“Whole Lotta Waiting”: Playboi Carti’s 2025 Album Is Finally Here and the Reviews Are In
After years of anticipation, Playboi Carti has released his new album, Music. Some fans call it a banger, while others have mixed opinions.
By D.M.March 18 2025, Published 1:33 a.m. ET
The Breakdown: Playboi Carti’s long-awaited album I Am Music finally dropped, delivering a 30-track project packed with high-profile features.
Playboi Carti has finally blessed his fans with his long-awaited album, I Am Music, which dropped on March 14. The 30-track project marks his first studio release since Whole Lotta Red in 2020, and it's packed with high-profile collaborations featuring Travis Scott, The Weeknd, Skepta, Future, Kendrick Lamar, Lil Uzi Vert, Ty Dolla $ign, and Young Thug.
The journey to I Am Music has been a rollercoaster. Initially teased back in March 2021 under the title Narcissist, the album faced multiple delays and title changes, keeping fans on their toes. Carti kept the anticipation alive with sporadic releases and teasers, but the full project never dropped,r until now.
Here’s a look at Carti’s new album.
When is Playboi Carti dropping his 2025 album? 'I Am Music' has arrived.
Carti’s I Am Music is finally here, and it’s already making waves. Notably, the track "Good Credit" features Kendrick Lamar. In it, K-Dot delivers sharp verses addressing contemporary issues and name-drops NBA star Luka Dončić.
“The numbers is nothing, the money is nothing, I really been him, I promise / Say Kenny been heavy out West and I carry the weight, n***a, I'm Luka Dončić,” Kendrick raps.
To coincide with the album's debut, Carti is set to headline Rolling Loud California 2025. The festival will feature Carti performing tracks from Music, alongside other headliners like A$AP Rocky and Peso Pluma.
The album's release has elicited a spectrum of reactions from fans and critics alike. While many celebrate Carti's innovative approach and the project's ambitious scope, others express frustration over the prolonged wait.
“I’m [not going to lie] there's gonna be two sides, people saying it's awful and his worst, and then people who say it's the greatest thing to touch earth and the best album ever created,” one person tweeted, while another wrote, “Carti fans waiting 5 years just to hear 30 identical f1lthy type beats with ai generated deadbeat father vocals over it.”
Playboi Carti’s 2025 album set the internet ablaze — how many streams does 'I Am Music' have?
Carti’s album drop has folks talking heavy, and Ye wasn’t about to stay quiet. On March 14, Ye – formerly Kanye West – hopped on X to air out his thoughts on Kendrick's verse on Carti’s project.
“I DON’T LIKE KENDRICK LAMAR’S MUSIC,” Ye tweeted (per Complex). “HE RAPS VERY GOOD BUT I DIDN’T NEED TO HEAR HIM ON CARTI ALBUM.”
The statement comes just a month after Ye praised Lamar. During his interview with Justin LaBoy on The Download, Ye called Lamar the only rapper who could beat him in a battle.
“If you rap against Kendrick, you will lose,” Ye said. “This man does this. You know, in Street Fighter, you get Chun-Li, you get a certain kick, and no matter what, you can’t beat that thing?”
Despite the shade from Ye and some hip-hop fans, Carti’s album is breaking records. In its first 24 hours, I Am Music racked up over 139 million streams on Spotify, marking the biggest streaming debut of 2025 and securing the seventh-highest streaming debut on the platform of all time. Music is poised to be one of the defining hip-hop albums of 2025.
