Trip at Knight (2021)

Trip at Knight is the fourth studio album by American rapper Trippie Redd. It was released on 20 August 2021, through 1400 Entertainment and 10K Projects. 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. Production was primarily handled by Star Boy, Nadddot, tnfdemon, Loesoe, Cashmere Cat, and Young Cutta, among others.

Trip at Knight sees Trippie Redd explore new musical genres including rage and hyperpop. One critic wrote that "the fluorescent toned digital production taps into his web-focussed roots, while the emphatic beats reflect his arena-ready position". The album was supported by two singles: "Miss the Rage" and the "Holy Smokes". Trippie Redd embarked on a tour in support of the album just days after its release. The project was a commercial success, debuting at number two on the US Billboard 200 chart. It was also well-received by critics and is regarded as a pioneering rage album. On November 9, 2022, Trip at Knight was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

Background

Trip 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. The project serves as a spin-off to the rapper's debut studio album Life's a Trip (2018). The album was originally announced in an August 2020 comment section of an Instagram post. Further announcements were made throughout 2020. In November 2020, Redd 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. Redd revealed the album's cover art on June 24, 2021, followed by its tracklist on August 11, 2021. On the same day, he confirmed that the project would release on August 20, 2021. The project then released on this date.

Songs

Tracks 1–5

The album opens with the song "Molly Hearts". Initially, fans believed that the track was to be called "Molly Water" due to Redd previewing the lyrics "So much water on me just like a levee / Molly heart, molly water, water (On that molly) / Molly heart, molly water, water (It's on my body)". When Redd revealed the track list on 11 August 2021, the title was listed as "Molly Heart". However, the song appeared on streaming services as "Molly Hearts". Identified as an early highlight on the album, the song was recognised as "[laying] out the sonic palette for the album as a whole". Lyrically, Redd references several characters and locations from video games, movies, and television shows. The line "Yeah, she put her own molly in her water, n***a, I ain't Rick Ross" directly refers to a line rapped by Ross on rapper Rocko's March 2013 song "U.O.E.N.O.": "Put molly all in her champagne / She ain't even know it / I took her home and I enjoyed that / She ain't even know it." Ross had been dropped as a spokesman for Reebok by the company after controversy. The album's second song, "MP5" (with SoFaygo), is named after the Heckler & Koch MP5, a submachine gun in the Call of Duty video game series. The song was initially intended to feature Tyga but he was replaced by SoFaygo. This marked the first collaboration between Trippie Redd and SoFaygo. "MP5", whose instrumental is a "synth-heavy" rage beat, was commended as a standout from Trip at Knight. The song's music video was released on 20 August 2021 and depicts Redd and SoFaygo killing zombies. Critics noted similarities between the music video and the music video for Redd's "Dark Knight Dummo" (2017).