Atlanta rage disciple Ken Carson has long followed in the sonic footsteps of his mentor and label boss, Playboi Carti. On his 2026 album xperiment, he takes cues from the title and pushes himself away from these stylistic origins—sounds that have turned him into one of ATL’s biggest stars. Despite Carti coming through on the album’s second track, xperiment features some of Carson’s most audacious creative decisions to date. He embraces the goodwill he’s built as an opportunity to test the boundaries of his style. He succeeds with flying colors, which is, coincidentally, a rather apt way to describe the sonics of this record, too. xperiment is a technicolor fever dream, harnessing some of the distortion, chaos, and noise of earlier rage-rap-inspired projects (X and A Great Chaos) and blending it with minimalism (“shadeson” with 2hollis), bubblegum pop (“ghost” with Lil Uzi Vert), and mid-2010s Atlanta trap (“drug kit” with Young Thug). For the OG fans, though, there are still plenty of moments that recall early Ken Carson, like “wrist,” which is a reminder of how captivating he is when employing aesthetics of yore. A month and a half following the release of xperiment, it received a 13-track addendum. cartunez is less a change of direction than a continuation of xperiment’s style. The synths are crunchy and glittering, Carson’s flow whimsical and melodic. “swag jack” features both of these elements in spades, with the MC going after other artists who take and take without bringing anything original to the table: “Let me get my swag back/No identity, where your swag at?” he taunts. “roxy reynolds” is another team-up with frequent collaborator Destroy Lonely, and the duo bring about fragmented melodic thoughts bolstered by pummeling, low-end melodic accents and a synth patch that sounds like a gaggle of chipmunks scurrying around. Playful and forward-thinking, yet comfortably familiar.