Playboi Carti

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  • Whole Lotta Red
    Whole Lotta Red

    In the two years following the August 2018 announcement of Playboi Carti’s Whole Lotta Red, you could have gauged any given Carti fan’s investment in the project by which song leak they claimed to have liked the most. One the internet took to calling “Kid Cudi” had a unique sort of staying power. That song does not appear on Whole Lotta Red, but Kid Cudi himself does, on “M3tamorphosis.” Of the project’s 24 songs, Cudi is one of three featured guests, appearing alongside likewise stylistic innovators Kanye West and Future. And so goes the story of the project: Whole Lotta Red is likely pretty close to what fans were expecting, but better. The production—provided by names like Pi’erre Bourne, Art Dealer, F1lthy, Juberlee, Richie Souf, Maaly Raw, and Wheezy—is consistently forward-thinking, toeing the line between 808-heavy post-trap rumble and the perpetually weird and increasingly popular avant-pop sound known as PC Music. There is less “baby voice” here than fans of Die Lit may have wanted, but the rapping (and singing) is some of Carti’s most impassioned and sharpest. Fans hung up on those early leaks might do well to consider them accidental gifts, because when it was time to deliver the album, Carti made sure we got the best of him. He just needed us to be patient.

  • Playboi Carti
    Playboi Carti

    Playboi Carti arrived at a time when mumble rap was boosting hip-hop’s bottom line, making it a ubiquitous but captivating innovation in music. On later releases like 2018’s Die Lit, Carti would tip a hat to his humble beginnings, priding himself on his ability to build wealth and buy his mom a house “off that mumbling s**t.” This self-titled 2017 mixtape was the beginning of Carti laying that very foundation. Born Jordan Terrell Carter in Atlanta in 1996, the rapper and singer takes a wide-eyed, unconstrained approach to creating—not unlike the stylistic technique he employed with his breakthrough 2015 single, “Broke Boi.” After Carti sprinkled a smattering of official and unofficial songs across the internet in the mid-2010s, his star power grew exponentially, thanks to fans who couldn’t get enough of his creative appeal. Playboi Carti is propelled by Carti’s sheer charisma and trend-setting persona. The artist, known globally for his unique fashion sense and an affinity for all things divergent, uses this radical mixtape as a launchpad for his brand of unconventional self-expression. The project is buoyed by repetitive chants and earworm phrases that stretch themselves into trance-inducing anthems and mantras, custom made for a new generation of ragers and moshers. “Magnolia,” the smash single produced by frequent collaborator Pi’erre Bourne, was Carti’s moment of arrival in the mainstream, thanks in large part to his breezy rapping style. Playboi Carti’s songs, lyrics, and ad libs have embedded themselves into the broader pop culture landscape, but don’t get confused: On “Half & Half,” he lets it be known that “This is not pop, this some rock.” Equally inspired by the unapologetic air of hip-hop and the irreverent attitude of rock ’n’ roll, he dedicates Playboi Carti to the merging of the two influential genres. The punk-inflected hit “Wokeuplikethis*” featuring Lil Uzi Vert shows the MCs directly addressing copycats and simultaneously flexing in their imitators’ faces. Lyrical minimalism is the ace up Playboi Carti’s sleeve, and he strategically plays his cards to bring us into his complex sonic universe.

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About Playboi Carti

"Playboi Carti is one of those rappers who represents a creative line in the sand: Either you’re with it or you ain’t. Punky, exhilarating, and daringly simple, Carti’s music pushes the bright minimalism of 2010s trap to almost abstract extremes, combining twinkly synths with noisy bass and a flow that sounds like one long ad-lib, or—yeah, let’s get it out there—baby talk. The gambit is clear: Like Cam’ron’s embrace of the color pink or Young Thug’s trailblazing singsong, Carti’s babble is a middle finger to preconceived notions of what it means to be a rapper, and to rap’s general tendency toward masculine tough talk—or, as a line on 2018’s “R.I.P.” went, “F**k that mumblin’ shit, f**k that mumblin’ shit/Bought a crib for my momma off that mumblin’ shit.” Forget being a voice of authority, there are times it doesn’t even sound like Carti is saying words. Born Jordan Carter in 1996, Carti got his start in the Atlanta underground, connecting with A$AP Rocky at a festival in 2015—a relationship that vaulted him toward the mainstream and also put him at the emerging junction between streetwear and high fashion. (He may be one of the few people to have eaten nuggets from McDonald’s while being outfitted for a Louis Vuitton runway show.) If 2017’s Playboi Carti (which included the Lil Uzi Vert collaboration “Wokeuplikethis*” and the ubiquitous “Magnolia”) set the bar, 2018’s Die Lit ripped it out and knocked a wall down with it."

HOMETOWN
us
BORN
September 13, 1995
GENRE
Hip-Hop/Rap

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