The hip-hop community has been waiting and speculating on Playboi Carti‘s forthcoming sophomore album Whole Lotta Red since August 2018, when the rapper revealed the project’s title in a recording. For almost two years now, the album has managed to remain both elusive and yet frustratingly accessible, as leak-after-leak has plagued the otherwise tight-lipped Carti. Now the rapper has once again resurrected hope that the album release is imminent.
In a series of leaks, interviews and performances, Carti has revealed details as fluidly has he negates them, leaving an uncertain catalogue of information and rumors circulating about the project. To give some much-needed clarity, here’s a rundown of everything we know so far about Playboi Carti’s Whole Lotta Red.
‘Whole Lotta Red’ release date
Playboi Carti got the release rumors going again this week, sharing the official cover art of the album. People in the rappers camp are also hinting at an imminent release date. Lil Uzi Vert sparked hopes that Carti’s new material was coming soon when he posted a since-deleted tweet simply saying “Playboy Carti :).”
Ken Carson, a member of Carti’s OPIUM label also took to Instagram shortly after the art was revealed, simply writing “Thursday,” in a since-deleted Instagram story, alluding that Whole Lotta Red would be arriving on April 16. Carti himself has not confirmed or denied the release date.
Perhaps we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves, Carti has been hinting at an imminent release date for the better part of a year. Last July he announced at a show that the album was arriving in “the next 60 days.” And most recently in October 2019, he posted a photo to Instagram with the caption reading “red incoming.”
‘Whole Lotta Red’ album artwork
Carti took to Instagram today to reveal an official album artwork, assumed to be Whole Lotta Red‘s — although red is absent from the artwork, opting for blue instead.
Carti’s affliction with leaks has even veered into the territory of cover art. Last year a reported cover for Whole Lotta Red surfaced online. The illustrated image featured Carti’s distorted face on a red background, with the words “it’s a whole lotta red” plaster on top in a simple Arial font.
‘Whole Lotta Red’ tracklist
Over the last year a number of Carti tracks have leaked online. It’s not yet known whether leaked tracks “Minute Maid,” “Butterfly Pill,” “T Shit,” “A and L,” “Hulk,” “Shortie N Luv”, “Red on Red” and the most recent “Buff the Body” will appear on Whole Lotta Red.
It appears these leaked tracks were originally planned for the album. Ben Dandridge-Lemco, who interviewed Carti for the Fader, tweeted last August that “More than half of the songs that Carti played me in April for WLR have leaked since then.”
‘Whole Lotta Red’ potential collaborators
In his the Fader interview, Carti listed producers Pi’erre Bourn, Maaly Raw, Richie Souf, his engineer Roark, and Don Cannon as collaborators. In the same article Dandridge-Lemco also cited features from Gunna and Trippie Redd.
Drake then sparked rumors that he might feature with a cryptic Instagram caption reading “Nobody: Me: Somebody play Whole Lotta Red.”
However, it seems Carti changed his tune shortly after. While onstage on July 28, Carti told fans the album would have no features, saying “I ain’t gon’ lie. It feel like we worked too hard for this moment. So, I’ma do this shit with no features.”