14 March 2025
After years of teasing, Playboi Carti released his highly, highly anticipated album, 'MUSIC,' today. I'm writing this today to appreciate the unique, underrated brand identity and marketing that Carti has established around this album and its rollout.
Following the success of Whole Lotta Red in 2020, Carti has cemented himself as one of the most interesting and engaging artists in the culture today. Not only does he have only a huge cult following and praise from other greats in the industry, but he organically generates buzz across pop culture with whatever move he makes.
From viral teaser tracks posted months ago only to Instagram, to headlining performances at festivals, to cryptic and avant-garde posts across his socials, Carti has been creating buzz around this release for a long time. Carti even won Artist of the Year at Billboard’s R&B Hip-Hop Power Players last year just off his few features and singles. And, if it says anything about how long and hyped up this rollout has been, over a year ago in January 2024, GQ called it the most exciting thing happening in rap (https://lnkd.in/er4mDAkS).
Notable for this rollout was the unique and identifiable brand and design language that Carti established around the album rollout. Similar effect to Charli XCX and her Brat branding, yet Carti actually first started to tease the "I AM MUSIC" design/brand in December 2023, months before Charli started the Brat rollout... I don't think Carti will get the same praise/recognition from the corporate marketing world for his branding prowess unfortunately.
Still, from fan created font/text generators, to merch, to edits on TikTok, the iconography around 'MUSIC' was iconic and recognizable long before this album came out. Carti even teased/announced the album's official release this past month through OOH activations in partnership with Spotify, only identifiable as Carti's by the font and design language.
With this, it rings true across the culture that a strong, unique, and memorable visual brand identity can truly elevate whatever you are doing, especially in the social media sphere.
Consider this... If someone wouldn't want to create a text generator based on the font / visual branding, you should rethink it. And please don't use AI, there are so many creative visual designers out here that can help you develop a visual identity which can set you apart.