''Project X'' is the debut studio album by the American rapper

Ken Carson Kenyatta Lee Frazier Jr. (born April 11, 2000), known professionally as Ken Carson, is an American rapper and record producer from Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. Carson initially gained attention for his SoundCloud releases and collab ...

, released on July 23, 2021, by

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. Primarily produced by Star Boy and Outtatown, it is a

rage Rage may refer to: * Rage (emotion), an intense form of anger Games * Rage (collectible card game), a collectible card game * Rage (trick-taking card game), a commercial variant of the card game Oh Hell * ''Rage'' (video game), a 2011 first- ...

and pop-trap album featuring harmonious

synthesizers A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

and melodic, fast-paced flows. Its title and cover artwork pay tribute to the Nima Nourizadeh film '' Project X'' (2012). ''Project X'' received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the production but criticized its songwriting as repetitive and derivative. It nevertheless proved popular amongst rage music fans and helped solidify Carson's place in the rap music scene.

Background and release

In 2019,

signed to

Playboi Carti Jordan Terrell Carter (born September 13, 1995, or 1996), known professionally as Playboi Carti, is an American rapper. Known for his eccentric vocal style and fashion, he is considered an influential figure in modern Hip hop music, hip hop a ...

record label. The following year, Carson released his first two extended plays, ''Boy Barbie'' and ''Teen X''; the latter spawned his first major hit, "Yale". He also garnered recognition for his work on "Beno!" from Carti's second album, ''

Whole Lotta Red ''Whole Lotta Red'' is the second studio album by the American rapper Playboi Carti. It was released on December 25, 2020, by AWGE and Interscope Records. Recording began in late 2018, following the release of its predecessor '' Die Lit'' (2018 ...

'' (2020). In 2021, Carson released three further EPs—''Lost Files'', ''Teen X: Relapsed'', and ''Lost Files 2''—as well as a music video for "Butterfly" (from ''Teen X'') and the single "Patrick Ewing" featuring Lil Tecca. On July 11, 2021, Carson announced his debut album, ''Project X'', and released it on July 23. Its title and cover artwork pay tribute to the Nima Nourizadeh film '' Project X'' (2012). Music videos for "Change", "Rock n Roll", and "Run + Ran" were released thereafter.

Composition

''Project X'' is a

and pop-trap album featuring harmonious

, percussive

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vocals, and energetic,

vocoder A vocoder (, a portmanteau of ''vo''ice and en''coder'') is a category of speech coding that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption or voice transformation. The vocoder wa ...

-heavy melodies. The album was primarily produced by Star Boy and Outtatown, who both worked with Carson on ''Teen X''. ''

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'' Mano Sundaresan called Carson's delivery "rapid-fire" yet "chill" when compared with Carti's performances on ''Whole Lotta Red''. Likewise, ''

HipHopDX ''HipHopDX'' is an online magazine of Hip hop music, hip hop music criticism and news. ''HipHopDX'' has over 3.5M monthly readers, the website encompassing hip hop news, interviews, music, and reviews. The website's founder and CEO is Sharath C ...

'' reviewer Vivian Medithi felt that Carson's distinguished himself with his "fast-paced, words-running-together flow". Although Carson said he did not listen to rap or R&B music and listed the All-American Rejects and

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as inspirations in interviews, Sundaresan felt the album's songwriting and vocals leaned more towards "online rap scenes" such as plugg. Yannik Gölz of

laut.de ''laut.de'' is a German online magazine covering music and entertainment. It was founded in Konstanz in 1996 by Rainer Henze..kid who's spent far too much time in his life with fashion magazines and

Pi'erre Bourne Jordan Timothy Jenks (born September 19, 1993), known professionally as Pi'erre Bourne (), is an American record producer, rapper, singer, songwriter, and audio engineer. He is known for producing the 2017 singles " Magnolia" for Playboi Carti ...

beats." The opening track "Who's Next" incorporates switched-up flows from Carson and was compared to Carti's 2018 song " Long Time (Intro)" by Medithi. "Rock n Roll" features groovy,

psychedelic Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary mental states (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips") and a perceived "expansion of consciousness". Also referred to as classic halluci ...

and percussive synths and sees Carson rap apathetically about being under the influence of drugs. Medithi compared "Party All Day" to "Beno!" and highlighted the lyric "Shawty suckin my dick up like a

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" as an example of its "memorable lines". "Change" is driven by arpeggiated, harmoinous synths and "muttered" verses from Carson, whilst "Run + Ran" progresses from a piano intro into "gelatinous" 808 drums and sonic melodics reminiscient of Pi'erre Bourne, according to Medithi. "Shake" and "Hella" both revolve around one-word choruses. Medithi compared the former song to

Rae Sremmurd Rae Sremmurd ( ; "Ear Drummers" Anadrome, spelled backwards) is an American hip-hop duo composed of brothers Swae Lee and Slim Jxmmi, both of whom originate from Tupelo, Mississippi. They signed with record producer Mike Will Made It's label Mike ...

and

Juicy J Jordan Michael Houston III (born April 5, 1975), known professionally as Juicy J, is an American rapper and record producer. Originally from Memphis, Tennessee, he is a founding member of the Southern hip-hop group Three 6 Mafia, established ...

's 2018 single "

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". He highlighted the latter and "Clutch" for their combination of heavy, knocking beats and Carson's staccato flows. Gölz compared "Till I Die" to "Rock n Roll" with its "overstimulated and numb" nature and highlighted Carson's use of raspier flows on "Burnin Up". The final track "So What" sees Carson detail the thrill of a

one-night stand A one-night stand is a single sexual encounter in which there is no expectation that there shall be any further relations between the sexual participants. It draws its name from the common practice of a one-night stand, a single night performanc ...

; Gölz remarked that Carson appeared "more pleased about such an incident than a truly heartless player would be."

Critical reception

''Project X'' was released to mixed reviews from critics. ''Pitchfork'' Sundaresan said the "lazy" nature of the album's songwriting became more apparent as it went on and accused Carson of "trying to emulate Carti's chaos or

Lil Uzi Vert Symere Bysil Woods ( ; born July 31, 1995), known professionally as Lil Uzi Vert, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, they gained initial recognition following the release of the commer ...

's velocity" on songs like "Shake" and "Hella", which he found repetitive. Despite this, he felt the album partly succeeded in providing a "sweeter, less scorched and serrated" approach to the rage sound of ''Whole Lotta Red''. ''HipHopDX'' Medithi highlighted Carson's sense of melody and the album's production and felt that "when ''Project X'' succeeds, Ken's music feels as kinetic and hedonistic as the movie the album is named after." However, he thought Carson appeared "boxed in by expectations" of being signed to Carti's record label and criticized his monotonous delivery. Gölz of laut.de said its sound was "fairly monochromatic", but "honed to just the right level" to highlight Carson's strengths. Despite its mixed reception, ''Project X'' proved popular amongst rage music fans and helped solidify Carson's place in the rap music scene. Anthony Malone of ''HipHopDX'' stated that the album "quickly ccumulateda massive following" and made Carson "a marquee figure in rage culture". David Crone of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

said the album "pushed Carson's template into the rap zeitgeist almost overnight, with his bass-heavy and feverish style finding viral success on online platforms." John Norris of '' VMan'' credited it with placing Carson "at the vanguard of new Atlanta rap". "Rock n Roll" and "Run + Ran" have been described as highlights from the album by music critics, with Norris calling both tracks Carson's signature songs.

Track listing

Credits adapted from

Apple Music Apple Music is an audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users can select music to stream to their device on-demand, or listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the sister internet radio stations Apple Musi ...

. To view individual song credits, click on the three dots and select "View Credits".

Personnel

* Benjamin Lidsky - recording (3–11), mixing * Colin Leonard - mastering

Notes

References

External links

*
Project X
' on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

(streamed copy where licensed) {{Ken Carson 2021 debut albums Ken Carson albums Opium (record label) albums