I Am Music

Despite what the rabid, terminally online, and obsessive nature of Playboi Carti fans suggests, he is not music’s only mystery. It’s been four years since his highly influential classic, Whole Lotta Red. In the meantime, the wait for its follow-up has been exhausting, chaotic, often exciting, frequently disappointing, but always fervent. A huge run of non-streaming singles poised 2024 as the Atlanta creative’s year, which itself followed multiple canceled tours, massive festival performances, tease after snippet after announcement after delay, and bare-minimum social media engagement up until some more frequent activity this year. As you can tell, it’s been a vicious cycle that both shrouds Carti in mystery and allows him to benefit from massive industry moves or get a bag whenever he feels like it. To be fair, you can say this about many artists today, so don’t think we’re singling out the Opium boss just to hate.

But his frequent collaborator The Weeknd knew this self-eating snake better than most. Abel Tesfaye’s rise in the early 2010s was wholly mysterious. People didn’t even know his face, while sheer Internet buzz opened the big label rooms and star-studded studio sessions. By 2015, the XO cofounder was a trailblazer capitalizing on his emerging pop appeal through his die-hard following’s ever-rewarded support. Today, he’s arguably the biggest artist in the world. Frank Ocean also knew this cycle, but his approach to his mystique runs opposite to Abel’s. The former Odd Future crooner was at a similar crossroads and instead doubled down on his mystery to make his trajectory all the more legendary… and infamous for its current flatline. Nevertheless, both artists did what Playboi Carti has yet to prove: they made a choice.

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Why Is Playboi Carti Moving Like This?

Frank Ocean and The Weeknd chose between secrecy and superstardom, and Playboi Carti still can’t seem to find his perfect balance. Of course, the dry spell of releases since Blonde doesn’t automatically make Frank an underground gem, and Abel certainly keeps his moves under wraps to reserve a bit of his sauce for some likes or brand deals. But the Die Lit rager seems to lose control of his ship every once in a while, whereas his soulful contemporaries position even their most mainstream or frustratingly silent movements as careful, intentional, and well-planned. There are a few different examples of this from 2024. After zero streaming support for fan favorites like “H00DBYAIR” or “Different Day,” “All Red” came out like a damp thud more than a big bang, pretty much sounding like Future as opposed to the icy and smoky IG drops that already captivated the vamps.

Playboi Carti is the premier set of any festival he attends, but when it comes to his Opium tours, their abrupt and unexplained cancelations don’t seem to respect their attendees’ time, financial commitments, or patience. He posts a lot sometimes and is all love with fans, but rarely says much and has a few cases of alleged abhorrent behavior. In the minds of fans, Carti’s probably holed up in a cave somewhere making hard rage with the lights off but he’s actually popping out for Camila Cabello collabs, scamming Adin Ross (no judgment call there), and getting bags for ComplexCon and Camp Flog Gnaw this past weekend. At the end of the day, none of this would be worth mentioning if he addressed it fully or not at all. But this “best of both worlds” approach feels raw, messy, but still visceral at best, and manipulatively fabricated at worst.

Carti Loves Flying Close To The Sun

All this reminds us of Playboi Carti’s closest 2020s collaborator: Kanye West. We all know how hectic and unsatisfying Ye rollouts can be, and he also communicates through more secluded channels while enjoying his exorbitant fame. They share behavioral patterns, like posting DMs with associates and benefitting from “leaks” for more hype. Yet, as the VULTURES series, Donda 2, and the meager “All Red” proves, shadowy anticipation can flop. Glorifying these releases contradicts the counterculture they initially communicated, disappointing mainstream and cult fans for completely different reasons.

Winning that trust back takes time. There was a similarly secretive and electric fable around Whole Lotta Red bolstered by leaks and singles that weren’t the album’s eventual sound. Then it dropped, and many booed. But years passed, and eventually, Playboi Carti fans recognized it as an innovation from the underground to a mainstream stage. Now, “Different Day” is basically a year old, and we’ve heard “EVILJ0RDAN” to death.

It seems like Playboi Carti forces himself to reinvent his sound multiple times with each new album cycle because the preceding build-up is already old news by the time it drops. That’s a really enticing approach artistically, but it leaves a lot of missed opportunities in its wake. Those unfulfilled chances might be horrible music industry logistics and politics, or completely by his design. We hope King Vamp can overcome that in the former’s case. This new era is amazing; don’t get it twisted. But if the latter interpretation is true, and he keeps raising his ceiling higher than he can reach, then he knows his cult status and low efforts will get him paid superstar money either way. Wish we hadn’t solved that mystery…

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The post Playboi Carti Needs To Choose Between Secrecy & Superstardom Before It’s Too Late appeared first on HotNewHipHop.