What I listened with: Wireless Bluetooth Speaker
Editor Rating: 7/10
The Bottom Line: A great mixtape for the summer, and your Saturday night activities. Listen to it 3 times before you make-up your mind
Playboi Carti's debut self-titled mixtape goes hard.
The wait is finally over with the release of Playboi Carti’s debut mixtape ever since he first announced it back in September (and even prior to that really), but after months of teasing, anticipation & promoting, which included the leak “WokeUpLikeThis” & a countdown on his website that started last week counting down to midnight, the project has finally arrived today.
Carti definitely has a lot of southern influences, but his music has a futuristic sound. This to me means two things. First, as a Southern rapper he is destines to have some hit records which we’ve already seen with Magnolia, and WokeUpLikeThis. Second, Playboi Carti is here to stay. The only rapper who could possibly stunt Carti’s growth is helping him out which is ASAP Rocky. Especially, since ASAP Rocky is off in fashion world, and only appears for features there is definitely a void in the Hip-Hop world. That being said let’s be perfectly clear this is mixtape by a brand-new rapper, so a lot of this speculation and potential we see in Carti.
His influence of southern rappers like Gucci Mane, Young Thug, Lil Wayne or otherwise that you can sort of hear at the edges of Carti's rapping styles; but a mixtape full of lo-fi beats that are either hyper-distorted synth noises or sedative ambient loops? It's certainly not quite as radical a development as certain rap listeners have been complaining about. The production is a very interesting aspect of Playboi Carti's mixtape, which is a strange mix of contradicting efforts. Quite frankly it affects how you need to listen to this album. My first around it was difficult to sort out different sounds, and some of his vocals which is how he ends being classified as a “Soundcloud Rapper”. Weirdly enough the muddy production sounds intentional the 3rd and 4th time you listen to it. The production feels a lot like it’s based around the more ambient end of earlier net-based swag rap that the likes of Clams Casino, Squadda B or Carti's occasional collaborator Ethereal. In that era, the style was being pushed by a number of bedroom producers experimenting with sounds and learning the craft. Carti, however, has opted for a number of relative amateurs such as Pierre Bourne (who handles a majority of the tape), Chris Fresh and J. Cash Beatz, who he puts next to industry veterans like Southside, Harry Fraud and Hit-Boy in a way that never feels like a gap in quality. Mixtape opener “Location” is a soothing track that sounds like a 70s-new age deep cut, while the A$AP Rocky collaboration “New Choppa” feels so degraded that when it starts up you get the feeling that the beat won't make it past the gate. A weird blend of sour synths, PlayStation FX chimes and skeletal Zaytoven inspired 'trap' drums, it's bizarre to think that this style can still sound fresh in 2017, especially when paired against the increasingly poppier and overproduced mainstream of rap.
Containing 15 tracks in total this is a great mixtape to ride to on a Saturday night. These songs are great before the party, during the party, and after the party. Definitely the mixtape of the s
