The mixtape's music blends stylistic and production elements from hip hop scenes beyond Playboi Carti's Atlanta roots,particularly drawing from Southern influences. Its production showcases atmospheric soundscapes,laid-back beats,and chopped and screwed choruses. The lyrics explore themes of excess and moral decay,including promiscuity and drug culture,delivered with a confident,melodic flow.
The mixtape was promoted with three singles –"Lookin","Wokeuplikethis" and "Magnolia",the third peaking at number 29 on the US Billboard Hot 100,which garnered Playboi Carti's mainstream attention. The mixtape debuted at number 12 on the US Billboard 200,with 28,000 album-equivalent units earned in its first week,of which 21,000 were streaming units and 7,000 were pure album sales. Playboi Carti received favorable reviews from critics,who praised its innovative production and Carti's delivery. It was featured on several year-end top album lists by critics and publications;being named as one of the best albums of that year by multiple publications.
Background
The mixtape was initially revealed through Carti's ex-manager,Ian Connor,who took to Instagram on April 12,2015,where the caption states:"Carti The Mixtape Coming Soon".[5] A year later on April 18,2016,Fredo Santana's ex-intern Kenny Chosen made a slight nod towards the mixtape release on Instagram.[6] In an article by Hypebeast from January 2017,it was stated that the mixtape was supposed to be concevied in the first quarter of the year. Carti commented on the state of the mixtape,where he says:[7]
I just want niggas to look at it and say,‘If this young nigga from Atlanta can do this,so can I.‘[…] I want everybody to get money. My new mixtape is going to show niggas this is the way.
On February 3,2017,Carti officially took took to X to offficially announce that he was releasing music soon.[8] Three weeks later,he officially announced that the mixtape was going to be conceived on March 3,2017,he further announced this news through a show in Chicago.[9] On March 11,2017,Carti shared the first unofficial draft of the mixtape artwork,created by Carti himself.[10] On April 13,2017,Carti took to his social medias to reveal the official artwork for the mixtape.[11]
Singles
Two singles were released prior to the mixtape's release. These included "Lookin",which featured Lil Uzi Vert,released on March 9,2017,and "Wokeuplikethis",which also featured Lil Uzi Vert,which released on March 10,2017. The singles "Magnolia" and "Let It Go" was released on April 14,2017,prior the mixtape's release.
A music video was released for "Magnolia" on July 10,2017. It was directed by Hidji Films and features cameo appearance from the song's producer Pi'erre Bourne,as well as cameo appearances from Southside,ASAP Rocky,Slim Jxmmi,A Boogie wit da Hoodie,Don Q,Nav,Casanova,Smooky Margielaa,Squidnice and Cash,one of the XO members. It has amassed over 200 million views as of January 2025.[12]
A music video was released for "Wokeuplikethis" on August 9,2017. The music video features Lil Uzi Vert,and has amassed 100 million views as of January 2025.[13]
A music video for "New Choppa" was released on August 31,2017. It features ASAP Rocky,and has amassed over 30 million views as of January 2025.[14]
Recording and production
Playboi Carti recorded much of the mixtape between 2016 and early 2017,working primarily with producer Pi'erre Bourne,whose futuristic and bouncy beats became a defining element of the project.[15] Sessions took place in Los Angeles,Atlanta,and New York,with Carti focusing on a spontaneous recording process—often freestyling entire songs rather than writing lyrics in advance.[16]
Pi'erre Bourne,who had been gaining recognition for his work with underground artists,became instrumental in shaping Carti’s sound. His production,characterized by spacey synths,looping melodies,and hard-hitting 808s,complemented Carti’s freewheeling approach to rapping.[16] Other producers,such as Southside,Jake One,and Harry Fraud,also contributed beats,but Bourne’s style became the foundation of the project.[17]
Pi'erre Bourne explained that Carti’s recording process for the mixtape was focused on capturing raw,spontaneous energy. Carti often recorded songs quickly,sometimes in a single take,to preserve the organic,unpolished feel of the music. Bourne highlighted that the process was more about feeling and vibe than meticulous planning.[16][15]
The mixtape received positive reviews from critics. In a positive review,Jon Caramanica of The New York Times called the project "erratic,sometimes transfixingly so",stating that "Playboi Carti's album takes hip-hop's ad-lib era to its logical extreme —everything sounds like an ad-lib,even the main lyrics".[23] In a more negative review,HipHopDX critic Narshima Chintaluri described the record as "simply a glorified beat tape with ad-libs",stating Carti "need[s] to further develop his songwriting in order to maintain this allure alongside his more successful contemporaries".[19]
Brian Duricy of PopMatters described the record as "the sonic equivalent of the stereotypical laissez-faire worker who breezes through presentations on sheer personality alone",stating that "over the production,however,you're not getting particularly much".[20]Pitchfork's Briana Younger wrote that "Playboi Carti feels like a break from life,the soundtrack to a mindless good time," and adding that "Carti is tactful in discerning where and when he can get away with letting the instrumental ride and when he needs to rise to the occasion".[1] The single "Magnolia" was awarded Best New Track by Pitchfork.[24]
Accolades
The mixtape appeared on 2017 year-end album lists by publications such as Fact,[25]Pitchfork,[26] and Tiny Mix Tapes.[27] John Twells of Fact stated that the project "adeptly taps into a widespread youthful malaise and the genre-fluid playlist culture that has come to dominate rap's mainstream [...] Sad and restless but also party-ready,Playboi Carti doesn't need political rambling or conscious posturing to get its message across".[28] Corrigan B of Tiny Mix Tapes wrote that "of everything that 2017 promised about rap's future,Playboi Carti felt the most like a real path forward,a crystallization of the SoundCloud underground's zeitgeist in a format built to transcend the scene's messy adolescence".[27]
Playboi Carti debuted at number 12 on the US Billboard 200,with 28,000 album-equivalent units,of which 21,000 were streaming units and 7,000 were pure album sales.[33] As of September 2017,the mixtape has moved over 367,000 units.[34] The mixtape was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on January 10,2018,for sales over 500,000 units.[35] Later on February 28,2020,the mixtape was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Track listing
Credits adapted from the album's liner notes[36] and ASCAP.[37]
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