Don’t play with Carti, man. I really thought he had nowhere to go after Whole Lotta Red. Took me four album cycles but I’ve finally realised you can always trust him to be lengths ahead of the pack creatively. Carti, whose voice has been squeaked-up, guttural sludge, weightless and breezy, and a staccato dagger at irregular intervals since 2017, has, in the space of two singles, just pivoted from being Future to… Carti? Seven years, and this is what Carti really sounds like? “Ever since I was a jit, knew I was the shit”. It sounds so natural that it’s not just a flex, it’s a celebration. You can hear the real Carti so clearly that you can even picture him behind the mic, grinning because he’s rapping about he wanted all along. “I put my son in some Rick”. I don’t know if I could name another rapper, singer, anyone who could reinvent their art simply by sounding like themself. But that’s full circle, right? Surely Carti’s reaching the limits of his innovation? Where do you go once you’re finally honest? I can’t wait to find out.

81

Sam Gollings

10 October 2024