Whole Lotta Red Review: A big swing, but an even bigger miss

There are three things in this world to be certain of: Death, taxes, and Playboi Carti leaks. For the past two years, song after song was leaked from Playboi Carti’s highly anticipated album “Whole Lotta Red”. Music Conessiours were left amiss and pondered, “When will we finally get Whole Lotta Red?” But on Monday, December 21st, Playboi Carti announced he would be dropping the album on Christmas, almost like a soundcloud santa claus. On December 25th, at 12 a.m. Est, Whole Lotta Red finally came out.

Right off the bat, it was inherently clear that this album was like no other that Playboi Carti has put out. The first song on the album “Rockstar Made” is a prime example of what to expect from the project; blown out distorted 808s and barbed sounding synths. It has a loud, and almost violent sound to it. The reasoning for the sounds on this album is where Carti drew his inspiration from. This project is heavily influenced by metal and punk music. Playboi Carti has been a long time fan of bands like Slayer, Black Flag, and HIM. The album cover for Whole Lotta Red even draws inspiration from influential 70s punk rocker Slash. 

The first half of the album is a distortion heavy section that sounds like it was exclusively made for moshing. This half included features from industry legends Kanye West, Kid Cudi, and Future. This punk heavy half did not get a good response from fans when the album dropped. One reason for the dislike was that people thought it just sounded bad. Paul Thompson from Pitchfork said, “At its best, Whole Lotta Red sounds like Carti’s voice memos have been laid over the most punishing production he could find.” 

The second half of the project saved the album for many. These last twelve songs took a step back from the abrasive sound of the first half, and brought back the fast , 8-bit sound that many Playboi Carti fans know. Many fan favorites are included on this second half like “Vamp Anthem”, “New N3on”, and “ILoveUIHateU”. The two best samples on this album are used in these last twelve songs also. The famous Dracula theme is sampled on “Vamp Anthem” and Bon Iver is sampled on the closing song “F33l Lik3 Dyin”. 

This album is definitely not for everyone. After the last couple of weeks of listening to it I’ve came to the conclusion that Whole Lotta Red has some highpoints, but it has even lower low points. My biggest gripe with it is that it is extremely sloppy. Many songs will run way too long than they are supposed too, and some songs will be extremely short. The most brazen example of this is with “M3tamorphosis” which runs for over five minutes. There is no reason for it to be five minutes long when the second half of the song is Carti repeating the same word twenty times. Then the next three songs after “M3tamorphosis” are all less than two minutes long. It destroys the little flow that the album had in the first place. The production was the only thing consistent throughout the album, and was one of the few highpoints. But, Playboi Carti’s lackluster delivery on the majority of the songs ruin most of the album for me. I’d give Whole Lotta Red a 4 out of 10. A below average score for something that could have been really special if done correctly, and with more care.