Playboi Carti: Whole Lotta Red

by Declan Bohner

Jordan Carter, better known by his stage name Playboi Carti’s long-awaited third album, Whole Lotta Red, presents a distinct departure from his previous music collection. Carti’s once electronic sound found on his last two albums has been morphed into a fusion of punk, classical, and hip hop to present a new form of Playboi Carti. Littered throughout the album are such hits as Stop Breathing, Teen X, and Sky. These songs specifically showcase a more braggadocious Playboi Carti. Featuring lyrics such as:

I told my boy, “Go roll like ten blunts for me” 

I told my boy, “Go roll like ten blunts for me”

I’m tryna get high ’til I can’t feel nothin’ 

I’m tryna get high ’til I can’t feel nothin’

While these lyrics find themselves fully invested in a rather hedonistic lifestyle, there is an underlying theme of regret or trauma.

Familiar with controversy, Playboi Carti has been embroiled in legal issues throughout most of his career, notably for his 2023 alleged assault of his pregnant girlfriend and his 2018 assault on a limo driver. Growing up in the neighborhood of Riverdale in Atlanta, Playboi Carti was around drugs and violence throughout most of his life. This environment soon cultivated Carti into a young member of the gang, the Bloods, by the time he was in high school. 

A product of his environment, Playboi Carti, who once had dreams of becoming an NBA star, was involved in crime that would take the lives of many of his friends and even his brother: 

Ever since my brother died

Ever since my brother died 

I’ve been thinkin’ ’bout homicide 

I’ve been thinkin’ ’bout homicide 

While this lyricism is direct and not concerning itself with metaphor, it still paints a pungent picture of the feelings he has towards his brother’s murder. Coupled with his own violent tendencies and the trauma of his childhood, the lyric, “I’m tryna get high ’til I can’t feel nothin’” shapes itself from a hedonistic want into a traumatized need. Playboi Carti is running from his past.

Playboi Carti while known as gothic for his clothing and setpieces finds himself ironically gothic due to the haunting of his past. Throughout the album, Whole Lotta Red, there is a distinct transition from Carti’s hedonism into his longing for love and to be accepted despite his wrongdoings. 

The album starts out with the line:

Never too much 

Never too much 

Never too much 

Never too much

A repeated lyric relishing in the current excess of Playboi Carti’s success. Nothing is ever too much whether it be money, drugs, or woman. At first, it seems like Carti has once again created an album in which he relinquishes emotional vulnerability in order to promote his own brand of self. Despite this, as the album continues there are distinct departures from the lush life Carti tries to present for himself:

I only want the best for you 

I cure your love like a doctor

Tell me what you want me to do 

Tell me what you want me to do 

I can wear a business suit and speak proper

Playboi Carti hopes to escape his past of abuse in order to find love, but much like most gothic texts, his past perpetually haunts him and attempts to prevent him from escaping what he has done. Much like in Sanctuary, Popeye and Playboi Carti are similar in many ways. Both Carti and Popeye were raised in traumatic environments which plagued them
with a moral compass that was skewed. While Popeye’s crime is certainly worse than Carti’s, there is still a central theme of violence against women. The main distinction I would make however is that there is a strong reason to believe that Carti regrets his violence and has made attempts to better himself for the people around him. This can be found on Carti’s song, ILoveUIHateU:

I mix all of my problems and Prometh’ until I roll on my death bed 

Don’t get close, uh, baby, don’t get too close 

Don’t get close, yea

In this we can see Carti’s regrets showing themselves through drug use and his own want to push away those he feels he might hurt. His own want to run away from his past and live a life full of pleasure is one that intertwines quite well with the gothic. 

Throughout his album, Whole Lotta Red, Playboi Carti transcends his lavish lifestyle to explore his past and the trauma that affects him and molded him into the man he is today.