Die Lit is the debut studio album by American rapper Playboi Carti. It was released through AWGE and Interscope Records on May 11, 2018. The album consists of 19 tracks and features a wide range of guest appearances from artists including Skepta, Travis Scott, Lil Uzi Vert, Pi'erre Bourne, Nicki Minaj, Bryson Tiller, Chief Keef, Gunna, Red Coldhearted, Young Thug, and Young Nudy. Production was executively handled by Pi'erre Bourne, alongside several other record producers, including Don Cannon, IndigoChildRick, Maaly Raw, Art Dealer and Playboi Carti himself. The album serves as a follow-up to his debut self-titled mixtape (2017).

Die Lit
Studio album by
ReleasedMay 11, 2018 (2018-05-11)
Recorded2017–2018
StudioMeans Street (Atlanta)
Genre
Length57:39
Label
Producer
Playboi Carti chronology
Playboi Carti
(2017)
Die Lit
(2018)
Whole Lotta Red
(2020)

Die Lit received generally positive reviews, with critics praising its appeal and production. Although Die Lit was marketed with no radio play or much press coverage, it was a commercial success and was positively reviewed by several publications. It debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200, with 61,000 album-equivalent units earned in its first week, and has been certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The album was supported by the promotional single "Love Hurts" (featuring Travis Scott), released on May 2, 2018, exclusively on SoundCloud.

Background and release

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In December 2017, a video showed Playboi Carti behind a mixing board, presumably listening to new material with the caption "Album Mode".[2] In March 2018, Pi'erre Bourne teased that the project had been finalized via Twitter.[3][4] On May 2, 2018, Carti released "Love Hurts", featuring American rapper Travis Scott, as a promotional single for the album, being released exclusively on SoundCloud.[5][6] On May 10, 2018, Carti announced the album's release date via Twitter.[3] On the same day, ASAP Rocky revealed the album's artwork.[7] Upon release, the album was briefly released exclusively via Tidal, before showing up on other streaming services.[8]

Critical reception

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Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic71/100[9]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [10]
Exclaim!6/10[11]
Highsnobiety4.0/5[12]
HipHopDX3.0/5[13]
HotNewHipHop79%[14]
Pitchfork8.5/10[15]
Spectrum Culture     [16]
Sputnikmusic3.8/5[17]
Tiny Mix Tapes4/5[18]

Die Lit was met with generally positive reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an average score of 71, based on seven reviews.[9]

Evan Rytlewski of Pitchfork stated that Die Lit is "an album that works almost completely from its own lunatic script. It is a perversely infectious sugar high, rap that fundamentally recalibrates the brain's reward centers", praising the production and simplicity.[15] Corrigan B of Tiny Mix Tapes said, "Like its predecessor, it's an album of party records; these are songs that will be played ad infinitum at functions until the hooks, the breaks, and, of course, the bass are burned into the brain of every attendee".[18] Maxwell Cavaseno of HotNewHipHop concluded that Die Lit "feels like the closest to a fully realized album as Carti is ever going to come close to achieving" and that it "should, at the very least, be respected for doing so much while doing so very little".[14] Online publication Sputnikmusic stated: "A lot of the gratification of this record is in the production, which takes the age-old hip-hop trick of taking a fractional melodic idea, barely a song by itself, and spinning out of it a thick sonic weave."[17]

A. Harmony from Exclaim! criticized the album for having a lack of variety, saying "It's fun enough but, save for a few keepers, has the lifespan of a mayfly. Rock to it for the summer and forget most of it by September".[11] Riley Wallace of HipHopDX stated, "Through a more respectable body of work—is unlikely to win over any naysayers".[13] Neil Z. Yeung of AllMusic said, "Like Rae Sremmurd and Migos, these big-bass trap anthems owe much to their club-friendly vibe, but offer little in terms of substance or lasting impact".[10]

Year-end lists

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Select year-end rankings of Die Lit
Publication List Rank Ref.
Complex 50 Best Albums of 2018
45
Fact The 50 Best Albums of 2018
35
Highsnobiety The 25 Best Albums of 2018
17
Noisey Noisey's 100 Best Albums of 2018
23
Pitchfork The 50 Best Albums of 2018
25
Spin 51 Best Albums of 2018
18

Commercial performance

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Die Lit debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200 chart, earning 61,000 album-equivalent units (including 5,000 copies as pure album sales) in its first week.[25] On July 31, 2019, the album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for combined sales and streams in excess of 500,000 units in the United States.[26] As of January 2021, the album has earned 1.1 million album-equivalent units and net 1.67 billion on-demand streams for its tracks.[27]

Track listing

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All tracks written by Jordan Carter and Jordan Jenks, and produced by Pi'erre Bourne, except where noted.[28]

Die Lit track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Long Time (Intro)"
  • Carter
  • Jung Cho
Art Dealer3:31
2."R.I.P." 3:12
3."Lean 4 Real" (featuring Skepta)
IndigoChildRick2:57
4."Old Money"  2:15
5."Love Hurts" (featuring Travis Scott)
3:00
6."Shoota" (featuring Lil Uzi Vert)Maaly Raw2:33
7."Right Now" (featuring Pi'erre Bourne)  3:27
8."Poke It Out" (with Nicki Minaj)
 4:29
9."Home (KOD)"  2:42
10."Fell in Luv" (featuring Bryson Tiller) 3:26
11."Foreign"  2:22
12."Pull Up"  3:36
13."Mileage" (featuring Chief Keef)
 2:29
14."FlatBed Freestyle"  3:13
15."No Time" (featuring Gunna)
3:39
16."Middle of the Summer" (featuring Red Coldhearted)
  • Carter
  • Dashia Aaron
  • Jenks
 2:17
17."Choppa Won't Miss" (featuring Young Thug)
 3:37
18."R.I.P. Fredo (Notice Me)" (featuring Young Nudy) 2:41
19."Top" (featuring Pi'erre Bourne)
  • Carter
  • Cameron Pitts
  • Jenks
 2:13
Total length:57:39

Notes

  • ^[a] signifies an uncredited co-producer

Sample credits

Charts

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Certifications

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Certifications for Die Lit
Region Certification Certified units/sales
Poland (ZPAV)[45] Platinum 20,000
United Kingdom (BPI)[46] Gold 100,000
United States (RIAA)[26] Gold 500,000

Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

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  1. ^ Aguilar, Nelson (November 12, 2018). "If Mumble Rap Is The New Impressionism, Playboi Carti Is Monet". HotNewHipHop. Archived from the original on January 8, 2019. Retrieved January 8, 2019.
  2. ^ Espinoza, Joshua (December 8, 2017). "Playboi Carti Has Locked Into 'Album Mode'". Complex. Archived from the original on May 11, 2018. Retrieved May 11, 2018.
  3. ^ a b Coleman II, C. Vernon (May 11, 2018). "Playboi Carti Surprises Fans With Debut Album 'Die Lit'". XXL. Archived from the original on May 11, 2018. Retrieved May 11, 2018.
  4. ^ Espinoza, Joshua (March 31, 2018). "Playboi Carti's Debut Album Is Reportedly Finished". Complex. Archived from the original on May 11, 2018. Retrieved May 11, 2018.
  5. ^ Boykins, Austin (May 2, 2018). "Playboi Carti & Travis Scott Unleash "Love Hurts"". Hypebeast. Retrieved November 2, 2023.
  6. ^ Cowen, Trace William (May 2, 2018). "Travis Scott Joins Playboi Carti for New Song "Love Hurts"". Complex. Retrieved November 2, 2023.
  7. ^ Issa MVP (May 11, 2018). "Playboi Carti – Die Lit [Album Stream]". OnSMASH. Archived from the original on May 11, 2018. Retrieved May 11, 2018.
  8. ^ Hughes, Josiah (May 10, 2018). "Playboi Carti Drops Surprise Album 'Die Lit'". Exclaim!. Archived from the original on May 11, 2018. Retrieved May 11, 2018.
  9. ^ a b "Die Lit by Playboi Carti Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved June 10, 2018.
  10. ^ a b Yeung, Neil Z. "Die Lit – Playboi Carti". AllMusic. Archived from the original on July 14, 2018. Retrieved July 14, 2018.
  11. ^ a b Harmony, A. (May 23, 2018). "Playboi Carti: Die Lit". Exclaim!. Archived from the original on May 25, 2018. Retrieved May 24, 2018.
  12. ^ Boyer, Jake (May 16, 2018). "Playboi Carti's 'Die Lit' Is Rap at Its Most Radiant". Highsnobiety. Archived from the original on May 24, 2020. Retrieved May 19, 2018.
  13. ^ a b Wallace, Riley (May 24, 2018). "Review: Playboi Carti's "Die Lit" Rages & Crashes Hard". HipHopDX. Archived from the original on May 27, 2018. Retrieved May 20, 2018.
  14. ^ a b Cavaseno, Maxwell (May 15, 2018). "Playboi Carti 'Die Lit' Review". HotNewHipHop. Archived from the original on May 20, 2018. Retrieved May 19, 2018.
  15. ^ a b Rytlewski, Evan (May 16, 2018). "Playboi Carti: Die Lit". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on May 20, 2018. Retrieved May 19, 2018.
  16. ^ Miyauchi, Ryo (May 20, 2018). "Playboi Carti: Die Lit". Spectrum Culture. Archived from the original on August 6, 2019. Retrieved August 5, 2019.
  17. ^ a b robertsona (May 21, 2018). "Review: Playboi Carti – Die Lit". Sputnikmusic. Archived from the original on June 20, 2018. Retrieved June 20, 2018.
  18. ^ a b B, Corrigan. "Playboi Carti – Die Lit". Tiny Mix Tapes. Archived from the original on March 27, 2019. Retrieved January 5, 2019.
  19. ^ "50 Best Albums of 2018". Complex. December 5, 2018. Archived from the original on December 6, 2018. Retrieved December 5, 2018.
  20. ^ "The 50 best albums of 2018". Fact. December 13, 2018. Archived from the original on December 20, 2019. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
  21. ^ "The 25 Best Albums of 2018". Highsnobiety. December 19, 2018. Archived from the original on May 24, 2020. Retrieved December 20, 2018.
  22. ^ "Noisey's 100 Best Albums of 2018". Noisey. December 4, 2018. Archived from the original on December 6, 2018. Retrieved December 5, 2018.
  23. ^ "The 50 Best Albums of 2018". Pitchfork. December 11, 2018. Archived from the original on December 11, 2018. Retrieved December 11, 2018.
  24. ^ "51 Best Albums of 2018: Staff Picks". Spin. December 12, 2018. Archived from the original on January 27, 2020. Retrieved December 13, 2018.
  25. ^ a b Caulfield, Keith (May 20, 2018). "Post Malone's 'Beerbongs & Bentleys' Nets Third Straight Week at No. 1 on Billboard 200". Billboard. Archived from the original on May 22, 2018. Retrieved May 21, 2018.
  26. ^ a b "American album certifications – Playboi Carti – Die Lit". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved July 31, 2019.
  27. ^ Caulfield, Keith (January 3, 2021). "Playboi Carti Lands First No. 1 Album on Billboard 200 Chart With 'Whole Lotta Red'". Billboard. Retrieved January 12, 2021.
  28. ^ "Credits / Die Lit / Playboi Carti". Tidal. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
  29. ^ Pierre, Alphonse (May 14, 2018). "Playboi Carti's 'Die Lit' Is Great, You're Just Old". Noisey. Archived from the original on May 15, 2018. Retrieved May 14, 2018.
  30. ^ Fisher, Gus (May 22, 2018). "Best Samples Of 2018 So Far". HotNewHipHop. Archived from the original on May 22, 2018. Retrieved May 22, 2018.
  31. ^ "Australiancharts.com – Playboi Carti – Die Lit". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 19, 2018.
  32. ^ "Ultratop.be – Playboi Carti – Die Lit" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved May 18, 2018.
  33. ^ "Ultratop.be – Playboi Carti – Die Lit" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved May 18, 2018.
  34. ^ "Playboi Carti Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved May 22, 2018.
  35. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Playboi Carti – Die Lit" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved May 18, 2018.
  36. ^ "Irish-charts.com – Discography Playboi Carti". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 19, 2018.
  37. ^ "Charts.nz – Playboi Carti – Die Lit". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 18, 2018.
  38. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Playboi Carti – Die Lit". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 23, 2018.
  39. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved May 19, 2018.
  40. ^ "Playboi Carti Chart History (Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved May 22, 2018.
  41. ^ "Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2018". Billboard. Archived from the original on December 4, 2018. Retrieved December 5, 2018.
  42. ^ "Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums – Year-End 2018". Billboard. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
  43. ^ "Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2019". Billboard. Archived from the original on February 23, 2020. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
  44. ^ "Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2022". Billboard. Retrieved December 4, 2022.
  45. ^ "OLiS - oficjalna lista wyróżnień" (in Polish). Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Retrieved August 28, 2024. Click "TYTUŁ" and enter Die Lit in the search box.
  46. ^ "British album certifications – Playboi Carti – Die Lit". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved November 25, 2023.
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