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Playboi Carti: Music review – the most anticipated rap album this decade was worth the wait

Already staggeringly popular since its long-awaited release on Friday, the Atlantan rapper shows off his almost mystical level of vocal range on his jaded, narcotised third LP

The harsh, extreme-bass sound of his second, 2020’s Whole Lotta Red, took him to a new level of fame and acclaim – it was canonised as the second best album this decade by Pitchfork (beaten only by Fiona Apple) and a massive influence on a whole generation of rage-rap from Yeat to Ken Carson, OsamaSon and numerous other noisy young MCs. The frequent interjections of DJ Swamp Izzo, admiring Carti or simply shouting his own name at maximum volume, helps to glue these styles together, and nicely offsets the grandeur of this most lofty and long-awaited album project, making it feel more like a mixtape or radio session. And the Weeknd is on top form on Rather Lie, a cloud-rap track of chest-clutching beauty that will probably become the big pop hit in the ensuing weeks – though everything on Music is already proving massively popular, becoming Spotify’s most streamed album in a single day this year.

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