After five years, Jordan Carter, also known as Playboi Carti, released his long-awaited, 30-track album, I AM MUSIC, on March 14, 2025. (Hey Frank Ocean, you next?)
Over the past few years, Carti has repeatedly teased new music without fully committing to releasing an album, one of them being Narcissist, an album speculated to drop somewhere between 2021-2022 during his Narcissist tour. This left fans frustrated and doubtful, with some assuming that an album never existed in the first place. Others jokingly suggested that I AM MUSIC might be nothing more than a “photo album”, given his frequent habit of posting fit pics on his Instagram story.
On March 10, Carti posted a video of a man declaring, “New Carti album this Friday!”, leaving fans filled with anticipation.
The album was formerly projected to release at 3 a.m. EST/12 a.m. PST. Fans, including streamers such as Kai Cenat, eagerly waited to see the album on streaming platforms, only to realize it was not there. They quickly took to X, where Carti was consistently tweeting, one of the tweets being an image of possible features on the album, namely Travis Scott, The Weeknd, Lil Uzi Vert, and more.
Fortunately, the album was officially released on all streaming platforms around 6-7 a.m. EST/3-4 a.m. PST on Friday. The 30-track album was filled with a wide spectrum of genres, ranging from rage rap, punk, and trap. Notably, fans speculated that certain songs off the album were slightly altered. One of these songs is K-pop, which was a previously released Instagram song called “Ketamine.” Another song called “Rather Lie” featuring The Weeknd was a song that myself and many others eagerly waited for after Carti and The Weeknd performed it together at Rolling Loud Miami 2024.
About a week and a half after the album dropped, Carti released a deluxe called MUSIC — SORRY 4 DA WAIT, which includes four Instagram songs: “Different Day,” “2024,” “BACKR00MS,” and additionally “FOMDJ.” This was a monumental moment for fans, especially since Carti is not known to drop deluxes; this was the first time he had. He for sure fed his fans well after leaving them with crumbs for the past five years.
After giving the album a listen, I enjoyed the production of the songs. A few of my favorites include: “Crush,” “Olympian,” “Rather Lie,” “Twin Trim,” and “Charge Dem H*** A Fee.” In all honesty, the album was very experimental, which was something I wasn’t expecting from Carti. There were times when the sound effects felt as though they were all over the place and did not complement the song, for instance, at the beginning of “EVIL JORDAN,” but you get used to it after a few more listens. Though I expected this album to be similar to his older projects, such as Whole Lotta Red and Die Lit, I will not complain because this is a rare, monumental moment for Carti to even drop an album!!
Nevertheless, I would definitely recommend this album to those interested in rage rap, punk, or modern underground music. A lot of the songs from the album are great for hitting the gym or getting pumped for an event! Thus, out of the 34 songs, I am sure you will find at least one song that you might enjoy!