Playboi Carti Made the Most Nostalgic Rap Album of 2025

One can only imagine the pressure Playboi Carti must have been feeling.

Four and a half years after releasing Whole Lotta Red—probably the most beloved, influential rap album of the 21st century—he finally said “fuck it” and dropped MUSIC (formerly I Am Music), a sprawling 30-track odyssey into the mind of one of trap’s true contemporary visionaries. 

The early response—at least among Carti fans—has been overwhelmingly positive, with supporters appreciating the range of Carti archetypes featured. But of course, there are critiques: it's too long and scattershot, lacking cohesion. Did he even bother mixing this thing? And what's with all the random sound effects—snare rolls, gunshots, and shouts from legendary Atlanta DJ Swamp Izzo?

But these critiques miss the point. “Lack of cohesion” is just an odd complaint for an artist like Carti, whose strength lies in his boundless energy. I’m not coming to a Carti album for a linear narrative or a polished throughline. The messiness is part of the seduction. 

For all the talk about Carti and his malleable voice and expansive soundscapes being ahead of the curve—for him being the "Back to the Future…alien…beep, beep, beep, beep Extraterrestrial Carti"—what truly makes MUSIC a worthy follow-up to Whole Lotta Red is the way it taps into that nostalgic feeling of listening to 2010s street mixtapes. Despite Carti's influence over Gen Z, he's technically a millennial—or at 29, more like a cusp?—who grew up immersed in the rap music of the late 2000s and early 2010s, when the streets of Atlanta laid the blueprint for the rest of rap.

Swamp Izzo's mixtape energy

It’s early, but MUSIC is shaping up to be the most nostalgic rap album of 2025, and the album is at its best when Carti uses those influences to fuel his creativity. Which brings us back to Izzo. I was initially dismayed by the confusion surrounding his role on the album, but he’s awesome here—at times, even lowkey stealing the spotlight, acting as a Mickey Goldmill-like hypeman for Carti. He appears on about a third of the tracks, making him feel like a collaborator as much as a hypeman. The obvious comparison is the role DJ Drama played on Tyler, the Creator’s Call Me If You Get Lost. But, I would argue, Izzo’s contribution is even more successful here because Carti’s often unstructured, stop-and-go flow aligns better with the experimental style found on classic mixtapes.

Their fusion works best on “MUNYUN,” which, uncoincidentally, also happens to be the highlight of the album. The song captures the true essence of why Carti is great: he somehow recreates the experience of being outside. The track is lush—sampling the ‘60s soul record “Lay My Head on Your Shoulder” by Bill Robinson and the Quails—but distorted and full of bass, giving it the feeling of something you’d hear blasting from a car on a hot Atlanta day. Carti is talking motivational cash shit—“Came a long way, still can't believe I made Forbes.” But Izzo’s drops are key to the track’s energy—the laughs, the random spurts of “Carti,” Izzo just just chanting his name back to back, the “you are rocking with the flyest nigga on planet Earth” ad-lib. It’s an incredible two minute stretch. 

In many ways, MUSIC is at its best when it embraces its references and rewards the older millennial rap fan—again, ironic when you consider the space Carti holds in hip-hop. There’s an awesome guitar flip from Ashanti’s 2004 track “Only U” on “COCAINE NOISE;” a remake of SpaceGhostPurrp’s street classic “Fuck Taylor Gang” on “CRANK;” a homage to Bankroll Fresh on “WALK;” and a sped-up version of Rich Kidz’s classic “Bend Over”—probably the most 2010-sounding track ever—on “LIKE WEEZY.”

Lil Wayne's influence on the I AM MUSIC era

And, speaking of Weezy, there's the undeniable influence of Lil Wayne, whose shadow looms large over the album. It’s not just in the opening of “LIKE WEEZY,” where Carti raps about having a two-tone AP like Wayne did. The entire I AM MUSIC era seems to have inspired the project, with Wayne’s name literally etched on his face and the phrase also used as the title of his greatest hits compilation. 

The album features an ad-lib that sounds like Wayne saying "Carti’s world" on “RADAR” (unclear if it's actually Wayne, Carti, or AI?). Meanwhile, “BACKD00R” shares a sample with Lil Wayne’s lost cut “Red Rum.” It's not just the album itself; the "Wayne-ness" is felt throughout the lead-up. Last year, fans speculated that an image paying homage to Dedication 3 would serve as the cover for MUSIC. Plus, the visual motifs of the rollout evolved, with Carti distancing himself from the goth-inspired rage aesthetic and leaning into a more streetwear-inspired look, wearing Pelle Pelles, backwards NBA jerseys, and durags. When putting this whole era into context, it’s worth noting that Tha Carter 3 was probably the last time we saw such anticipation LIKE THIS for an album.

MUSIC isn’t perfect. But that’s not really the point. There is no Illmatic equivalent of a mixtape, which, at its peak, was a medium meant to foster innovation and experimentation, whether with flows or as a testing ground for rapping over unconventional instrumental choices. This is how Carti uses MUSIC. The low points on the album, in my opinion, are when the shine and polish are too apparent. I'm talking about tracks like “WAKE UP FILTHY,” “TWIN TRIM,” with Lil Uzi Vert and the lifeless “RATHER LIE” with The Weeknd. But similar to classic mixtapes of the 2010s, the album shouldn't be judged on consistency but by its heights (and if they overshadow the lows).

It’s odd at first, but it makes sense when you think about it. If Whole Lotta Red helped chart a new path for a certain sub-section of rap, then wouldn’t it make sense for the highly anticipated follow-up to look back?