Ranking Playboi Carti's Loosies From the 'I Am Music' Era

Playboi Carti might be the king of delayed gratification, the master of revealing as little as possible to stoke mad intrigue. At 29, he’s the most thrilling and inventive rapper of his generation, the deranged mascot of the “rage” genre and the man who inspired a slew of upstarts to squeak and whimper. His fans are so obsessive that they archive leaks like sacred texts and relentlessly produce fanmade songs, some of which sound so pristine and wacko that they amass tens of millions of streams. He’s so popular that he now has to fend off a cottage industry of producers making AI album versions of him. But he’s also pushed his diehards to the brink by going years without dropping after Whole Lotta Red.

The last year has been something like a rebuilding tour. Starting in December, he began teasing a mysterious new LP called I Am Music and unleashing a flurry of loosies—as well as features on massively popular hits like “CARNIVAL” and “Type Shit.” The songs run the gamut from tantalizingly whispery to upside-down-cross aggression. They don’t reveal too much about what musical direction he’s heading for, besides that he’s adopted a darkly gurgling inflection indebted to Future. The hype has become astronomical, with other stars like Pharrell helping tease the album and DJ Akademiks at one point writing that it would be “the greatest thing you ever heard.”

So, will I Am Music ever drop? Will it be baby Carti, alien Carti, evil Carti, or some unseen archetype? Or will Carti scrap the whole album and it’ll be about all the friends (tracks) we met along the way?

Here’s a ranking of all the loosies he’s dropped so far.

7. “Ketamine”

Produced By: Cardo, Ojivolta & Twisco

With guitar riffs in the background and a beat that almost attacks you once it drops, “KETAMINE” is a track that feels like it was meant to be performed. The track has arguably some of the best production in the singles run. But there’s something that feels wasted here. The track is just too short, clocking in at not even two minutes, with the last 20 seconds dedicated to the beat riding out.

If anything, “KETAMINE” doubles down on the rockstar image that Carti has fully engrossed himself in, with a video of him rocking out with his guitarist, and jumping around a bed (which apparently got him hurt?) The potential was there for this one, but it felt like an interlude that was rolled out as a single. —Rashad Alexander

6. “ALL RED”

Produced By: F1LTHY, Lukrative, Lucian, Ojivolta & Twisco.

“ALL RED” was first previewed back in May 2023, a few months before Carti officially debuted his deep voiced flow on Travis Scott’s “FE!N.” It’s a sound that could be somewhat jarring when you first hear it. But the “All Red” snippet sounded hard as fuck. And, in retrospect, it was a sign that Carti was still trying to sharpen the sound before showing it to the world.

The full version of the song finally released this month, as a lead single for I Am Music. The song is solid—particularly the beat from F1LTHY and others—but it feels a bit anticlimactic. And in its new cleaned up version, the track lost some of that raw energy the snippet had. It would have served better as the official announcement for the deep-voiced Carti era we’re in now, rather than that honor going to “FE!N.” —Rashad Alexander

5. “BACKR00MS” Feat. Travis Scott

Produced By: Cardo, Ojivolta & Duce

On the Travis Scott assisted “BACKR00MS”—Carti’s first drop of 2024—the Atlanta rapper uses a higher pitch of the new deep voice he’s playing with. It’s crazy effective. Add that to the fact Carti is giving one of his better performances as a rapper here. I wouldn’t say the rhymes are sophisticated—but detailed and clever enough you can turn them into quotables. A pretty simple line like “In the middle of the field, throw me a bomb/ I'm throwin' that bih' like a quarterback,” has basically been looping in my head since January.

Also, shout out to Cardo, Ojivolta and Duce. They created something that makes you literally feel like you’re in a backroom—a beat so menacing you’ll think you’re about to watch a Discovery ID show. —Rashad Alexander

4. “EVILJ0RDAN”

Produced By: Cardo & Johnny Juliano

When Carti teased a snippet of “EVILJ0RDAN” in December, it was just a few lyrics and a bite-size loop of a beat. Yet it was ferocious, like a pure hit of rage rap electricity.

The full song, extended over two minutes, lives up to the demonic denomination in the title—you wouldn’t want to cross this version of Jordan Carter. Over what sounds like a wake-up ringtone for insomniac imps, the rapper dances on Molly, threatens to put you in the “food chain,” and meets a girl obsessed with “Ms. Jackson.” There’s no hook and barely any sense of a verse, just a manic smear of boasts and tone-switches, from breathily high to Future-deep.

One moment, he’s bragging that he’s genre-defying; the next he’s sipping syrup and slaying opps. South Carolina DJ Swamp Izzo ratchets up the tension with baleful ad-libs like “HE’S CO-MIN!” and “CARTEEE!” Like all the best Carti songs, it’s a simple collision of vocals and galactic beats, but the effect makes you want to convulse and vault around like you’re on a limitless supply of caffeine. —Kieran Press-Reynolds

3. “UR THE MOON / DIFFERENT DAY”

Produced By: KP Beatz, Ambrezza & OUTOFAIR

A song so twinkly it inspired Lucki to buy a lamb truck. Carti’s first official solo release since his 2020 album, “DIFFERENT DAY” ended what felt like a suffocating drought. As usual, it came by surprise and via unexpected channels—his Opium Instagram account, with a full-length video (neither the song nor the clip are online anymore besides fans reuploads). Just when it seemed like Carti was done with baby-voice whimpers, he spews out a slew of fluttery vocals laced in reverb.

If Carti’s malignant persona is “EVILJ0RDAN,” then his gasping tones here turn him into a tremulous “Feeble Jordan.” KP Beatz, Ambrezza, and OUTOFAIR’s beat is sublime, a patchwork of glinting synths and drizzling percussion that mirrors the luxury of red diamonds Carti sings about. Compared to the rest of Carti’s rollout singles, it’s maybe his most subdued and reflective; he talks about going from eating leftovers to refusing to take layovers, promising his mom he could make it (he did). I can imagine someone making an hour-long extended cut of him just trilling siiiiyah, siiiiyah, siiiiyah, like a siren call from the Cartinese realm. —Kieran Press-Reynolds

2. “HOODBYAIR”

Produced By: Cardo & Onokey

Sometimes, Carti sounds extremely intentional, as if he’s in full control. Other times, though, it feels like he’s figuring things out on the fly, not fully committed to a flow, cadence, or voice. “HOODBYAIR” falls into the latter category. For this song, I’ve given Carti a new label: Rap Cypher Carti, because he’s kind of spitting his ass off here. Out of all of the loosies released over the last 12 months, this track might be his best pure rapping performance. Part of it is because he sounds like he’s in a live playground cypher, embracing Young Thug-style techniques and improvisation as he stutters, growls, and hiccups through his verses.

And while fans and critics alike categorize Carti as a rap figure more than a rapper, he can be talented in delivering lines that absolutely cause you to freeze, like when he raps, "Y'all niggas don't know how to grow up, I been an OG since I was younger. All of my friends are dead, leave 'em in the cold, put 'em in the tundra."

This song was one of the earlier releases amongst the Carti onslaught. And it wouldn’t surprise me if it becomes the centerpiece of I Am Music. Or, just another song lost in the YouTube ether. You never know with this guy. —Dimas Sanfiorenzo

1. “2024”

Produced By: Kanye West, Earl on the Beat & Ojivolta

“2024” floated in like an aural spa session to rejuvenate your ears from the Whole Lotta Red rage rampage. It’s all cute taunts and hushed threats. Slurred flexes fly over maybe the prettiest beat he’s used since the “Pissy Pamper” era. Ojivolta, Earlonthebeat, and Kanye West chopped and pitched-up vocals from Yeo’s barely-known 2012 synth-pop song “Jacob’s Ladder” into what’s basically an angelic choir, with little lilts and tumbling drones that flash between synths and bass. In the video, Carti dances around a gas station and parking lots. “2024 music, oh, oh,” he cries at one point, swaggering around a compound with a private jet.

At a moment when the nonstop, algorithm-charged conveyor belt of albums and singles makes time blur into an amorphous marsh of new releases, Carti’s callout to “2024” was a refreshing demarcation, a signal that the vibes were about to shift. A future became visible on the horizon again. More than anything else, the tune felt like a tantalizing teaser: He’s about to take off. —Kieran Press-Reynolds