Trip at Knight is the fourth studio album by American rapper and singer Trippie Redd. It was released on August 20, 2021, through 1400 Entertainment and 10k Projects.[3] The project serves as a spin-off to the rapper’s debut studio album Life's a Trip (2018). The album features guest appearances from SoFaygo, Drake, Lil Uzi Vert, Playboi Carti, Ski Mask the Slump God, Polo G, Lil Durk, Babyface Ray, Sada Baby, and Icewear Vezzo alongside late rappers Juice Wrld and XXXTentacion.[4] Production was primarily handled by Star Boy, Nadddot, tnfdemon, Loesoe, Cashmere Cat, and Young Cutta, among others.
| Trip at Knight | ||||
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| Released | August 20, 2021 | |||
| Recorded | 2018–2021 | |||
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| Length | 49:36 | |||
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| Trippie Redd chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Trip at Knight | ||||
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Trip at Knight sees Trippie Redd explore new musical genres including rage and hyperpop.[2] One critic wrote that “the fluorescent toned digital production taps into his web-focussed roots, while the emphatic beats reflect his arena-ready position”.[5] The album was supported by two singles: the Playboi Carti-assisted Miss the Rage and the Lil Uzi Vert-assisted Holy Smokes. Trippie Redd embarked on a tour in support for the album just days after its release.[6][7][8] The record project was a commercial success, debuting at number two on the US Billboard 200 chart. On November 9, 2022, Trip at Knight was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Background
editTrip At Knight is Trippie Redd’s second release of 2021, following Neon Shark vs Pegasus (February 2021), a deluxe reissue of Pegasus made in collaboration with American punk rock drummer Travis Barker.[9] The project serves as a spin-off to the rapper’s debut studio album Life's a Trip (2018).[9] The album was originally announced in an August 2020 comment section of an Instagram post. Further announcements were made throughout 2020.[9] In November 2020, Trippie claimed that the album would have no features except for Chris King, with whom he had previously collaborated on songs including “Love Scars Pt. 2/Rack City” (A Love Letter to You) and “Can You Rap Like Me, Pt. 2” (A Love Letter to You 4), but later backtracked on those comments.[9] Trippie revealed the album’s cover art on June 24, 2021, followed by its tracklist on August 11, 2021.[9] The project then released on August 20, 2021.
Songs
editTracks 1-9
editTracks 9-18
editPackaging and promotion
editTrippie Redd released the lead single for the album, "Miss the Rage", a collaboration with American rapper Playboi Carti, on May 7, 2021. This was followed by the second single "Holy Smokes", featuring American rapper Lil Uzi Vert on July 16, 2021. "Captain Crunch" featuring Sada Baby, Babyface Ray, and Icewear Vezzo, "MP5" featuring SoFaygo", and "Matt Hardy 999" featuring Juice WRLD were all listed as singles with the Trip at Knight cover on streaming services, with two receiving music videos.[10][11] Trip at Knight’s album cover was designed by artist Stephen Gibb – who also designed the cover of Life's a Trip (2018) – in a ‘bubblegum surrealist’ style.[12] It depicts Trippie Redd “at the end of a lollipop with bright sunny skies and gummy bears on one side while UFOs approach a headless knight removing his skull after a fire breathing dragon had removed his helmet prior”.[12] Gibb stated of the design: “I fashioned Trippie as a product to be consumed, which every popular recording artist is essentially packaged to be.”[12] Gibb also designed the cover artwork for the single “Holy Smokes”.[12]
Critical reception
edit| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 68/100[13] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| The Line of Best Fit |   [14] |
| HipHopDX |    [15] |
| In Review | (favorable)[16] |
| AllMusic | [17] |
| Catalyst | (very favorable)[18] |
| Clash | [5] |
| NME | [2] |
The record project received generally positive reviews from critics. Likewise, Trippie Redd’s shift in sound was received well by critics including The Line of Best Fit, which wrote: “It’s unquestionably the most focused he’s ever been, essentially slotting into a ratcheted up (or mollied up), bass thumping, forceful lane and staying there. Which isn’t to say he’s shaved away his idiosyncrasies: he’s still comparing himself to Piccolo, Goku and gleefully rapping, “You n***as Autobots, I'm a damn Gundam” on “Supernatural”. Hell, “Baki”, named for a Japanese manga & anime, also finds him name dropping Darth Vader and Joe Exotic with moments of each other. It’s a cultural smorgasbord that befits Redd’s character well.”[14] In Review called the album “easily the most clear-sighted project Trippie’s released in over three years”;[16] likewise, Clash wrote that that which emerges from the album is “a defiant and indefatigable figure”.[5] Fred Thomas of AllMusic wrote that “[f]ollowing his bloated 2020 album Pegasus by just under a year, chart-topping rapper Trippie Redd's fourth studio album Trip At Knight is something of a return to form. … Concise and brisk, … [it] is one of the more focused Trippie Redd albums, and calls for repeat listening where some of the others were difficult to get all the way through.”[17] Catalyst also praised the album’s length.[18] However, NME said that while Trip at Knight had "embrace[d] the colourful production of hyper-pop", the album suffered from "a lack of quality control".[2] The paper wrote that Trippie should "slow down and focus on longevity", opining that Trip at Knight doesn't "tend to reward repeat listens" though Life's a Trip does.[2] In Review opined that some songs on the album were “disposable filler”.[16]
Trippie Redd was praised for his heavy use of guest appearances on the album.[18] In Review wrote that “all [the guest appearances were] uniformly solid, playing off of Trippie in fun and inventive ways”.[16] The Line of Best Fit opined that “Redd finds inspiration in his guests more often than not on Trip at Knight.”[14] Redd also received some criticism for a perceived over-reliance on features.[16] Trippie Redd was also commended for the manner in which he used posthumous features, with In Review writing: “in an era where posthumous features are given out left and right, it feels refreshing to hear two unused verses from two departed talents — Juice Wrld and XXXTentacion, respectively — which were recorded for these specific tracks in mind. “Matt Hardy 999” has Juice and Trippie trading freestyled verses back and forth, with each new line somehow being more ridiculous than the last, and “Danny Phantom” — a retooling of previously released “Ghost Busters” — features one of X[XXTentacion]’s sunniest artistic contributions to date, ending with Trippie calling out to his fallen comrade with a pained cry. Regardless of how one feels about the late-Florida rapper, it’s an undeniably touching gesture from one friend to another; a moment where Trippie’s pain, for once, feels palpable.” Clash added that “the appearances of Juice WRLD – on ‘Matt Hardy 999’ – and XXXTentacion – on ‘Danny Phantom’ – serve as a reminder of the cost success has had on an entire generation of American rap artists. Juice WRLD’s bars are effective, for sure; X remains a difficult artist to listen to in light of the abusive events which immediately preceded his passing.”[5] HipHopDX too complimented Redd’s use of posthumous features, writing of “Danny Phantom” (featuring XXXTentacion): “[w]ith the poor track record of X appearances since his death in 2018, it’s refreshing to hear a verse that sounds like it was recorded while he was alive, showing how much Trippie cared for his friend.”[15]
Critical consensus indicated that "MP5" (with SoFaygo), "Betrayal" (featuring Drake), "Holy Smokes" (featuring Lil Uzi Vert), "Miss the Rage" (with Playboi Carti), "Supernatural" and particularly "Matt Hardy 999" (with Juice WRLD) were amongst the best songs on the album. In Review opined that Trip at Knight’s highlights were "Betrayal", "Super Cell" and "Supernatural", the latter of which “opens with a traditional Trippie flow and delivery over glitchy production, all before a sudden beat switch-up that activates his attack mode (“Pussy boy got pushed out the whip / I watched ’em roll and tumble”) going from zero to 100 real quick, to say the least.”[16] Catalyst wrote that the project’s best songs were "MP5", "Rich MF" and "iPhone".[18] Clash identified other highlights, writing that the “highs spring out from first listen. ‘Molly Hearts’ swaggers into view and effectively lays out the sonic palette for the album as a whole – barbed digi tones that verge on 8-bit, and raps that move from all-out braggadocio to surreal, jokey word play. ‘Finish Line’ is an early high, while ‘Demon Time’ – featuring Ski Mask the Slump God – injects some darkness into his day-glo aesthetic.[5] The Line of Best Fit reserved particular praise for "Matt Hardy 999" (with Juice WRLD), writing that the song “is one of the most delirious statements he’s [Redd’s] released yet, sliding seamlessly back and forth between aggression and smoothness, practically intoxicating in its brazenness.”[14] HipHopDX added that “the late Juice WRLD delivers a posthumous performance that sounds like he’s ascending to the heavens as he raps. Trippie complements Juice’s energy, showing why the two had such great chemistry on tracks like “1400/999 Freestyle.”[15] NME wrote that “arguably the highlight of this record… is the wrestler-referencing ‘Matt Hardy 999’. It’s clearly a celebration not only of Trippie’s wordplay, but also of the undeniable creativity exemplified by his late peer Juice WRLD. It’s their fourth posthumous collaboration together – and they never miss. Over the wheezing synths and fried 808s, the two exercise their braggadocio perfectly, their back-to-back approach meshing beautiful, as one seems to randomly pick up from the other: “Asking if I love her, I told her ‘hardly’ / Jumping off the top rope on that bitch like Matt Hardy”.[2]
Commercial performance
editTrip at Knight debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 chart, behind Sour by Olivia Rodrigo.[19] With “impressive sales numbers”,[15] it moved 80,600 album-equivalent units (including 7,000 copies in pure album sales) in its first week.[19] The album was also the biggest streaming album of the week with 97.1 million individual song streams.[19] On November 9, 2022, Trip at Knight was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Track listing
edit| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Molly Hearts" |
|
| 2:42 |
| 2. | "MP5" (with SoFaygo) |
| Star Boy | 2:39 |
| 3. | "Betrayal" (featuring Drake) |
|
| 2:32 |
| 4. | "Finish Line" |
|
| 2:22 |
| 5. | "Holy Smokes" (featuring Lil Uzi Vert) |
|
| 3:01 |
| 6. | "Super Cell" |
|
| 2:41 |
| 7. | "Miss the Rage" (with Playboi Carti) |
| Loesoe | 3:56 |
| 8. | "Supernatural" |
|
| 2:20 |
| 9. | "Demon Time" (with Ski Mask the Slump God) |
|
| 2:39 |
| 10. | "Matt Hardy 999" (with Juice Wrld) |
|
| 3:08 |
| 11. | "Vibes" |
|
| 2:04 |
| 12. | "New Money" |
|
| 2:24 |
| 13. | "Danny Phantom" (featuring XXXTentacion) |
|
| 2:16 |
| 14. | "Space Time" |
|
| 1:59 |
| 15. | "Baki" |
|
| 2:27 |
| 16. | "iPhone" |
|
| 2:01 |
| 17. | "Rich MF" (with Polo G featuring Lil Durk) |
|
| 4:07 |
| 18. | "Captain Crunch" (with Sada Baby and Icewear Vezzo featuring Babyface Ray) |
|
| 4:10 |
| Total length: | 49:36 | |||
Notes
- Although "Betrayal" featuring Drake was originally listed by Trippie Redd as part of the tracklisting, the song was not part of the album upon its initial release. However, Betrayal was later released in the complete edition of Trip at Knight on August 21, 2021.
- In addition, "Molly Hearts" and "Super Cell" were originally listed on Trippie Redd's announcement as "Molly Heart" and "Supercell", respectively.
- “Danny Phantom” is a reworked version of Trippie's and X's "Ghost Busters", which was released 3 days after XXXTentacion's murder. The new version is backed by a new “rage” style instrumental and doesn’t contain the original’s verses from Quavo and Ski Mask the Slump God.
- Similar to ”Danny Phantom”, ”Matt Hardy 999” is a reworked version of Trippie and the late Juice Wrld's collaboration on a previously leaked song. The new version is also, a hyper/rage style instrumental.
Charts
edit
Weekly chartsedit
|
Year-end chartsedit
|
Certifications
edit| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Canada (Music Canada)[42] | Gold | 40,000‡ |
| United States (RIAA)[43] | Gold | 500,000‡ |
|
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||
References
edit- ^ Hoffman, Tim (August 20, 2021). "Album Review: Trippie Redd plummets with Trip at Knight". Riff Magazine. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g Williams, Kyann-Sian (August 20, 2021). "Trippie Redd – Trip at Knight review: SoundCloud rap king embraces hyper-pop". NME. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
- ^ Caraan, Sophie (August 20, 2021). "Trippie Redd Enlists Drake, Lil Uzi Vert and More for New Album Trip at Knight". Hypebeast. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
- ^ Blake, Cole. "Trippie Redd Shares Artwork For Upcoming Album, Trip at Knight". HotNewHipHop. Retrieved July 13, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e Murray, Robin (August 20, 2021). "Trippie Redd – Trip at Knight". Clash. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
- ^ Goddard, Kevin. "Trippie Redd Says Trip at Knight Album Dropping Before His Upcoming Tour". HotNewHipHop. Retrieved July 13, 2021.
- ^ a b Marie, Erika. "Trippie Redd Reveals Trip at Knight Tracklist Ft. Drake, Lil Durk, Juice WRLD, Polo G". HotNewHipHop. Retrieved August 12, 2021.
- ^ Robinson, Joshua. "Trippie Redd Reveals When Trip at Knight Is Dropping". HotNewHipHop. Urbanlinx Media. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e "Trip At Knight (Trippie Redd)", Genius, retrieved December 13, 2024
- ^ Trippie Redd – MP5 Ft. SoFaygo (Official Music Video), retrieved December 2, 2021
- ^ Trippie Redd – Matt Hardy 999 Ft. Juice WRLD (Official Music Video), retrieved December 2, 2021
- ^ a b c d Behind The Cover: TRIPPIE REDD - Trip At Knight, retrieved December 13, 2024
- ^ MC
- ^ a b c d McMullen, Chase (August 24, 2021). "Trippie Redd – Trip at Knight". The Line of Best Fit. Retrieved August 24, 2021.
- ^ a b c d "Trippie Redd borrows from young SoundCloud rappers for middling results on Trip at Knight". HipHopDX. Retrieved December 13, 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f "Trippie Redd, Trip at Knight". In Review Online. Retrieved December 13, 2024.
- ^ a b Thomas, Fred (August 20, 2021). "Trippie Redd – Trip at Knight". AllMusic. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
- ^ a b c d "Trippie Redd's Trip At Knight album review". Catalyst. Retrieved December 13, 2024.
- ^ a b c "Olivia Rodrigo Heads Off Trippie Redd, Lorde to Top Album Chart Again". Variety. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
- ^ "Australiancharts.com – Trippie Redd – Trip at Knight". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
- ^ "Austriancharts.at – Trippie Redd – Trip at Knight" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved September 1, 2021.
- ^ "Ultratop.be – Trippie Redd – Trip at Knight" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved August 29, 2021.
- ^ "Ultratop.be – Trippie Redd – Trip at Knight" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved August 29, 2021.
- ^ "Trippie Redd Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved August 31, 2021.
- ^ "Hitlisten.NU – Album Top-40 Uge 34, 2021". Hitlisten. Retrieved September 1, 2021.
- ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Trippie Redd – Trip at Knight" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
- ^ "Trippie Redd: Trip at Knight" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved August 29, 2021.
- ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Trippie Redd – Trip at Knight" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
- ^ "Official Irish Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
- ^ "Album – Classifica settimanale WK 34 (dal 20.8.2021 al 26.8.2021)" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved August 28, 2021.
- ^ "2021 34-os savaitės klausomiausi (Top 100)" (in Lithuanian). AGATA. August 27, 2021. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
- ^ "NZ Top 40 Albums Chart". Recorded Music NZ. August 30, 2021. Retrieved August 28, 2021.
- ^ "Album 2021 uke 34". VG-lista. Retrieved August 28, 2021.
- ^ "Spanishcharts.com – Trippie Redd – Trip at Knight". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 5, 2021.
- ^ "Veckolista Album, vecka 34". Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
- ^ "Swisscharts.com – Trippie Redd – Trip at Knight". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 29, 2021.
- ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
- ^ "Trippie Redd Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved August 29, 2021.
- ^ "Trippie Redd Chart History (Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved August 31, 2021.
- ^ "Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2021". Billboard. Retrieved December 3, 2021.
- ^ "Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums – Year-End 2021". Billboard. Retrieved December 3, 2021.
- ^ "Canadian album certifications – Trippie Redd – Trip at Knight". Music Canada. Retrieved November 19, 2023.
- ^ "American album certifications – Trippie Redd – Trip at Knight". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved November 9, 2020.