By Joey Jacobson
@jjacobsoncourant
Music is a very dynamic art. Everybody likes their own artists and their own sound. Over the last 20 years, Hip-Hop has become the most popular music genre, evolving in its beat, artists, and fans.
A new trend that has emerged is the delaying of albums where some artists in the music industry will wait years to release a new album. While this definitely does get excitement stirring over the release, it’s a very controversial marketing strategy. Playboi Carti, a rapper from Atlanta Georgia, has released 3 studio albums, but over the last 2 years, fans of Carti were stuck listening to the same tracks over and over again, hoping that he would release his new album. Fans were dying for new music listening to 10 second snippets of unreleased tracks that had leaked. Finally on Christmas Eve, Playboi Carti released his highly anticipated album Whole Lotta Red.
Whole Lotta Red had been on the minds of his fans for years and when it was finally released it was like a christmas gift, or so they thought. Playboi Carti completely reinvented his sound on WLR and most fans were very disappointed. This new sound was nothing like we had heard in the past and many immediately were shocked to find out that this was the long-anticipated final product. Through the first listens of the album, fans rushed to the internet to express their hatred. While after the first two weeks of release the reception was bad, most fans had a change of heart and after multiple listens started to enjoy the album more.
Personally being a long time fan of Carti, I was upset by the album at first. Now after having a few listens I will say I’ve grown to enjoy it more. Not every song on the album is fantastic, but is any album truly perfect? The answer is yes, Blonde by Frank Ocean but I digress. Some notable tracks on Whole Lotta Red are Sky, Place, Vamp Anthem, Over, and ILoveUIHateU. One to avoid is Metamorphosis. In my opinion it’s the weakest song on the album.
Truly, Playboi Carti’s WLR is a work of art and gives an experimental sound to the picture which no Carti fans have heard from him. Personally this album is worth a listen. While Carti will release a deluxe for WLR and return to his original sound after that, this album is an experimental piece of art that hip-hop fans should listen to, but also an example of how delaying albums can build up hype that’s not always possible to live up to.
