Playboi Carti always delivers on spectacle, mosh pit-ready tracks, and quotable lyrics (who can forget “jumpoutthehouse” being repeated 5000 times?). However, he is notorious for being one of the most untrustworthy rappers with release dates.
Take his last studio album, Whole Lotta Red, which had a rollout that felt like a whole lotta cap. In a June 2019 cover story for The FADER, he revealed that some of the album’s features included Trippie Redd and Gunna. Then, a month later, he announced during a show that there wouldn’t be any features on the album, but it would be out in the next 60 days—more cap.
At the beginning of 2020, Carti said that the album would be coming that year, and surprisingly, it was delivered with only a couple of days of the 365 to spare. Wasting no time, he shared that a new project was on the horizon.
It’s been almost four years since Carti said I AM MUSIC is “coming soon.” The only thing certain about a Carti rollout is snippets and leaks followed by a trail of alleged “album dropping soon” headlines.
Rather than scouring forums and fan pages, we’ve compiled everything we know about I Am Music that is (hopefully) of importance.
2022: The album is about “Love. Sex. Drugs.”
In an April 2022 interview with XXL, Carti started sharing details about the project after giving a brief teaser two years prior. He shared that the title was simply Music “because that’s where I’m at, you know what I’m saying? Music.”
When it comes to what Music would be covering, Carti said that he is talking about all things “Love. Sex. Drugs. Changes in my life. I’ve been rapping about going to rehab. I want to go to rehab because I think I’m bipolar. I want everybody to feel free. I want this album to make everyone feel free. I hope this album brings peace to the world, honestly. I’m in love with what I’m doing. Like I told you, you can’t put a genre alternative [on me]. My little brother told me that all the time.”
February 2023: DJ Swamp Izzo says the album is done
It took over a year before his ride-or-die fanbase could get any genuine news about the album until DJ Swamp Izzo stepped up to the mic. The Atlanta DJ has been working closely with Carti and spoke about the new project in an interview with Voices in the Street Unfiltered.
“Playboi Carti album is done. I’ma give that to a world premiere. Swamp Izzo and Playboi Carti’s album is done. One more time, Swamp Izzo and Playboi Carti’s album is done,” he officially announced at the beginning of 2023.
Understandably, fans were doubtful of DJ Swamp Izzo’s excited proclamation. “I don’t believe anyone when they say an album is done cause they can change the whole thing the next day especially carti,” X user Karma said in February 2023.
April 2023: F1LTHY addresses the album delay
More people in Carti’s camp began talking about the project, with producer F1LTHY (known for producing tracks like “Sky” and “Stop Breathing”) giving his take on what’s holding the project up.
Addressing the leaks, F1LTHY said during an April 2023 livestream that leakers are “ruining everything, just so y’all know…That’s why n***** ain’t recording. We ain’t gon’ do nothing. Fuck y’all n*****.” F1LTHY goes on to imply that the leaks were responsible for a shelved album. “N***** had an album for y’all. It wasn’t make-believe.”
November 2023: Carti speaks on the album again
Over a year after the XXL interview, Carti gave fans another update in a November interview with Numéro Berlin. He named three different cities he had been recording in and how the atmosphere of each shaped the music.
“I’ve been recording in Paris, I love Paris. Amazing. I was recording in a cave for like three months, and all the music that came out of that is just chaotic and crazy.”
That quote alone went viral, with fans immediately imagining Carti hanging upside down in full vampire mode, creating his next greatest hit. However, his recording studio actually had a modern and comfy look.
For fans, Carti’s ways and methods of hunkering down in the studio were reminiscent of another favorite in the rap community. “Carti going to paris kinda reminds me of ye moving to paris to seek inspiration from the art, architeture to record yeezus. i hope carti is doing the same,” Reddit user actinliketheyknowus said in a 2023 post.
“Then, I’m in a glass house, somewhere in the hills, and the music there is just very good to the ears,” said Carti. Presumably, he’s talking about recording in LA, which is known for having lavish mansions in the hills.
“And then, I’m in Atlanta and the tensions are just high and the music is biting. So, it’s the little things like that that keep me going, because I’m just trying to talk to myself,” he said. Hailing from Atlanta, Carti’s always spoken proudly about his hometown and its influence on the general hip-hop scene, so it’s no surprise that he continues to record there.
December 2023: Carti begins ‘I Am Music’ rollout
Once winter hit, Carti delivered an early Christmas surprise. He posted “I AM MUSIC” on his Instagram story on December 7th and then on his official Opium account with one word as the caption—“PREPARE.”
Adding to the excitement was rap and producing legend Pharrell Williams reposting on his Twitter.
With Pharrell being much more reliable about delivering music, fans thought that this could be something legit.
“Pharrell isn’t one of these cringe mysterious opium orbiters. If he tweets it something is Def happening. Either that or carti has achieved his final form of fuckery,” Reddit user cavestoryguy said in a December 2023 post.
Later that day, Drake’s biggest fanboy, DJ Akademiks, said that he had talked to Carti and the album would be dropping in January.
Continuing the momentum of his posts and other co-signs in the rap community, Carti released the song “Different Day” on December 8 and then shared a snippet of “EVILJ0RDAN” on the Opium Instagram page.
When it came to “Different Day,” his fanbase received it pretty positively, as some noted the changes in his lyrics and style.
“The synthy, dreamy ass beat is not banger-focused like Whole Lotta Red at all, and it’s not mind-bending in the same way Die Lit is. It’s something entirely new, that I can’t really pinpoint. And it doesn’t even sound like some of the snippets we’ve been hearing for these past few months,” Album of the Year user midnightbabe said in their review.
The rollout with a new Carti style continued with the songs “2024” and “H00DBYAIR” dropping on December 14 and 19, respectively, to more rave reviews. “H00DBYAIR” is also theorized by fans as the beginning of Carti’s “deep voice era.”
2024: The year “I AM MUSIC” (allegedly) will drop
To start the new year right, Carti dropped a collaboration with Travis Scott called “BACKR00MS” on January 1 on YouTube. The duo previously worked on “FE!N” the year before and came back together to capitalize on what fans think is Carti’s new strategy.
By posting the songs on social media platforms like Instagram and YouTube, he can increase engagement with his songs and videos and exercise more creative control. He can also test how people feel about his new sound without potentially impacting his streaming numbers on platforms like Apple Music or Spotify.
Carti went back into dark mode for a couple of months, making fans lose hope about getting the project this year. However, Carti promised the audience at Splash! Music Festival in July, “The album is coming…So it’s only right that I come here tonight and give you a world premiere.” He also performed two new songs for the crowd, “G-Wagon” and “ALL RED.”
September 2024: Carti says the album will drop before end of year
Fans (and NBA teams) are begging to see what’s next from Carti, prompted by a September Billboard story. Carti told the publication that I Am Music is coming by the end of the year, and his producer, Cardo, shared what it will sound like.
Calling it “burnt music,” Cardo said the sound has “the sonics of DJ Toomp, DJ Paul, Juicy J, The Legendary Traxster and even the aesthetic of John Carpenter’s movies as influences. ” In addition, Timberland confirmed that the album is ready.
After hearing from Carti and his team in the new interview, fans started theorizing about what categories this sound would fall into. “So is this “Burnt Music” gonna be like a mix of grunge rap and Memphis bounce?” Reddit user AdministrationFresh9 said in a September post.
We won’t know for sure until the project is released but September is proving to be a busy month for Carti.
One of his producers, Lil88, posted on X that the album is for real done this time. Days later, Carti played unreleased music for Hitta J3 and reposted J3’s tweet about the video shoot for his highly-anticipated song “ALL RED.”
Then on September 7, Carti performed a new song with The Weeknd at his show in São Paulo. Allegedly called “Timeless” the song has production credits from big names like Pharrell, Mike Dean, and Ojivolta.
There are even rumors swirling about potential collaborations with K. Dot and Destroy Lonely. However, Carti finally delivered something concrete for fans on September 12.
Carti announced a digital album (now called MUSIC) and merch box pre-sale rather than a surprise album drop (which did cause some fans to crash out).
However, he finally dropped “ALL RED” on September 13 to help soothe fans’ outrage. According to X account HipHopAllDayy, it was streamed 7.6 million times in its opening day on Spotify making it the 4th biggest debut of 2024 for a rap song. It’s also the only song from the I AM MUSIC rollout to release on streaming services.
That same day, Carti posted on IG stories, teasing that Ye is part of the new album.
For many listeners, what stood out about “ALL RED” is that it sounded strangely like another Atlanta rapper.
“A new solo Playboi Carti song has somehow yet again proven that Future with good production is the best to ever do it,” X user High_C333 said in a September 12 post.
Some believe Carti pulling a Pluto cosplay might have been intentional as a middle finger to Interscope.
Fans also thought that Carti dropped the album cover for I AM MUSIC which paid homage to Lil Wayne’s Dedication mixtapes. However, he clarified online that this was not going to be the official art.
Carti threw himself a birthday party on September 14th in New York to celebrate the recent releases and his birthday. Despite the event being shut down by the cops, he revealed that he would preview new music and still dropped a new snippet for his lit fans.
He also confirmed that a new collection from the fashion brand Pelle Pelle would accompany the album. On September 16, he dropped the official visualizer for “ALL RED.”
Fans are finally being fed by their favorite vamp rapper and can hopefully expect the full album soon. One thing is for sure though—everyone is sick of the delays and wants the MUSIC asap.
