A Great Chaos is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter Ken Carson. Ken Carson’s A Great Chaos is one of the most significant rap albums released this decade. It was released on Friday the 13th, 2023, and after a delay to rework the record- it’s been a long time coming.
With songs being teased going back to early 2022, to false release dates and tracklists earlier this year – this album was long in the making. Carson has previewed snippets of his songs for the entirety of his rap career for past projects such as his debut studio album ‘Project X’, which took inspiration from the 2012 found footage comedy film of the same name, and ‘X’, which released in July of 2022. The album’s lead single “i need u” was first previewed in December 2022, and released on February 14th, 2023, coinciding with Valentine’s Day. On the 2nd of June this year. Carson officially announced the project’s title and the initial release date of July 17th. He shared the album’s tracklist, showing that the album would consist of 14 songs and feature multiple guest artists. Ultimately, days before the initial release, the album was delayed for reasons outside of Carson’s control.
Around this time, Carson continued to preview songs like “Paranoid”, which featured labelmate Destroy Lonely, and would perform snippets of this song alongside “It’s Over”, which was intentionally meant to be the second single, at Lollapalooza and Summer Smash 2023. He created an Instagram account for the album around this time, and had been posting pictures that some had found unsettling – but that was the whole point. A Great Chaos, from the beginning, was an album stylized with horror, slight gore, and other mature themes. Ken Carson, and other artists at the Opium Label, are known for their horror inspired projects like Destroy Lonely who dropped his debut studio album If Looks Could Kill, which takes direct inspiration from the 1991 horror film I Know What You Did Last Summer.
In early September, “Paranoid” with Destroy Lonely was leaked, which sounded almost the exact same to fans except that it was the regular version. The version that fans had initially heard and grown to love was sped up. Later in September, Carson began to tease the album posting to his Instagram with captions likee “Its_over.mp4” and “jennifers_body.mp4”, further teasing the upcoming LP. On October 6th, Carson tweeted a pre-save link for the album “A Great Chaos” with an updated tracklist of 18 songs and updated album cover. Yet, sadly, 4 days before release – the entire album was leaked. A total of 16 songs off of the tracklist were leaked and spread all over Twitter by Noon that day. While some fans denounced the leaks and said they were waiting for the official release out of respect for Ken Carson, many others indulged due to having waited for as long as they did. Those that listened to the album early called it a 10 out of 10 masterpiece. The album was finally released on Friday the 13th, 2023, alongside a Spotify release party/concert that was live streamed on Youtube, but taken down after an hour.
The reason I went in depth about the timeline of this album was to show how far the LP has come. With leaks, snippets, near-impossible expectations, and delays due to the label – Carson still delivered an incredibly solid trap album. Arguably Carson’s Magnum Opus, the rapper sets out to try something new and does not hold back. Contrary to how Carson has played it safe in past albums like on ‘X’, he takes it a step further with the trippy production and nonchalant vocal delivery, which can get repetitive at times.
The production delivers such a variety in song, and the way that Carson handled the leaks and delays seems so effortless. I personally would argue that Carson used the snippets as a way to draw fans in, because the snippets that have been circulating since the top of the year truly do not even scratch the surface on how incredible of an album this is. It simply shows cuts and bits of the songs, some of which aren’t even on the project. The sound has matured so far from these snippets and the mixing is much better than on leaks that surfaced just days before the album’s release.
Though many believed the lyrical aspect of the album to be lacking, I believe that is simply an effect of the vocal delivery which not everyone is fond of. Personally, I believe there are some bars on this album that many overlook, like on “It’s Over” when Carson says, “I’m four pockets full, but I’m not Lil Baby.”
My personal favorites off of the album are the hypnotic Succubus, Fighting My Demons, Nightcore, and Me N My Kup. These songs standout to me because of how original and distinct they are. Starboy produced the insane track Fighting My Demons, which is arguably one of Ken Carson’s best. Me N My Kup is Top 5 Ken Carson in my opinion. The flow, the delivery, the production is top tier on that song. Same with Succubus. Hypnotic and hazy, it’s the most experimental that Carson gets on this album. Nightcore has been a personal grail of mine that I have been waiting for since the snippet previewed in July.
This album will go down as a turning point in Carson’s career, as this project brings his first-day streams from 800,000 to 16,000,000 streams. This album also charted #4 on Apple Music’s Hip-Hop/Rap charts. A Great Chaos is expected to sell 40-45K units first week, is competing to chart on the Top 10 Billboard 200 charts.
The way that Ken Carson utilized the leaks and the snippets to deliver a skullcrusher of a trap album just goes to show his mastery as a rap artist and it shows that Carson knows what he is doing. On this album, he fully takes it there and uses a completely different sound with pride. The album has such an aesthetic appeal which expertly sets it apart from the other projects and mixtapes in Carson’s discography.
I rate this album a 8.5 out of 10 and recommend it to anyone interested in the future of the Rap sound. I believe that Carson sets himself up to be an artist to watch out for, and I can’t wait for what he has planned for the future.