6.9.26 - Bar Prep Day 2 + Why I like Whole Lotta Red by Playboi Carti
Yesterday I started my bar prep. On day one all I achieved was opening Barbri and going through a few foundations videos. So about 40 minutes. I call that a win.
The hardest part is starting. The next hardest part is regularity. I'm going to use this period to get into something like a routine, and my writing to the skitzo website on my skitzo interface will be part of that.
Been listening to a lot of music as of late--have a backlog of things my friends have shown me. And I have my own shared playlist I started in January with friends dedicated to not becoming "unc" where we put only new shyt on it.
A point of contention between my friends and I (and between me and the girlfriend) is whether Whole Lotta Red by Playboi Carti is better than/even in the same league as his first two albums.
Now to be clear, I fucking love his self titled album, and Die Lit of course. Those albums define the sound of early college. But that's the thing, for me those albums are nostalgia more than anything. They are mentally in the same space as Culture 1 and Mo Bamba. I'm not saying they are of similar quality, but its in that vaguely "background of the frat function" sound. Or perhaps even more pejoratively, playing on the flatscreen while guys are oozed out in the living room.
Again, this does not reflect the quality of the songs. But its just the settings I heard the songs in, and what they made themselves amenable to. I love the song River of Dreams by Billy Joel, but its a grocery store song now. "Yah Mean" and "Flex" just sounds like high dudes hanging out. "Magnolia" sounds like a darty.
I think "Die Lit" is a bit higher energy throughout, and as a result just feels more "lit" and doesn't recede into the background in the same way. If you hear the beginning of "Love Hurts" at the function it will make an impact (the gold standard for me on a hip hop song from this era making an impact at the function with its first notes is "Just Wanna Rock" by Uzi of course).
Anyways, his first two albums are just incredible. But I don't think it put Carti into the rockstar category in my mind. To me, they're equivalent to Kanye's College Dropout and Late Registration. GOAT albums, but if Kanye's discography stayed in that space he'd be like Childish Gambino or something in the cultural memory. You needed Graduation and 808s to make him into something legendary.
To me, Whole Lotta Red does that. Whole Lotta Red is Carti's Yeezus. (With that analogy, I guess "ILoveUIHateU is the Bound2 of the album. It sounds like something that could be from his first album. Lets you know he's still got the ability to give you what you want, but he's choosing not to.) It's not as easy of a listen, it demands attention immediately. Its got a more "Staccato" feel to it where I think his earlier work feels more "Legato." You can't throw it on the bluetooth speaker and chill on the couch with people. It's not very good driving music unless you're drunk or heading to the gym on preworkout.
If anyone can't tell, I'm a Kanye dickrider. So my favorite song on the album, of course, is Go2DaMoon, which might have one of the funniest Kanye opening cameos:
She ugly hot, like a chick that call you to borrow Five hunnid, then promise she gon' pay you back tomorrow Then left with a scammer with a Gucci hat from Marshalls Slept with him, then woke up, saw his watch was a Fossil
Finally, I also just like Carti's whole vibe during this era and following. I like the makeup. I like of all of it. Mkes him a rockstar in my mind.
There's this moment in the Donda2 livestream (2.22.22) where Carti and Burberry Erry showed up during "Off the Grid," when the audio starts getting all fucked up, and Carti is just walking around in the water screaming with his spiky haired friend going NUTs and I've decided that's my whole vibe, that's my politics. Everything falling apart around you (Fivio cannot match the beat for the life of him), participating in what's clearly the downswing of a great thing, other people can't hold it together. They're trying to make it work but they can't. But you're there wth your boys so you're just screaming.
You can't fix the world but you can walk around in the flood, screaming, dancing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jH_hzkBGfNg&list=RDjH_hzkBGfNg&start_radio=1
Cheers,
knxnts