Playboi Carti’s ‘I AM MUSIC’ Is Finally Dropping After Years Of Drawn-Out Anticipation

The wait is finally over. Playboi Carti’s third studio album, I AM MUSICis officially set to drop on Friday (March 14) after teasing it for years on end.

Though the release date was only just confirmed on Wednesday (March 12) night, the Atlanta rapper has been steadily building anticipation for the project through loose singles like “ALL RED” and “BACKR00MS,” last year’s Rolling Loud Miami, where he previewed even more new music, and a series of billboards in collaboration with Spotify.

Speaking of which, the streaming platform helped fuel the hype with a post captioned, “HAVE FAITH,” along with several billboards plastered with the words, “STREETS READY.” Over on the “@ MEH” artist’s newly wiped Instagram, he shared a video of a man shouting, “New Carti album this Friday.”

‘I AM MUSIC’ Has Been In The Making For A Long, Long Time

Though originally named NarcissistCarti’s long-awaited LP was first mentioned just a few months after 2020’s Whole Lotta Red came out. “Let’s [drop] this new album. [We] not done,” he wrote in a now-archived Instagram photo dump, according to Pitchfork.

Then, in a 2022 interview with XXLthe Grammy nominee revealed, “I was about to name my album Music because that’s where I’m at, you know what I’m saying? Music.” In the time since, Carti has spent much of his energy building up his Opium Records roster, plotting a tour (only to seemingly scrap it altogether), and doing side quests on other artists’ projects — Travis Scott’s “FE!N,” Ye’s “CARNIVAL,” and Camila Cabello’s “I LUV IT,” to name a few.

For something that’s been in the works for what feels like forever, you’d think the rollout would be bigger than a couple of billboards and an Instagram wipe. Then again, Carti is the kind of artist who doesn’t need much to send the internet into a frenzy.

Playboi Carti Will Be Touring A Few Months After ‘I AM MUSIC’ Drops

Fortunately, fans don’t have to wait to see if Carti is hitting the road. In January, his “Timeless” collaborator, The Weeknd, announced that they’d be joining forces for the “After Hours Til Dawn 2025 Stadium Tour,” which launches in May. They’ll sweep through cities like Detroit, Chicago, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Toronto, Nashville, and Miami before closing out at San Antonio’s Alamodome on Sept. 3.