Did Playboi Carti destroy music?: Professor Skye Reviews "Whole Lotta Red" 

wlr is such a great album. i already liked carti, but this one has made me a fan.

long time Carti fan here. this album is fucking amazing.

Playboi Carti is one artist that pushes the extremities of what people consider "mumble trap". Feels like Carti took a cue from Yeezus (Kanye exec produced this album) moreso than 100 Gecs from many songs from the first half like Rockstar Made, Stop Breathing, and On That Time!.

As a playboi carti fan who loved the album it’s interesting to see the perspective of someone who knows nothing about him or his music. Fair review

Carti only had Future, Kid Cudi and Ye as features because he considers them his 3 biggest inspirations. Travis Scott was going to be a 4th feature but Carti took him off because he only wanted to have his absolute biggest idols rapping with him

“Is this a joke” there are tons of old rock albums where this question applies even in 2020. I don’t dismiss simplistic music like that unless it’s overproduced in the studio. Playboi carti and lil uzi are rockstars man... they don’t go for shock value, they are actually listening to slayer and other rock bands and emulating it in the form of trap music.

Carti was trying to go in a different direction, trying to progress as an artist. And it completely works.

help me. i havent stopped listening this album from the day of the release... in the car, on my bed, with my girlfriend... it doesnt matter . REGGIEE CARTTER REGGGIE!!!

I think WLR has notable flaws but I'm not disappointed at all because of how enjoyable and out-there it is. Die Lit established carti as a visionary to me so it's exciting to know hes not getting comfortable and is continuing to experiment

I initially hated the album, but it really grew on me. As a carti fan, this album was initially a disappointment, but once I stopped expecting Die Lit 2.0, I came to realize how good the album is. I still enjoy Die Lit more, but I’m glad that carti is growing as an artist, expanding his sound, and setting trends which are likely going to be expanded on in the future by other artists.

Thanks for the genuine reaction. Thought I was the only one that enjoyed the album (:

It’s incredible how well skye predicts how people will feel about an album 6 months later

That’s “He got a Mop” post it got me 💀

"A successful attempt to destroy music." Only 8 minutes in and as a standalone sentence thats hilarious. Pretty interesting takes as always Professor.

In all the reviews I have seen on YT for Whole Lotta Red, this has to be one of the most profound breakdowns if not the best! Thank you so much for this review.

26:35 i do think it is true! tbh, even more so regarding his earlier work (2018 and 2019). Playboi Carti is dadaist poet. Listen to "Cancun". To day, for me, this the best example of how he can break down language. The words lose their meaning, if they ever had any. But just the way he makes every word SOUND is sooo good and impressive, I think he is incredibly artistic and I think he totally knows what he is doing!

This was a pretty surprising release for me. Die Lit cane out in 2018 and that album is pure trap bliss, it has a carefree attitude and is very pleasant on the ears (listen to tracks “Shoota” or “fell in luv”). This on the other hand is extremely discordant, and messy. You make many great points throughout this, and while i do prefer die lit, i can appreciate the progression that carti went through. This does, like you said, feel like the culmination of many styles of music from the past 60 years.

HE GOT A MOPP!

Dude. You hit everything right on the head! Hilarious seeing someone this removed from the scene interpret all of this. Your insights are great. PLEASE try out After Hours from The Weeknd. Ykno the Blinding Lights guy. Very dope album for deeper analysis

this video of him just dissecting wlr just mesmerized me. Never thought of it this way but now i like it even more, and yes, it is very different. I love this professor guy, just subscribed

Skye this such a fantastic take, I personally loved the album on release date (Christmas day) I was so excited to hear such an abrasive yet innovative take on something familiar yet so out of this world. His incredible energy and vocal inflections on these booming almost "video gamey" beats were some of the infections ideas I've heard in a long time. It's so much fun, this album feels like it is the freest music can be.

My first Carti album and it's stunning, I LOVED IT IMMEDIATELY

I think you hit the nail on the head regarding WLR, admittedly I became a huge Carti fan after Die Lit and expected WLR to be an evolution of that sound with more “Baby Voice” Carti which initially led to me being dissapoinyed. instead we got a quantum leap forward into the punk ethos/aesthetic he barely flirted with on Die Lit.I fucking love this album now

I’ve never listened to playboi carti but you’ve made me very excited to listen to this record

I feel like calling this anti music implies that music has rules. To me art is just about expressing a feeling and u certainly can feel his energy on this. And as a rap fan I just gravitate to the production style. So to me it’s a valid expression of a feeling w dope beats

i think the concept of intellectualising WLR is so fucking funny and the fact that you put so much time and effort into doing exactly that is genuinely amazing i love this vide0

you know when i first clicked on this vid, i was like, he’s probably gonna slander the album given that it was released on Jan 2 of 2021, but as fan who fell in love with WLR on christmas eve, seeing this perspective, is so eye opening, whole lotta red aged so well it truly is musical masterpiece after a year later, its one of the very few trap albums that we’ve got in the past 4 years that has fully immersed itself in the aesthetic and on top of it the music is boundary breaking, WLR always leaves me speechless even after a full year, that first “Wake up Filthy” still gets me.

Just discovered your channel a few days ago, it appears your son must have done a complete 180 on this album! I watched your concert review first so I was surprised to hear he didn't enjoy Whole Lotta Red on the initial release.

Your better than fantano

hey dude this is awesome that you don’t do negative reviews! also your family must be crazy if they can’t believe this can’t even be not ironic! i love th album so much!!

I was really surprised at the reception of this. On first listen, I loved it more than his more acclaimed "Die Lit".

watching this after watching your thoughts on the rochester concert def interesting to hear u talk about that kind of embracement of devilish culture

The new Carti fans hate it.. the ones from tik tok. As an old Carti fan I like it & im sure the old fans like it as well.

One of the funniest side affects of this album is that people now somewhat unanimously consider Die Lit a classic, now that it's not as divisive or experimental in comparison lmao

Man, thank you for much for this Review. I appreciate this Album a lot more. This perspective is valuable.

This might be the BEST review i seen , u amazing, this will age very well

My favorite album to drop in the last 4 years.

wlr is so polarizing that it’s amazing like as some one who loves punk rock and ambient soundscapes. Carti puts it all together with the qualities of trap auto tune and mystique. Review an album by JPEGMAFIA that would be awesome !!

I was one of "them" who hated this album so much but I gave it another chance and now it's my favorite album ever 🔥🔥🔥

30:30 btw die4guy is about his brother who passed, he " Regy carter....i would die for my brotha "

Carti is a artist that knows he is capitalizing on the clichés and quirks of its genre, but he will NEVER refuses FOLLOW simple-minded standards to bring is something MOREEE

Aged like fine wine 🍷 🧛🏿‍♀️

Really would love for you to review his last album and debut mixtape, Die Lit and Playboi Carti respectively, it's very different from WLR but its still Carti

One of my favorite reviews of yours! Keep em coming and I'll keep auditing!

i didn't realize you had a review of this, i love it. you should've seen my face when you said f1lthy makes better beats than pierre... damn

First time watching your video, highly impressed by the analysis by one of my favorite artist. Good choice of words and articulation. Got a Sub! 👍🏾

Glad to see your review, to be honest, most people just hated it for the iggy drama which i don't really know anything, but music wise, i was excited as fuck since i just discovered carti like 2 months ago and loved it and the mario juda drama just hyped this more for me, when this dropped i loved some tracks but even for carti standars it was weird, i just couldn't figure out what was going on and couldn't really decide if i liked it or not, and still can't decide, loved the kanye mention bit in control, but then music starts and i just get lost, can't agree more with you, keep up the good work.

definitely listen to his first project self-titled and his most popular album Die Lit ! very trippy trap and big energy. and less screaming lol

I love the post it note on the back all I can think of when I’m looking at it is “Post-It wit my brotha, he got a mop” get it?? Bc it’s a post it note and he says posted 😂😂 haha I’m so witty

also i think you would find the new Fax Gang album quite interesting, it was released in january 1st and its called "Aethernet"

man everytime i come back to ur videos im always so infatuated with what u have to say. i spend most my time on youtube just half listening to stuff in the background while i play games but i love taking in everything u have to say with music. its amazing how well you can break down left field artists like carti and bladee and see why they have such a cult following

The vocals and adlibs is especially is what caught everyone’s eye💯

This is almost a year later, and considering how it has aged, and how many people are using this style of minimalistic experimental hip hop, not only is it extremely enjoyable, I believe in the next years it will prove itself to be pretty influential

I'd really like to see you review …Because I’m Young Arrogant and Hate Everything You Stand For by Machine Girl. After seeing this review and your reviews on artists such as 100 Gecs and Arca, a review on Machine Girl would be equally as interesting.

I was never a Carti fan until this album. Pure embodiment of punk

I’ve always liked Carti, but WLR put him in my top 5. AOTY

“He got a mop” 😂😂

It's an album that grows on you. a really unique style you can't get anywhere else. i really hope his next album will be just as ground-breaking. it's more of an album you just vibe out with not listen for amazing lyrics(although those aren't so bad either for what it is). its experimental, but good. The way he uses adlibs and vocal inflections on the album is insane. He effortlessly rides the beat and gets the vibe across. People switched real hard when he started performing it and they re-listened. You just have to have the modern generation's mindset when listening to music. I say it's a 9/10 but a few songs feel like they were randomly thrown in there. They're not bad, but not amazing. The album is genre-shifting and has great influence on other rappers. I respect Carti for doing what he wants instead of being 'normal'.

enjoyed your perspective on this, definitely subscribing! Personally I love the album lol call me crazy

Dude ur commentary is fire I can’t wait to see you make more videos

You are good at capturing the essence of albums. Good review! Positive feedback: Edit some fat off these videos to make them a bit shorter and more potent

I hated it at first because i mistaked it weird abrasive off beat production, with Underpolished, though it doesnt have much meaning to the lyrics even for Carti but it does embrace more amthospere and expermention than Any Carti project before, theere are a few stupid songs like Vamp Anthem sure but none are boring and The best songs like Sky are magnetiftic and perfect overall solid ass album, im gonna give it a 8/10

This is just a bigger more blown out version of his other work. The verses are even more disjointed, the hooks shouted in place of verses at times. This is an even louder version of the last album, it also did not have any of the songs fans anticipated from the sessions, due to them leaking. It's definitely going to be looked at in a fonder light after the hype dies down.

What really helps is not listening for lyrics or their meaning just thinking of the voice as an instrument and feeling the album instead of trying to tear it apart

Sir, I think you are correct about the sky and over song having the same synth, there is a video I saw where someone in the studio says he recorded another song first before Scott

I think Cancun is def one of his best songs of all time. Based on feel and simplicity.

Awesome and wholesome review. Nice catch on the sky chords being reversed on over. The first few listens of the album my only issue was with the track sequencing but when you start paying more attention you notice a lot of thematic and sonical links between the tracks. Definitely a lot of intention behind it, it's not a mixtape like most rap albums usually are today

best review by far

professor skye can you please do some retrospectives on frank ocean please, id definitely LOVE and enjoy what you'd have to say about his works

Started listening, but couldn't finish it, because it made me think of my nephew who lived a dark "gangster" life and got shot last month. He was only 30 years old. This artist made me think of him. I think he would have liked this music. Yes, I agree. Rap can be a death cult. My nephew lived it, and thus this music comes too close to my experience to enjoy.

This album to me as a mild Carti fan is not amazing but not terrible. I feel like there are just too many tracks that just don't do it for me. I've always loved Carti's ad-libs but he sort held off on that and used that energy to go completely insane of the primary vocals. My favorite track personally was Vamp Anthem, I just love that horror sample, it's a beat that could be so universal in Hip-Hop, anyone from MF Doom (RIP) or like Eminem (in the early 2000s) could have a lot of fun with that beat. And the fact that Vamp Anthem is less than 2 minutes doesn't bother me because that track just hits so hard to me. In a way it reminds me of 100 Gecs' song "Stupid Horse" that fuses a more traditional almost "classical/folk" sound of Polka with weird glitchy techno trap production.

Playboi Carti is NOT trying to be bad! He was active, changing his sound, making older "soundcloud rap" mingling with A$AP Mob, Awful Records, and more underground to eventually mainstream artists (see his solange knowls and tyler the creator features from 2019) and producers long before 100gecs (they also have a background on the platform soundcloud, known for it's overcompressed lossy nature)- listen to some of playboi's work from 2014 (see "luh Da Feeling feat. slug christ)! On this album he taps the most cutting edge producers from these subcultures. He's selective about the features (only legacy rap), he's tapping into cyclical structure, overcompressed sound- reflects the platforms which he grew big on. His fans leaked extremely low quality rips of his music, only one of those leaks making onto this album "NEON," surprising the fans. Clearly reflecting drug use, ecstacy and euphoria are what the music is meant to emphasize. I could go on for days. I love this album and was not disappointed as a long time fan of this artist. I think there is meaning to alot of the bars that carry weight for me. I think the aesthetic that he chose with his music is purposeful, the deconstructed nature (simple loops, sure, but the timbre of the samples is extremely unique in every song, the bass occupies different spaces each track) of his older most popular songs multiplied by copycat producers and fans trying to emulate that feeling. Sorry for rambling, but I'm not a professor, and editing was never my favorite thing to do in school. Enjoyed your video - @GBMystical everywhere

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE review his other 2 albums

No girlfriend on this planet gave you as many chances as I gave WLR

when i first heard WLR i instantly knew it was my favorite carti album. but i had the exact same reaction others had with it when i first heard die lit, completely hated it but it randomly just clicked. i believe the most important thing in music is being creative/original and carti and the producers were 100% that for WLR. the production on that album was unlike anything ive ever heard before and it genuinely blew my mind

A friend recommended this album to me and I hadn't heard any of his music beforehand but I loved it. Equal parts goofy and badass in my eyes and the beats are great. Maybe the emo raps being hinted at at the end and only a couple vampire references reinforce your theory that this album is destroying music. It was enough to get you a little frustrated even though you like it otherwise so maybe it worked lol

Unc really saw the plot

We turned me into a fan

As always, a very interesting and articulate review!

Loved this review!! Props for taking on the challenge

I don’t usually enjoy reviews, but this one was amazing

HE GOT A MOP !!!

Nah bro as a big carti fan I don’t think hip hops a death cult like homie is just depressed he has so many songs where he’s singing about how sad he is like Buffy the body “smoking all this dope by myself I’m alone” and also like I got where he says “I’m so addicted to drugs” about 30 times in a row same with juice world I love him too because he kept it real bout how he felt but sadly these boys only kno how to cope w their emotions w drugs

What an impressive review 👏

The album took long to make because a lot of the tracks leaked in 2019 so he scrapped it a bunch of times and he apparently made 15 versions of the album.

there's more good songs than bad songs, so i like it! also i agree- why do people get so up in arms when an artist takes a while between albums? take your time!

you should listen to hyperpop people like glaive, Kurtains, Ericdoa, p4rkr or juno. I know. Quite a lot of people but im sure you'll be able to choose wisely

I second the 645AR recommendation, from what i've heard its also pretty anti-music.

I love that this review is like, "this album is terrible, unlistenable and crazy, 10/10" 😂😂😂😂, great review by the way

I hated this album when it came out, nowadays its my favorite playboi carti album to date

Weird to see this one. But glad it exists haha

Wow, halfway through the review I listened to the first few tracks of the album and I just had to stop. It might be the worst thing I've ever heard and while I am not able to appreciate it the same way Professor Skye can that is something. Some amateur recordings I heard are technically worse but there was something to appreciate like being funny bad or made by friends when we were teenagers. This isn't funny bad, it's just aggravating. It actually pisses me off now that Carti is successful but I know that that's stupid. If people connect to him, who am I to tell them they're wrong? Well, it's another thing I'll just have to live with and I think I'll manage.

This album grew on me a lotttt and I was a pretty big carti fan before but thought it was kinda trash at first. I definitely liked a few songs but a lot of it just sounded like he was trying too hard and doing too much especially on Stop Breathing which is now one of my favorite songs by him. Basically why a lot of people didn’t like it at first is because they thought he just took the sound of his previous album then went crazy and jacked it up too much to where it wasn’t enjoyable. It seems the general consensus has changed a lot for wlr and many fans like it better then his older work now. Listen to the song R.I.P from Die Lit, it’s a great example of how he took the vibe of that album and just cranked it up till he broke music.

Does that bit about thinking of the best albums of the year mean we might get a yearly favorites video!!!?

Please review the new Moor Mother album, I think you’d find it super interesting!

The space in ILoveUIHateU is Pi'erre Bourne's trademark. Didn't like Die Lit much but I did like how spacey his beats were on that album. It's unique.

First part aged well

Hey I’ve just begun to watch your channel and I really appreciate how you break down an album and try and come at it as unbiased as possible. Therefore I think you would enjoy doing an MF Doom review, one of underground hip hop’s true legends and to honor him as an artist due to his early passing which happens a couple days ago. If you don’t that’s fine but I just think you would enjoy his work.

2ND BEST REVIEW OF THIS ALBUM.

It’s funny how you say “Jackson Pollock could have painted a flower if he wanted to” because Carti’s very early raps were very technical and well though out like on his song Holyfield