Abraham Woldeyohannes

Whole Lotta Red is easily the most interesting Playboi Carti project so far and it isn't hard to see why at all. The punk inspired aesthetics and left-field vampire themes that you just don't see in mainstream hip-hop were the biggest reason why this caused such a buzz in the music community. The blends of trap and almost electronic sounding synths complimented with booming bass that were in many spots on here are interesting enough to keep your interest and Carti's very expressive vocals also do a good job at entertaining you. The production in general is very diverse. Some tracks on here feature heavy bass with sharp synth melodies and others are much mellower and easy-going in comparison. Carti's vocals are also a highlight on here. Sometimes, he is straight up screaming to the point where it is literally as punk as you could get on tracks like "Stop Breathing" and on others he has a lot more of a relaxed tone like on the track "ILoveUIHateU." As you can tell from everything that I said, this album isn't shy of experimenting and I'd say that it executes its bold ideas well for the *most* part. I say that this is only for the most part because I feel like some odd mixing choices are distracting enough from the point/impact of some tracks. The opening track "Rockstar Made" has some cool production choices but ultimately it just doesn't hit as hard because of how out of place Carti sounds on top of the beat. His vocals on this track and on many others are either pitched too high or too low and it really can take away from the aggressiveness. However, I would say the mixing issue isn't too much of an issue most of the time it is present, and it didn't take away from the absolute blast this album was front to back. I honestly kind of love this album for what it is and for being as bold as it is. 8.5/10 Highlights: Stop Breathing, JumpOutTheHouse, M3tamporphisis, Slay3r, No Sl33p, New Tank, Meh, New N3on, Control, Punk Monk, On That Time, Place, Sky, Over, ILoveUIHateU, Die4Guy Least favorite: Not PLaying