Toronto up-and-comer SAFE landed Playboi Carti for his latest single "Paid In Full." I've been referred to as a Carti apologist by my colleagues, a mantle that I readily accept with a clear conscience, but never on a negative slope. But on "Paid In Full" I've been forced to deactivate that function of my brain, as Carti fails to dazzle any number of the senses.
In the darkest sense possible, Carti's performance feels like the musical juxtaposition of a jagged Boeing 737 crashing into a sandpit. In the dawn of one-take studio sessions, Carti's creative output can be hard to pinpoint; sometimes, it feels like he's under the control of a randomizer, or a mechanical claw grabber. When he raps, "she just like talking to me, I just like talking to her," Playboi Carti does at least little room for miscomprehension. He talks, she talks... simple enough.
But in fairness, this is SAFE's moment to shine, and in that regard, he doesn't disappoint. For those who don't know him, SAFE is a buzzing artist in Toronto with ties to the OVO camp. And while the Toronto upstart has maintained within the local scene, "Paid In Full" might just be the most pronounced statement he's made since 2015's "Feel."
Quotable Lyrics:
Ran it up, ran it up
Can't seem me tinted in my Bentley truck.
- SAFE
