It is a perversely infectious sugar high, rap that fundamentally recalibrates the brains reward centers.

On his self-titled 2017 debut, the twitchy Atlanta rapper compensated for his shortcomings as a lyricist with vision and spirit, bouncing his sticky ad-libs off of gloopy, gummy beats that played out with the insane logic of a Double Dare obstacle course.

Its letting a 4-year-old pour his own salad dressing then watching as he absolutely floods his plate with Hidden Valley Ranch.

Its those levels of Mario where the pipes and clouds spew so many coins and one-ups at you that you wonder why you spent all those other levels collecting them one by one.

This is music that fundamentally recalibrates the brains reward centers.

Bourne is a one man Acme Corporation assembly line, and in Carti hes found the perfect foil for his mischief, a fellow iconoclast similarly willing to test the boundaries between catchy and obnoxious.

But while the album is loaded with guest features, including ones from Travis Scott and Nicki Minaj, they never upset its surrealist vision.

Bryson Tiller ) isnt as cynical as title threatens; its just a typically loopy Playboi Carti song with a Bryson Tiller verse thats mixed like somebody tried to erase it then gave up.

With its victorious pianos, the Lil Uzi Vert -assisted triumph anthem Shoota is the albums one obvious concession to radios ideal of tunefulness, but its an absolute stunner of a track, and it also works as a window to the world outside of Bournes studio, highlighting just how odd and malformed all the beats around it are.

London grime icon Skepta elbows his way into Lean 4 Real, and although his accent cuts a sharp contrast against nearly any American rapper, here its just his mere enunciation that comes as a shock.

Young Thug joins Carti in making lots of silly noises on Choppa Wont Miss, and they sound like kids playing over a toy chest.

Bourne even gets two verses, because really almost any voice will suffice on music like this, and his is serviceable enough (Bags of the futureDid it all off computers is also a pretty solid brag for a producer).

At its bestwhich is to say almost the entire thing, reallythe album almost seems to suspend gravity.

How does a rapper this basic pull off a project this electrifying No, Cartis rapping isnt any better this time out.

Die Lit Zip