! (Trippie Redd album)


! is the second studio album by American rapper and singer Trippie Redd. It was released on August 9, 2019, by TenThousand Projects and Caroline Records. The album features appearances from Diplo, The Game, Lil Duke, Lil Baby and Coi Leray. The album also originally featured Playboi Carti, but was later removed from the album.

Background

In January 2019, Trippie Redd announced that he had two more projects to be released soon in an Instagram live stream, his second studio album, Immortal and Mobile Suit Pussy, which was reportedly set to be his fourth commercial mixtape, but it then became scrapped. He explained that Immortal would have tracks where deep and romantic concepts are present, while Mobile Suit Pussy would have contained tracks that are "bangers". Later in March 2019 in another Instagram live stream, Redd stated that his second album had "shifted and changed" and was no longer titled Immortal. He later revealed that the album would be titled !, and inspired by former collaborator XXXTentacion's ? album.
Trippie released the lead single to the album "Under Enemy Arms" on May 29, 2019. He confirmed in an interview with Zane Lowe of Beats 1 Radio that the album would be titled ! and was already completed, but that he wanted to add several more features as well as videos.

Critical reception

Rachel Aroesti of The Guardian described the album as "compelling but contradictory emo-rap", noting lyrical contradictions and concluding it "is doubtless part of the genre's forward march – but it's hard to get past the sense that White has sacrificed a coherent artistic identity in the name of progress." Writing for Pitchfork, Andy O'Connor wrote that the "songs touch on being true to oneself at all costs, but these half-baked lessons land flat since Redd himself doesn't really have an identity, musical or otherwise", further commenting, "Most of what happens here couldn't even realistically be considered rapping", calling the verses "dull and unimaginative on top of being restrictive in form" and "nonsense bars". O'Connor concluded that "the most enjoyable moments feel like controlled chaos. Redd does at least sound more composed. That's to his credit as a person but it's not to his advantage as an artist."

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200 with 51,000 album-equivalent units, of which 7,000 were pure album sales in its first week.

Track listing

Credits adapted from Apple Music.
Notes

Weekly charts

Year-end charts