’s status elevated in life, specifically the music industry after his hit album, Die Lit, in 2018. The title of the song metaphorically signifies being on top, which ties with how his life changed. This song was the most diverse, lyrically, compared to the rest of the tracks. There were some repetitive lines, that being, “I’m way too high,” depicting how nothing can bring him down now. The lyrics and the strong beat makes this song stand out from the rest, which we can agree could be the reason it is extremely played. 

I got to give credit where credit it’s due, the track I liked most on the album was “Beno!”, though the song does not offer meaningful symbolism or lyrics, it was not repetitive compared to the other tracks. The energetic beat around the lyric “I’m riding ‘round town with a ratchet b***h,” gave a good transition to his fast rap after that. The track adds another layer of how his life evolved in extremities of wealth and status. 

Before listening to Whole Lotta Red, I had a feeling it was based on its overall appearance and vibe. When I heard small audio clips of “Sky” on videos in social media, my initial thought came to: “This is the best rap artist I’ve heard,” Little did I know, I was wrong. Don’t get me wrong, the album beat and vibe was the best thing out of the whole album. However, the majority of the songs could use more diverse song idea concepts and song writing.