Playboi Carti has become the face of the new direction of rap, but how did he do this and what is he creating? Playboi Carti, an Atlanta based rapper, came into the game as Atlanta became the focal point of the modern generation of rappers. From the pioneers like Future, Young Thug, and Migos to the current stars of the rap game with the likes of Lil Baby, Gunna, 21 Savage, and Lil Yachty that dominate today’s rap charts, Playboi Carti bursted through the game with his hit Magnolia. Playboi Carti, with the help of his producer Pi’erre Bourne and Lil Uzi Vert would create a cult fan base over the course of 2017 and 2018, carving out a role to be a star rapper in the upcoming era of rap he and pi’erre were painting. Bringing the underground phonk sound pioneered by A$ap Rocky, Spaceghostpurpp, and Chris Travis. Making unique synths and beats with spacey vibes became everyone’s mission to create. Carti would begin working on his next album “Whole Lotta Red”, but fans would make it nearly impossible to release.
Marking the height in the epidemic in music of fans leaking artists’ music. These fans would post the songs on the internet before artists have the chance to release them, essentially killing all potential profit. Carti, unfortunately, is at the front of the music leaking industry with after the majority of the album leaked online Carti would disappear from the music industry and would scarcely be heard from for the next 2 years.
When he would return, no one expected what would come. In late April and early May he would come out with his single @meh and feature on Drake’s Pain 1993. With massive excitement growing around for his return, rap fans were excited to hear the return of the spacey and unique songs that held the rap game captive from his last Album “Die Lit.” Yet, everyone was surprised to hear him rapping in his infamous baby voice. The baby voice is a high pitched voice in which he sounds like his voice never dropped as a kid. This started a massive panic from his fanbase as every quality of what made them fall in love with his sound had seemed to vanish over the two years that he was gone. The internet would go off on him and his album saying he is “washed” “trash” and criticizing him and his rumors of being queer. Carti would disappear again and the album would sit out of the fans rotations for a while.
As the album sat in limbo, people would revisit it and realize it was surprisingly good. Many students cited this as their exact experience talking about how at first they didn’t understand him, the album, or what he was doing, yet over time they began to understand it. After a year the album’s verdict went from disastrous flop to ahead of its time and as one student said “ it’s a masterpiece.” The album would bring a punk style to the traditional spacey and intricate beats that he was known for. The album would be executive produced by Ye (Kanye West) with F1lthy formally known for founding the producer group “working on dying” to produce 6 songs and establish himself as the pioneer of the punk and electric style of rap he and Carti had created.
The second wind of the album had propelled Carti to the forefront of rap making him known as one of, if not the best concert artist in the rap game. This is because the hard rock and metal inspirations made it an amazing crowd dynamic for fans of all types of rap. This would lead to him being a headline at nearly every major music festival with him headlining “Rolling Loud” the largest hip hop festival many times.
Carti would establish his label named “Opium” with artists such as Ken Carson, Destroy Lonely, and Homixide Gang. Ken Carson would reach major traction in 2021 as people began to understand the sound more. His songs, “Rock n Roll” and “Yale” would begin to pick up major streams as people became aware of his music catalog and last year his song “Freestyle 2” would become a tik tok trend pushing even closer to the mainstream spotlight. Destroy Lonely would blow up last year as his song “No stylist” would gain massive traction on tik tok and this year his song “if looks can kill” would also become big on tik tok. Destroy Lonely and Ken Carson are used to being out of the spotlight of the tabloids, with 3.5m motley listeners and 5.7m monthly listeners, but Carti is leaving fans on edge, as they are waiting for the release of the next pieces that will push them into the mainstream.
Carti’s influence has already become noticeable as rappers have shifted towards leaning more on creative and unique production styles with minimalist lyrics and rapping. One example of this is the rapper “Yeat” who has blown up in the last couple of years. Him and Bynx (who comes from the producer group that F1lthy founded “Working on Dying”) took tik tok and the music industry by storm with bynx’s unique and boundary pushing production style and Yeats pioneering style and sound with adlibs that play right into Bynx’s beat. Bnyx and F1lthy look to be the future as production with them getting placements with Drake, Travis Scott, Young Thug, Lil Uzi Vert, and Lil Yachty. Carti has also been influencing Trippie Redd and Lil Uzi Vert who’s recent albums embrace the electronic rage sub genre that carti had created. Lil Uzi Vert (a long time accomplice to Carti) even having Ken Caron produce a song on the album. Carti has recently begun undergoing another change, exchanging his baby voice for a deep voice. When a leak of this surfaced no one would believe it wasn’t future let alone Carti. He debuted this voice on Travis Scott’s “Utopia” on a song named “FE!N.” Carti’s influence is rapidly picking up steam over the last couple of years being able to see traces of his work and accomplices in almost every mainstream project of recent. In Drake’s recent album “For All the Dogs” a song named “daylight” displays a replica of a Playboi Carti song as he copies his traditional flow, adlibs, and beat. With his style being highlighted in mainstream work and Ken Carson’s new album hitting number four on the highest streamed album of the week… Carti’s influence and height as an artist is just hitting the runway as the rap game shifts to the new sound and aesthetic he has created.
