Breaking down Playboi Carti’s stream-subverting album rollout
thefader.comA vicious debate rages across the internet this month, with manifestos etched into comment sections and forum threads. Picking the best Playboi Carti single out of the past four weeks is less an objective critical exercise than a musical Rorschach.
The orbital synths and strafing hi-hats of “Ur the moon” or the incorporeal horns and thumping 808s of “2024?” The xenomorphic operatics and uncharacteristically slick Travis Scott feature on “BACKR00MS” or the martial stomp and impish toplines of hard-knocking “H00DBYAIR?” (Splitting hairs, I would say “Ur the moon,” “H00DBYAIR,” “2024,” “BACKR00MS” from best to almost-best).
Where Whole Lotta Red exploded 808s and vocal chords, these new singles move from velvety whispers rustling like snowfall to resonant threats booming from the diaphragm.
You can hear traces of WLR’s guttural bellows and Die Lit’s nonchalant melodicism — and sometimes, sludgy imprints of Young Thug and Future emerge — in Carti’s flows, but their synthesis and easy cohabitation reflects a heightened musicality.
Read more on thefader.com
