On the evening of Mar. 12, 2025, Atlanta rapper Playboi Carti (real name Jordan Carter) uploaded a video to his Instagram account announcing that his long-awaited album “MUSIC” would be released on the coming Friday, Mar. 14.
Despite this, 12 a.m. on Friday came and went without a release of the album. Carter announced minutes later that the reason for the delay was to get a Young Thug feature verse on the album. Young Thug was recently released from jail and not at the original studio sessions for the album. This pushed the release time to 3 a.m., which also came and went without a release on any streaming services.
Famous streamer Kai Cenat was having a live stream for the release of “MUSIC,” and Carter ended up joining through a phone call with Cenat, promising that the album would be released “any minute now,” which he also posted on X and Instagram in the following minutes. Fans kept waiting for an official release, with problems with sample clearances and apparent changes to the album cover being cited as reasons for the delay.
Around 7 a.m. on Friday, the album “MUSIC” was finally released on streaming platforms accompanied by a post on X saying “MY ALBUM OUT MFFFFFF.” The album garnered 139 million streams on its first day, which was the biggest streaming day of any album in 2025, the second biggest for any hip-hop album, and the seventh largest for any album ever. “MUSIC” is also on pace to have the biggest debut of any album with first-week streams (over 300 million) since Taylor Swift’s “The Tortured Poets Department” which came out in April of 2024. It is also projected to debut at number one on the Billboard Charts. The release of the album was followed by a headlining performance on Mar. 16 at Rolling Loud in Los Angeles. At this performance, he brought out several other notable people on stage, including rappers Nav and Skepta, The Weeknd and streamers Young Dabo and Kai Cenat.
MUSIC included 30 songs, which, for many fans, made up for the four-and-a-half-year wait from his previous album, “Whole Lotta Red,” which was released in Dec. of 2020. The album has eight features, including four verses from Travis Scott, three from Kendrick Lamar, two from Future and Lil Uzi Vert and one from Skepta, Young Thug and Ty Dolla $ign. R&B singer Jhené Aiko provides backing vocals on “BACKD00R,” while pop super star The Weeknd sings the chorus on “RATHER LIE.” Most of the production was handled by F1LTHY, Ojivolta and Cardo, although other producers have placements like Metro Boomin, TM88, Mike Dean, Wheezy, Kanye West and Southside. The last part of the equation for “MUSIC” is the DJing by Atlanta native DJ Swamp Izzo, who appears on nearly every song, hyping up verses from Carter and his guest features, as well as providing ad-libs, such as his famous “Swamp Izzo” ad-lib.
The album opens up with “POP OUT,” an abrasive track that, at first, leaves many listeners confused as to the direction that the album will go in. The second song is the Travis Scott produced “CRUSH” which also features a verse from Scott; it is a standout track with a dark trap inspired beat and layered vocals from both Scott and Carter going back and forth. The next two songs are previously released singles, “K POP” and “EVIL J0RDAN.” Jumping forward in the tracklist, “RADAR” is a standout, as it is one of the first times Carter has worked with legendary trap producer Metro Boomin, creating a early 2010s Lil Wayne inspired banger with ad-libs from DJ Swamp Izzo that keep you on your toes throughout the song. Next is “RATHER LIE” with The Weeknd, which is turning out to be the hit record from the album, along with “EVIL J0RDAN.” “BACKD00R” is another standout, with Carter and Kendrick Lamar rapping over a soul-inspired beat made by Kanye West, followed by Carter and London rapper Skepta trading bars over a beat with heavy 808 drums. Skepta is an unusual choice for a feature, as most American rappers do not collaborate with rappers from across the pond. As you move closer to the end of the tracklist, Lil Uzi Vert, a frequent collaborator of Carter’s, appears twice to form one of the best duos in modern rap.
The first half or so of the album has Carter trying out various different styles from his catalogue, with some, like “RATHER LIE,” being inspired by the melodic and light records from his earlier work on albums like “Die Lit.” On the other hand, songs like “I SEEEEEE YOU BABY BOI” take heavy inspiration from the sound he and his Opium label mates (Destroy Lonely, Ken Carson and Homixide Gang) created in the early 2020s such as on his album “Whole Lotta Red.” This sound is characterized by trap music blended with punk and electronic beats, creating fast paced and almost violent sounding beats.
The back half of the album is where Carter catches his stride. Starting at “CHARGE DEM HOES A FEE,” Carter seems to establish his new sound, which is a blend of tradition and boundary pushin. He fuses the original Atlanta trap sound with hints of the trap wave Carter created with his Opium label and subsequent work with and influence on underground Atlanta artists to make something that is distinctly Playboi Carti.
Carter says in “HBA,” the third to last song: “They wanted this album to be opposite, but I told ’em I’m comin’ normal.” This line seems like a turning point in his musical presentation and style. “HBA” was first released as a single in Dec. of 2023, and almost seems like a mantra for “MUSIC.” After his work with New York producer Pi’erre Bourne on “Die Lit” (2018) and his rage filled punk inspired 2020 album “Whole Lotta Red,” Carter attracted many fans from different areas in the rap landscape and the music landscape, something that he might not have been able to comprehend at the time.
When he released his debut mixtape “Playboi Carti” in 2017, he leaned heavily on his Atlanta roots, especially on the bubbling plugg subgenre of trap of the time, which was pioneered by Atlanta producers like MexikoDro (who produced Carter’s 2015 single “Broke Boi”) and Zaytoven. At this time, Carter also signed to New York rapper A$AP Rocky’s label AWGE, and the growing New York influence could be seen; he started working more consistently with Pi’erre Bourne on non-traditional and lighter trap songs. Back in Atlanta, plugg as a subgenre was also splintering at this time. Zaytoven’s work with the likes of Future and Gucci Mane was becoming increasingly mainstream, whereas MexikoDro’s spacier and almost underproduced instrumentals paved the way for the coming pluggnb subgenre of rap which saw a meteoric rise in the early 2020s with artists such as Summrs, Autumn! and KanKan. Because of these factors, Carter left the plugg wave and his Atlanta roots.
The fans he attracted from the new waves desired “the opposite” of what he had been creating for the last half decade, but he decided to “come normal” or return to what he knows best: making Atlanta trap with his own twist. This can be seen in the latter half of the album with multiple features from Atlanta trap legends like Future and Young Thug. There are songs on the album produced by Atlanta producers like Wheezy and Southside, as well as St. Louis-raised, Atlanta-based trap super producer Metro Boomin, known for his recent work with Future and Atlanta rapper 21 Savage. The homages to his hometown do not stop there, as Carter samples the song “Bend Over” by classic Atlanta rap group Rich Kidz on the track “LIKE WEEZY,” even reposting a Reel on his Instagram story proclaiming that this record was “for [Atlanta].” Directly after this song, Carter slides onto a grimy trap beat on “DIS 1 GOT IT,” sounding like something that could have come out of Future’s “Dirty Sprite 2” or Young Thug’s “Barter 6.” The ad-libs by DJ Swamp Izzo are especially reminiscent of various mixtapes by the likes of trap originators like Jeezy and Gucci Mane, which were characterized by an almost over the top level of adlibs by DJs like DJ Drama, DJ Esco or DJ Swamp Izzo. These ad-libs added to the distinctive sound of Atlanta trap at the time, giving it its rough, unpolished and underground charm.
The closing track, “SOUTH ATLANTA BABY,” Carter reminisces on his time growing up on the Southside of Atlanta. The song discusses street violence: “I been bustin’ on this opp ho, she live in the 6, I know it’s a risk,” “The K on me is a felon, I’m aimin’ at everybody jealous,” and the crack epidemic that still rages on in impoverished communities across America: “I’m a crack baby, ho, I was raised off dope.” This track is the perfect example of Carter’s new style: ad-libs from Swamp Izzo throughout, a hyperactive beat that only a few rappers like Carter go flow on top of, a blend of the new and the old, an homage to his roots and something that is very uniquely Atlanta.
