MUSIC is the elusive rapper's first album in five years, but his presence has loomed heavy over hip-hop — and the fanbase whose ears he retuned for extremity.

Allegations of violence surrounding high-profile artists — a 2022 domestic-abuse charge levied against Lil Uzi Vert met with a plea of no contest, and a 2023 felony aggravated assault charge against Carti was later reported as dismissed — imply that abrasive views on these records come from somewhere real and worrying.