On the night that began Christmas of 2020, Whole Lotta Red dropped.

The former gained favorability in the trap genre due to its minimalist and at times ethereal beats, as well as its infectious hooks. It wasn't too dissimilar to the SoundCloud rap of its day and age, clearly taking influences from Yung Lean, Chief Keef, and Lil Uzi Vert (the latter even having an extensive history with Carti). However, this was exactly the problem with Carti's first self-titled album. Critics deemed it "mindless," and I can't say I disagree. The beats aren't odd enough to be genre-pushing, and the lyrics are generic at best.

Die Lit, however, was a very different story.

To this day, Die Lit is argued to be Playboi Carti's seminal masterpiece. It's not a lyrically or instrumentally deep album; rather, it's the exact opposite, and that's also the reason why it's brilliant. It's trap minimalism at its minimalist. The album immediately hits you with "Long Time - Intro," a song with an instrumental and sawtooth synth that one can only call "numb." The second song, "R.I.P.," is repetitive in the best way possible, hitting you in the face with its pounding 808's, raging plucks, and a heavily-autotuned Carti profoundly stating lines about "thrash[ing] that bitch" and "smash[ing] that bitch."

Die Lit was also the debut of Carti's "baby voice," a vocal inflection where Playboi Carti raps in a higher-pitched tone of voice, similar to a baby. Paired with the right vocal effects, the result is a hypnotic yet infectious voice, just like the beats themselves.

The album continues to be a relentless near-experimental dive into how minimal Carti can take trap. It's almost brilliant in its simplicity.

And then...nothing.

Carti announced his next album not long after the release of Die Lit; only three months, in fact! However, due to a multitude of leaks and presumably label issues, and not to mention Carti's near-cryptic activities when it came to giving updates, Whole Lotta Red ended up releasing over two years after Die Lit.

And, to me, it was brilliant. Despite the outrage mob calling it "trash," I think Whole Lotta Red not only pushes Carti's trap minimalism to new heights, but I also think it's a turning point in trap music as a whole. The album is hardcore trap punk, and it's brilliant. This is a critical analysis why:

From just looking at the cover art alone, Whole Lotta Red oozes punk influences. The cover is a reference to Slash Magazine, a late 70's punk magazine. In his lyrics, Carti straight up name drops punk and metal bands such as Black Flag and Slayer, as well as references to goth culture and vampire imagery. Carti's concerts include roadies and stage extras that look like characters straight out of Repo Man. Even in his merch, Carti includes dark gothic iconography.

Instrumentally, a lot of tracks even sound punk and/or gothic. The lead synths in song like Rockstar Made, New Tank, and Die4Guy have a distinct guitar-like sound to them. Furthermore, songs like the aforementioned New Tank and Stop Breathing include heavily distorted basses not dissimilar to screamo-trap artists like the late XXXTENTACION and Scarlxrd. Vamp Anthem samples "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor," a song associated with vampires. There are even crunkcore/hyperpop influences, as seen in the "quirky" instrumental on King Vamp and the "Snuggle Bunny type beat" of Teen X, the latter includes the "baby voice" at a near extreme.

However, make no mistake: Whole Lotta Red is not "punk trap." In actuality, it's the other way around: it's "trap punk." Where acts like Lil Peep and Scarlxrd could be considered "punk trap," punk/emo within the context of trap/rap, Playboi Carti's Whole Lotta Red is trap within the context of punk. By embracing the essentials of early punk, Carti has recreated punk better than anyone else. It's more punk than most punk "revivals" today. It's punk translated to a new genre, and it's brilliant because of it. The entire album has a "fuck it all" attitude and never lets up. It's not unlike early punk's rejection of musical norms. Its dedication to hardcore intense minimalism pays off.

Even though the album is relentless, the album is not afraid to slow down and open its heart. Songs like Punk Monk, Control, Over, and F33l Lik3 Dyin show Carti's more personal side. Punk Monk is Carti venting about his label and his struggles with trust. Control feels like this album's equivalent to Die Lit's "Fell in Luv," but taken to a Porter Robinson-type pop extreme. Over, originally labelled by fans as "Long Time 2" when it was teased close to the album's release, feels like an off-the-cuff breakup letter, with Carti venting his confused emotions and reminiscing on his lost love. F33l Lik3 Dyin includes an autotune-heavy Carti wailing over a strangely un-punk yet effectively heartfelt beat, a beat that sounds more like Kanye than Carti.

Overall, the album is a mix of emotions showing Carti's many sides and emotions. It's truly an epic scale for a trap album to do this, even going beyond other efforts such as Travis Scott's Rodeo. It's an album that feels massive in scale yet minimalist in pure attitude.

Whole Lotta Red is a trap punk masterpiece. It's relentless and minimalist, but open and honest. Every facet of it is brilliant and every small detail is near perfection. I cannot recommend this album enough, but if you understand it, you'll understand it.

"Rockstar shit like I'm Jimmy Hendriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiix"