Re-review: PC2 - Whole Lotta Red

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PC2 - Whole Lotta Red

Release Date: 12/25/2020

Label: AWGE/Interscope

Length: 24 tracks, 1h3m

Background: hello everyone and welcome back to another one of my creatively desolate and boring reviews of an album that you have not only heard, but have seen me review before. as time has passed since the release of this album, i have kept it in rotation for the simple fact that after such a long wait i felt like i needed to get something out of it. at this point, i feel i have; my opinions on many of the tracks have changed, some pretty significantly. whole lotta red for me, like many others, was this mythical project that eluded release for so long and when it finally came out, it was not only not what i was expecting but also not what i hoped for. over the past few months, i have tried to see this album for what it is, rather than what i wanted it to be, and in this re-review are my (final) thoughts on it.

Tracks:

1. Rockstar Made

- in the context of me having relistened to this album several times since my initial review of it, the song now sounds and plays much better to me. i have become a bit more of a fan of F1LTHY's production on this album, and i enjoy the production here which definitely turned me off of this song initially. i appreciate that it's bold, and it grabs your attention the way that an intro track should in my mind. it also introduces the new sound that carti went with on this album, which i've come to like more over time. still don't love the raspy voice but it's not as unappealing as it was when i first heard the album or when i reviewed it.

original rating: 4/10
updated rating: 6.5/10

2. Go2DaMoon (feat. Kanye West)

- this track will never be as fulfilling as i want it to be, and my feelings on it really haven't changed much. i enjoy the contributions from both kanye and carti here, but i also feel as if the structure of the song does it absolutely no justice. i also find myself wanting more from both artists, carti in particular. kanye and carti are without a doubt two of my favorite artists, and although i like the idea of this song a lot, i feel the place kanye is in right now didn't lend well to him fitting in on this track or album. really like the instrumental, but this song came off as kanye (feat. carti) more than the other way around.

original rating: 5/10
updated rating: 6/10

3. Stop Breathing

- still not a huge fan of this track. my main critique on the original release was that i didn't like the production, and that's not totally true anymore. i don't dislike it as much, but it's my least favorite track that F1LTHY produced on the album. i didn't really find the song to be as catchy as i look for carti's songs to be, and that was the main pitfall here. still feel pretty much the same about the vocals as i did when i initially reviewed the song, but the production sounds better to be now than it did before.

initial rating: 5.5/10
updated rating: 6.5/10

4. Beno!

- still catchy, still fun, still better than @meh. 808 mafia did a really good job of creating a fun, catchy vibe here. carti's vocals are pretty good the whole track, and it feels much more cohesive and well put together than it did the first few listens. i like this track significantly better than i initally did.

original rating: 6/10
updated rating: 8/10

5. JumpOutTheHouse

- still think the repetition was overdone here, but the production and vocal inflection sound much better. i still don't really like this song very much and i don't listen to it either, but i do think it sounds better than it did on release. there's nothing so glaringly horrendous about it that i can say it's worthless, but at the same time it's still not very good. i definitely gave it too low of a score the first time around, but the rating only went up so much because i was too hard on it the first time.

original rating: 3/10
updated rating: 5/10

6. M3tamorphasis (feat. Kid Cudi)

- i still think this song is pretty good, but i was into it for the cudi feature more than anything initially. don't find myself coming back to it as much as i thought it would, mainly because this song has no business being as long as it is given what it is. i was definitely a little too high on this song, and it fell out of rotation really fast which was disappointing. if it was a minute, maybe a minute and a half shorter i think it would be better.

original rating: 7/10
updated rating: 6/10

7. Slay3r

- i still like this song. it's one of the more unique songs on the album which i appreciate, but it's not overblown or overdone like M3tamorphasis is. my feelings haven't changed on it much, if at all really.

original rating: 7/10
updated rating: 7/10

8. No Sl33p

- still don't really like this song very much. i think the production sounds better a few months after release than it did when the album dropped, and the chorus plays the same way for me. still not a fan of the verses, but definitely not as bad as the score that i initially gave.

original rating: 4/10
updated rating: 5/10

9. New Tank

- you know what, after listening to this song practically a million times it sounds better than it did. i think the issue i had with this song was that i listened to it sitting down in my room, in front of my laptop, and trying to apply serious logic to why i did or didn't like it. i overthought it. after listening to it while i worked out, i definitely like it more now than i did.

original rating: 5/10
updated rating: 8/10

10. Teen X (feat. Future)

- i'm not even gonna bullshit you, this song is still trash to me. i didn't like it, i don't like it, and i honestly can't see myself genuinely enjoying it in the future. did it deserve a zero the first time? no. i see this song in the same sort of way that i see JOTH, that i was too hard on it and i gave it too low of a rating in regards to what i actually think of it. it's still not good, but it's also not a zero.

original rating: 0/10
updated rating: 5/10

11. Meh

- i think i was a far too high on this song originally. idk what the lead on this song is but it kinda sounds like a xylophone and it got stale really fast. carti definitely has a point with what he says on the chorus, but outside of that i really don't enjoy it much anymore for any reason whatsoever.

original rating: 7/10
updated rating: 5.5/10

12. Vamp Anthem

- the sample flip here is still cool, and i don't think i gave this song quite enough credit the first time around. i'm pretty sure i deducted a half point just for the fact that he calls himself a vampire on this song, and i've come to get over the little intro that shows you where the organs are sampled from. honestly this ended up being a pretty decent song in the end.

original rating: 6.5/10
updated rating: 7.5/10


13. New N3on

- definitely jumped the gun on this one. before i relistened to the album prior to the first review i believe i had this song listed as a 10. either way, i definitely still listen to this song a decent amount just because it was one of the first carti leaks that i ever heard and i had (and still do have) quite a bit of nostalgia for it. it's still a very good song, but i had blinders on when i reviewed this song no doubt.

original rating: 9/10
updated rating: 7.5/10

14. Control

- i still think the akademiks intro on this song sucks and i don't think i'm alone in that. the production on this song still sounds really good and i listen to it whenever it comes on shuffle. it has a good amount of replay value if you cut the intro off, but i think it takes away from the value of the song a good amount because it's pretty long and i just don't want to listen to it all the time.

original rating: 8/10
updated rating: 7/10

15. Punk Monk

- i still really don't like this song at all. it sounds like a slightly more pop-ish instrumental from The Fame by Lady Gaga but instead of Lady Gaga, you have carti talking about how he's the king of the vampires and it just doesn't fit at all. cringe the first time, cringe the first review, and cringe now. generally i have gotten over the vampire shit when he just references it but this is just too much for one track imo.

original rating: 4.5/10
updated rating: 4.5/10

16. On That Time

- this was the most forgettable song on the album for me. i completely forgot what it sounded like until i relistened to make this re-review. not horrible but it's just another song that comes off as filler that i'll never listen to again.

original rating: 6.5/10
updated rating: 5.5/10

17. King Vamp

- really don't like this as much as i did initially. as much as i've gotten past the vampire thing, it's really just not something i found to be musically appealing over time. it has no replay value to me and i just feel like there's something more that could've been done with this song to make it better. it clearly has potential, like much of the rest of the album, but at the same time it falls short sonically and it leaves me wishing it didn't feel so rushed.

original rating: 7.5/10
updated rating: 5/10

18. Place

- definitely gave this song too high of a rating the first time around just because i was waiting on it for so long. the pause on the intro is still there a few months after release and that kinda makes the song feel lazy to me, despite the fact that it has become a meme in and of itself. this song is barely 2 minutes long, which sucks because it sounds good so i wish it was longer.

original rating: 9/10
updated rating: 7.5/10

19. Sky

- this is probably the only song i've had no change in opinion on out of all 24 tracks. went hard the first time i heard it, went hard at the time of the first review, and still goes hard now. i said in my original review that this song would be in rotation for me for quite a while and it still is, and it looks like it's going to be for the forseeable future.

original rating: 9.5/10
updated rating: 9.5/10

20. Over

- i originally thought this song was interesting because of the comparisons to long time from die lit. it's still a decent listen but the nostalgia it gave me for long time has faded and i really don't listen to the song much at all at this point.

original rating: 7/10
updated rating: 6.5/10

21. ILoveUIHateU

- this song kinda fits into the same place that place does, what's there is good but it's definitely too short for my liking and that's made me listen to it less and less over time.

original rating: 9/10
updated rating: 8/10

22. Die4Guy

- i don't listen to this song very much at this point, but it's one of the better songs on the album. i think i was searching really hard for some saving grace towards the end of this album and that's part of why i overrated this song. i wanted to love this album so bad that i started justifying things that i didn't like on these tracks towards the end. listenable? yes. does it have replay value? not much.

original rating: 8.5/10
updated rating: 6.5/10

23. Not PLaying

- i really enjoy the instrumental to this song and i find the vocal cadence to be catchy and the inflection to be easy to listen to. the song as a whole does sound kinda gimmicky at times and it lost a bit of its novelty, but other than that i still do listen to it somewhat regularly.

original rating: 8/10
updated rating: 7.5/10

24. F33l Lik3 Dyin

- vocals on this track sound pretty bad to me now, they've definitely come to sound worse since release. the sample is cool and the instrumental is still great but the song has fallen out of rotation almost entirely. listenable but not all that i cracked it up to be initially.

original rating: 8/10
updated rating: 6.5/10

afterthoughts:
i definitely jumped the gun in making big claims about this album. it hadn't been out long enough for me to fully digest it, and on top of this i don't think that i listened to it the right way. i do most of my reviews in my room, at my desk with my headphones on and try to really digest the music. that was my biggest mistake with this album. some songs got better over the couple of months, some songs got worse, and a few stayed the same. my overall feelings about this album haven't changed too much; i still think it was lacking in the execution department quite a bit. i still see a sonic divide between the first and second half of the album, but my preference for the second half has tailed off in that same breath. i have come to appreciate this album more by listening to it the way it was meant to be listened to instead of analyzing every line and aspect of the beat with a microscope. of course playboi carti's music isn't going to hold up to criticism when you're looking at lyrics and details because that was never the point to begin with. this album is more about the vibe and the feeling that the songs bring; it's not meant to connect with you on a deeper level outside of the songs fitting feelings that you may have. it's not meant to touch your heart or to be relatable, it's meant to create moods and feelings that are tailored towards performance and a concert setting. it is far better fit for that purpose than to be this extensively complex work of art that's packed with technicality and social commentary. whole lotta red was never mean to be looked at under a microscope, it was meant to be played and enjoyed on a larger scale. until that is a reality, it will be impossible to truly get a gauge of just how good (or bad) this album really is. at this point, i still don't feel that i've had a proper opportunity to form an opinion on the album in the context in which it was created to be played, and i won't until carti tours for it and i get to experience it in the way that he meant for it to be enjoyed. i hate to make this anticlimactic, but generally i don't enjoy the album much more than i did to begin with; the difference is that i have come to enjoy some songs that i didn't like initially more by listening to them in a different setting and come to enjoy others that i did initially enjoy less because the novelty and hype has worn off. like i said, i don't think anyone can truly call this album one way or the other until it has been experienced in a concert setting, but given that i've now had more than a few weeks to digest it i can say that i have taken it in and that i have a more thorough experience with it. my biggest general complaints about the album at this point are that most of the songs come off as filler, and that it feels rushed in the context of when it was released in reference to when the album was announced. the initial score that i gave was a 6, and i haven't come to see this album as a masterpiece since. i have, however, come to enjoy it more as i've had the opportunity to listen to it in different places and at different times. the general experience i've had with that has helped me to appreciate the album a bit more, and for that i am going to give the album an updated (and final) rating of 7/10.
 
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3. Stop Breathing
- i have a feeling that this song will be used more for memes than anything else. some of the bars in here aren't horrible, and this was the first time that i thought that carti's vocals did a track justice. i really didn't like anything F1LTHY did on this album and this song is not an exception, the bass is fucking obnoxious and it makes the song harder to listen to than it already is. the punk aesthetic really shined through on the latter half of this track, and i think the most important lyric here was the mf doom namedrop. unfortunately it ended up being very relevant, but the song was still bland. best song so far but definitely not good.
5.5/10

This, along with the Teen X takes are possibly some of the worst things I've read on this site since someone described in excruciating detail their sexual fantasy of Lil Uzi Vert dancing naked on a stripper pole while singing a censored version of XO.
 
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This, along with the Teen X takes are possibly some of the worst things I've read on this site since someone described in excruciating detail their sexual fantasy of Lil Uzi Vert dancing naked on a stripper pole while singing a censored version of XO.
great bro that's your opinion
 
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15. Punk Monk
- this song was really disappointing because it just felt like more of the same, but it wasn't as bad as some other songs that won't be named but might be the intro and the tenth songs. it just came off like filler to me, which was my biggest fear when i got news that the album was going to be really long. it is what it is.
4.5/10
:/ :dash:
 
Idc what u say this album would have been thousand times better if it was 5 songs long and that’s facts
 
Album is perfect aside from cudi/Kanye features, and Go2damoon not bein longer.

can’t believe u have Teen X a 0, smhhh. I ran that mf back like 10 times before I got to the next track. Need a whole album like that.
 
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