After years (and years) of waiting, Playboi Carti finally dropped his third studio album, MUSIC, on March 14. The project secured the rapper’s second No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 and he became the first rapper to have all 30 songs from an album debut on the Hot 100.
While he basks in the success of his long-awaited project, frequent collaborator DJ Swamp Izzo says the rapper won’t be waiting another 5 years to release his next project—enter the BABY BOI era.
It’s time for the BABY BOI era
Featured on a dozen tracks on the new project as a hypeman, Izzo has been able to study Carti and his approach to music for years now.
“I judge every artist by how much they study hip-hop. [Young] Thug studied it more, so he can input more ideas. Same with Carti… Carti listens to Wu-Tang. He’s attuned. He’s paying attention. You can’t tell,” he said in an interview with Complex.
The samples on MUSIC are from literally everywhere, from “LIKE WEEZY” sampling ATL rap group Rich Kidz’s 2010 track “Bend Over,” NBA YoungBoy’s 2019 track “Carter Son“ being heard on “PHILLY,” to even the guitars off of Ashanti’s 2004 song “Only U“ being featured on “COCAINE NOSE.”
Izzo says a typical studio session with the vamp rapper depends on his current vibe.
“Every studio session is not the same because he rents out the building. So it’s a bunch of rooms. So you might have one room where there’s just a bunch of clothes. He’s just vibing that day. So the vibe that day is he’s trying on clothes, and he’s just styling. You might get in a studio setting, and there just be like bags of money everywhere … It’s never a plan…” he said.
Working on the album until literally the last second, Izzo was both excited and stressed.
“I knew it was going to change the world. But you got to think, we still in there fighting over a hundred songs trying to get it down to 24, 25. Still couldn’t do it. It was already 24, 25 at midnight. It was locked. Something happened behind the [scenes] that he was like, ‘let’s go back in.’ So the song selection started changing. What you heard, the final, was a whole different shuffle. Because he’s still storming in his mind, he’s still creating,” he said.
Now with MUSIC in the rearview, Izzo confirmed that BABY BOI (the next album Carti has been teasing) is both ready and done.
“[It’s] new music. He got over 50, 60 songs done. Completed to his liking? I couldn’t say. But they’re done. If I was still in that mixtape era, we’d have BABY BOI one through nine. Fifteen years ago, we were so heartfelt on them exclusives. We couldn’t even sleep until we put it out before everybody,” he said.
To be realistic, it will probably be a while before fans finally get this project in their hands. Nevertheless, there’s no harm in dreaming.
