A Great Chaos

In July 2022, Ken Carson released his second studio album, X, through Opium and Interscope Records. Despite this, Carson said he was not influenced by the reception of X when making A Great Chaos, as he "[does not] make [his] music for critics". including when he was on tour, and try and work out an idea from beats his producers sent him beforehand. Lucian, one of the album's producers and a frequent collaborator, said that Carson would sometimes "instantly know what to do on [a beat]" and come out with a song in a single take. Examples of this occurring include "Hardcore", and "Overseas". The album was completed by August 2023. == Composition ==

Overview A Great Chaos is a rage album. Will Gedron of HipHopDX, Jeff Ihaza of Rolling Stone, and Sundaresan also highlighted the album's tighter pacing compared to Carson's previous works, particularly X. Opium labelmate and frequent collaborator Destroy Lonely appears with Carson on "Singapore", "Paranoid", and "Like This", with Lil Uzi Vert joining both artists on the latter track. The song's hook displays Carson's mixed feelings towards loving, but not necessarily needing, women. before the song breaks into "off-the-wall production" and was described by Jordan Darville of The Fader as "the sound of a panic attack", with Carson rapping "joylessly" about his drug use and the weapons he keeps for safety. "Hardcore", which Sundaresan compared to The Wizrd (2019) by Future, sees Carson repeating four words over changing sonic textures. and features tightly stacked synths. A writer for Slant Magazine wrote how the track is so "anarchic" that it sounds as if they're "about to come apart from the seams". that displays Carson and Lonely utilizing eccentric flows to rap about wealth, women, and guns. A writer for AllMusic credited Uzi's appearance with providing some "pop stability" to A Great Chaos. "SS" sees Carson compare the size of his gun's drum magazine to the breasts of the American actress Sydney Sweeney. "Overseas" is driven by 808-heavy production, an "electric" beat, He also mentions the European cities London, Paris, and Amsterdam, the first three stops of his Chaos Tour. == Release and promotion ==

on the Chaos Tour in November 2024 Carson began teasing A Great Chaos in late 2022, when he posted a snippet of "Paranoid". After releasing his fourth mixtape, Lost Files 4, in January 2023, Carson released the album's lead single, "I Need U", on February 14. "It's Over" was intended as the second single, but never released, The album was leaked in its entirety on a Discord server four days prior to its release, much to Carson's chagrin. Music videos for "Jennifer's Body", "Fighting My Demons", and "Succubus" were released after the album. On April 12, 2024, Carson made his debut performance at Coachella, where he performed material from A Great Chaos live for the first time. That same day, he released "Overseas" as the lead single from the album's forthcoming deluxe edition. Following the release of A Great Chaos (Deluxe) on July 5, Carson embarked on his headlining Chaos Tour of Europe and the United States, which took place between July 8 and November 21, 2024. Footage filmed during the tour's first three dates was used in a music video for "Overseas", released on October 19. On December 15, 2024, Carson performed at Rolling Loud Miami. ==Critical reception==

A Great Chaos received critical acclaim; according to Elias Andrews of HotNewHipHop, the album garnered Carson "the best reviews of his career". A writer for AllMusic praised Carson for taking greater creative risks, deeming it "a fun and engaging listening experience" and a "huge step up" from his prior output. Brown, for Vibe, called the album "some of [Carson's] best work yet", highlighting "Fighting My Demons", "Hardcore", "Overtime", "Vampire Hour", and "Nightcore" as standouts showcasing him "hitting on all cylinders". Chris Richards of The Washington Post called it "the most flat-out exciting album" of 2023, praising its production. Mano Sundaresan of Pitchfork described A Great Chaos as "a creative breakthrough, flipping the script on Atlanta rap production" and opined that the album "may well be the next crucial LP" in the development of rage music, after Carti's Whole Lotta Red (2020). Mitchell, Sundaresan and Gölz all felt that whilst Carson's lyricism was weak, it ultimately came secondary to his delivery and presentation. Slant Magazine, and The Washington Post, with Rolling Stone and Paste listing it as one of 2023's best hip-hop albums. HotNewHipHop, HipHopDX and Complex listed "Fighting My Demons" as one of the best songs of 2023. The Fader ranked "Jennifer's Body" as the 60th best song of 2023, whilst Rolling Stone ranked it as the year's sixth best rap song. Pitchfork included "Lose It" in its list of the best rap songs of the year. Also in 2024, Pitchfork ranked A Great Chaos at number 86 on its list of "The 100 Best Albums of the 2020s So Far". The album is considered Carson's breakout album. According to Vivian Medithi of The Fader, the album "notched new commercial and critical highs" for rage music, with Carson establishing himself as "the face of [the genre] in 2024" through his greater "consistency" compared to his Opium labelmates. Writing in Complex that same year, Kieran Press-Reynolds believed that the album's "hyper-cluttered" style of rage was already proving influential on rappers such as OsamaSon. In 2025, Elania Bernstein of Hypebeast opined that it had become "the very blueprint for post-SoundCloud rage-trap as a whole." == Commercial performance ==

A Great Chaos debuted at number 11 on the US Billboard 200, earning 48,507 album-equivalent units in its first week, with 1,336 coming from pure album sales. It was Carson's first top 20 album in the United States. "Jennifer's Body", "Succubus", and "I Need U" were certified Gold. A Great Chaos also performed well in Canada and Europe. ==Track listing==

Notes • "It's Over" samples an earlier Ken Carson song, "Freestyle 3". • "Pots" is a backronym for "Pouring Out the Syrup". • "I Need U" and all the songs included in the deluxe edition are stylized in lowercase. • "SS" is short for "Sydney Sweeney". == Personnel ==

Credits adapted from AllMusic, and Tidal. • Benjamin Lidsky – recording engineer (1, 2, 6, 9, 11, 13, 15, 16, 18, 19), mixing (19–25) • Ben Thomas - recording engineer (12, 17) • Corey Moon – recording engineer (3–5, 7, 10, 14, 20–25) • Ellantre "Tre5" Williams - recording engineer (8) • Roark Bailey - mixing engineer (1–18) • Colin Leonard - mastering ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts == Certifications ==