Whole Lotta Red
Carti was down 3-1 and pulled a Lebron Game 7 block on himself and carried with the second half of the album. WLR has now been hyped up for the past 2 years and like any other artist, it’s always hard to live up to the hype especially when the album keeps getting delayed due to leaks which can completely ruin your creative process. Carti’s evolution deserves a whole article by itself but the gist of it is, he dropped bangers like Broke Boi in 2015 and Fetti in 2016 with an emphasis on punchlines, good production, and slick melodies that stuck in your head. He then blew up into the mainstream with his self-named album with anthems like Magnolia and Uzi featured Woke Up Like This and he cemented himself as one of our generation’s best and transitioned from a SoundCloud rapper to a prominent artist holding influence over the culture. Then on Die Lit, his baby voice took the industry by storm and has to be one of the most iconic sounds of this generation, influencing so many viral songs like Cochise’s Hatchback (from popular TikTok sound that boy that boy sus), 645AR, and his exaggerated pitching on 4 DA TRAP, and most recently Mario Judah with Bih Yah which has every right to be on the WLR deluxe album. But the question was what does Carti do now? Like every rapper at this point in their career, they are faced with a question. Do I do more of the same and give the fans what they loved from me, or do I stick with my creativity and experiment with sounds that make me happy to go to the studio?
Fetti dropped 5 years ago and it’s a lot to ask of Carti to stay the same as he’s growing older and developing his interests and style. Remember how much shit Kanye West got for Yeezus? However, personally? It was hard to sit through the first 17 songs on WLR. Firstly I have to admit it's not my type of music reminiscent of the late Xxxtentacion’s ? album and songs like Floor 555 and the heavy metal-like punk vibes. However, if you sat through it there were definitely some gems. In the first half of the album songs like Slay3r, Vamp Anthem (which sounds like it belongs in Mario Kart for a Bowser's Castle soundtrack), and New Neon were still unique but captivated the audience in the same way it usually does with its jumpy and fun productions and Carti gliding on the beat with his flow and cadence. Once the album gets to Place though? We’re back to the Carti we all know and love. Punchlines, classic triplet flow and short bars galore while still being new and creative. You can’t blame Carti for such a disjointed album since he’s at the point in his career where he’s forced to gauge his audience’s interest and what they want from him. It's a battle artists partake in where they have to decide between their creative direction and outside pressures and expectations. And as a music lover, although I hated it, I will always side with the creative. It’s not Carti’s fault the album got delayed due to label problems and constant leaks. It shouldn’t matter if we didn't like this experimentation, we should hope and pray we have 20 more years of Carti and just let the album grow on us. And it's not like anytime an album drops you bump and add every song. Some songs definitely worked and there's something for everyone on WLR and we should thank artists for projects like this. Carti was testing the waters and this could set up for an amazing future album, back to the Kanye example, The Life of Pablo did drop after Yeezus. There are many songs on the album like Sky which are genuinely fire and could contend as the song of the year. All in all, this album will grow on people the longer they sit on it and there’s still the deluxe to look forward to but the people will riot if Pissy Pamper isn’t on it Carti so don’t fuck up.
Songs to add: If you’re Mario Judah Or Akedmiks you have everything memorized and you added the whole album before you listened to it
Otherwise, add: Beno!, Slay3r, Vamp Anthem, New N3on, Control, Place, Sky, Over, ILoveUIHateU, Die4Guy, Not PLaying, F33l Lik3 Dying
APEX Rating: 6.7/10