“CARSON!” Opium fans united and cheered at Ken Carson’s album release party in Brooklyn, N.Y., as he was set to take the stage. Throughout the night, Carson and his crowd thrashed around, screaming the lyrics to his new music as Carson brought out fellow Atlanta rappers, Destroy Lonely and Playboi Carti.
At only 13 years old, Ken Carson began his music career on Soundcloud and was quickly recognized by Carti himself. He was signed onto Carti’s Opium label in 2019, and in the next year, went on to produce one of his hit songs, “Yale,” that reached nearly 140 million streams on Spotify. After his latest album “X,” Opium fans were kept on their toes until Carson announced the arrival of a new project, “A Great Chaos.”
“It was a big step up from his previous albums like ‘X’ and ‘XTENDED,’” Oliver Franklin (11) said. “I feel like … some of the things he was trying to experiment on with like his previous albums, he was able to better refine them on this one.”
Known for his electronic sound incorporated with heavy bass, Carson transformed this practice into an 18-track album. His distorted frequencies and autotuned vocals allowed the cultivation of a new atmosphere for many fans.
“It was life changing,” Aden Khudheir (10) said. “He changed the sound … [it’s] different and [has] more partying type beats.”
As an artist on Carti’s label, Carson is often compared to other Opium artists such as Destroy Lonely, Homixide Gang and Playboi Carti. Earlier this year, Destroy Lonely dropped his hit album “If Looks Could Kill” that debuted at number 18 on the US Billboard 200, leaving high expectations for Carson. However, Opium fans evidently did not doubt his execution.
“Currently in terms of skill he’s increasing on the level … he’s better than [Destroy Lonely] like right now … because he’s been dropping better stuff,” Jermel Mason (11) said. “I’d say ‘A Great Chaos’ is better than ‘If Looks Could Kill,’ but besides [that], him and Homixide Gang are like on the same tier.”
However, many fans were disappointed at the lack of featured artists. Out of the 18 total tracks, only “Singapore,” “Paranoid” and “Like This” presented Destroy Lonely and Lil Uzi Vert on the mic.
“[Lil Uzi Vert] had a cool verse, [but] it doesn’t have as much replay value as Destroy Lonely,” Mason said.
Other fans felt that this album displayed how Carson lacked versatility throughout his discography. Some even expressed strong opinions about the apparent repetitive nature of his music.
“I feel like ‘Nightcore’ shouldn’t have had like a second [part],” Franklin said. “There was [also] one where the production was really all over the place and the bass was too loud.”
However, many social media platforms like TikTok began to raise exposure to Ken Carson’s material through popular trends and lip-syncing videos. Despite the controversy surrounding the material itself, “A Great Chaos” was generally well received and contained many intricate sounds that fans enjoyed deciphering.
“‘Succubus,’ ‘Fighting My Demons’ and ‘Jennifer’s Body’ are like my top three on the album,” Jose Lees (9) said. “It had a lot more vocals in it, and Ken Carson in ‘Fighting my Demons’… I didn’t think it was him, I thought it was like a shadow feature [because] it sounded a lot different from what he usually does … his voice was really deep [and] he sounded a lot like [Playboi] Carti.”