Playboi Carti is beginning to tease his upcoming album and appearing on stage at the Splash! Music Festival, a pre-recorded voice, delivers an update.
“I promise you the album is coming,” Carti said. “So it’s only right that I come here tonight and give you a world premiere.”
Also over the weekend was Rolling Loud Europe, the premier rap festival overseas, continues to bring some of today’s top rap talent to the Austrian countryside. Day 2 of the festival was a major success, showcasing performances from current and emerging hip-hop stars and some of Europe’s most famous artists.
Saturday’s headliner, Playboi Carti, electrified the crowd in Vienna with his signature VAMP energy, delivering hit after hit. The lineup also featured standout performances from Lil Tjay, Destroy Lonely, and Homixide Gang, creating an Opium-heavy undercard. Rising artists like Chow Lee and JELEEL! added to the excitement with some of the festival’s most entertaining sets.
International representation was strong with Germany’s Reezy and Belgium’s Fresh Lapeufra, highlighting the vibrant European rap scene. Rolling Loud Europe continues to be a key event for showcasing the best in global hip-hop talent.
Rolling Loud Europe, the premier rap festival overseas, continues to bring some of today’s top rap talent to the Austrian countryside. Day 2 of the festival was a major success, showcasing performances from current and emerging hip-hop stars and some of Europe’s most famous artists.
Saturday’s headliner, Playboi Carti, electrified the crowd in Vienna with his signature VAMP energy, delivering hit after hit. The lineup also featured standout performances from Lil Tjay, Destroy Lonely, and Homixide Gang, creating an Opium-heavy undercard. Rising artists like Chow Lee and JELEEL! added to the excitement with some of the festival’s most entertaining sets.
International representation was strong with Germany’s Reezy and Belgium’s Fresh Lapeufra, highlighting the vibrant European rap scene. Rolling Loud Europe continues to be a key event for showcasing the best in global hip-hop talent.
Rolling Loud Europe, the premier rap festival overseas, continues to bring some of today’s top rap talent to the Austrian countryside. Day 2 of the festival was a major success, showcasing performances from current and emerging hip-hop stars and some of Europe’s most famous artists.
Saturday’s headliner, Playboi Carti, electrified the crowd in Vienna with his signature VAMP energy, delivering hit after hit. The lineup also featured standout performances from Lil Tjay, Destroy Lonely, and Homixide Gang, creating an Opium-heavy undercard. Rising artists like Chow Lee and JELEEL! added to the excitement with some of the festival’s most entertaining sets.
International representation was strong with Germany’s Reezy and Belgium’s Fresh Lapeufra, highlighting the vibrant European rap scene. Rolling Loud Europe continues to be a key event for showcasing the best in global hip-hop talent.
Let’s use our imagination real quick: it’s 2060, your grandchild just took his first steps, and Playboi Carti finally released the follow-up album to Whole Lotta Red. While many fans hope that we get this new project in 2024 after relentless teases and promises, this future fantasy is the more likely outcome at this point. But that doesn’t mean that we won’t wait patiently as long as he keeps engaging with fans, as he recently did in electric fashion at Rolling Loud Vienna over the weekend. On Opium’s Instagram page (or Carti’s finsta, maybe? A promo account? Who knows?), a new picture appeared of the Atlanta rapper at the festival, and it’s the clearest photo we’ve gotten of him in quite a while.
Furthermore, delusional fans online (don’t worry, so are we) hope that this suggests the album is coming very soon, and that these new performances will fuel something greater. What’s more is that producer Cardo recently spoke on “finishing up” Playboi Carti’s new album very recently, adding fuel to that fire. “I don’t know, man, it’s been going crazy. That’s all I know… In a good way. It’s been crazy fun,” he expressed in a new video.
In addition to all this, it’s not like Playboi Carti stopped giving us song snippets previewing his work, as the most recent of these landed just a couple of weeks ago. Still, they did become much less frequent after the barrage of new tracks in late 2023 and early 2024. So no one really knows what’s going on with this new album or why it hasn’t dropped yet, whether because he’s a perfectionist, leaks, label issues, and all those other speculative coping mechanisms. Maybe, just maybe, we’ll get an answer to this soon.
Meanwhile, we know that as long as Playboi Carti continues to perform, he can maintain a whole lot of hype and excitement around him and his artistry regardless of new album drops. He ranked among the best sets at Summer Smash this year, a tall order with such a stacked lineup. Hopefully these festival sets and the like continue to build off one another and are contributing to upcoming releases. Also, with a lot of allegations emerging against him and Opium in the past few years, we can’t imagine that this made things any easier.
Playboi Carti fans are nothing if not patient. The rollout for his last album, Whole Lotta Red, was one of the longest and most protracted in recent memory. The rollout for his next album has been more of the same. That being said, a release date might be in site. Playboi Carti performed at Splash! Festival on July 5th, and he surprised everyone by addressing the album delay. Not only that, but he made a promise to fans they will get to hear it soon.
Carti is known for his aggressive stage presence. It made sense, then, that he dropped his bombshell news while screaming at the top of his lungs. “I promise you,” he told the fans. “The album is coming.” The rapper didn’t stop there. “So it’s only right,” he explained. “That I come here tonight and give you a world premiere.” He then decided to treat fans to the first full performance of the song “All Red,” which is expected to be on the untitled album. Playboi Carti has given fans lots of reason to be hopeful for a new album soon, with all the teasers and snippets. That being said, this is the most encouraging piece of info shared yet.
Cardo, who has collaborated with Playboi Carti for years, talked about the album’s lengthy making during a recent interview. The producer claimed he was traveling to Atlanta to put the finishing touches on the album. He also revealed that he’s been working on the album for four years, which is even before Carti announced it. Playboi Carti is obviously not a rush. In November, the rapper told Numéro Berlin that he spent three months in a cave. He claimed he wanted to see what the acoustics of a cave would sound like on record.
“I really try to stay out my head,” Playboi Carti told the outlet. “I try to stay out my phone and I just try to lock in. I’m in my surroundings. I’ve been recording in Paris. I love Paris. I was recording in a cave for like three months and all the music that came out of that is just chaotic and crazy.” It’s safe to assume sonic experiments like this are what has led to the album’s delay. That being said, the aforementioned leaks suggest that the wait will be worth it.
For years, music’s go-to feature for hits was Drake. Putting Drake on a buzzing underground single or remix could launch a new artist to the heights of stardom. Even established stars benefitted from the so-called “Drake Stimulus,” seeing some of their largest streaming totals from songs featuring the Certified Lover Boy. But this year, as Drake’s star seemed to be falling even before that embarrassing drubbing at the hands of Kendrick Lamar, a new name has emerged as front-runner for the most beneficial featured act in rap: Playboi Carti.
Over the past few months, fans have noticed that songs featuring Carti have outperformed the other tracks from the albums on which they appear, the same way songs featuring Drake have traditionally done. The unconventional Atlanta rapper has an unusually enthusiastic fanbase; Carti’s songs leak often, and in many cases, the leaks have been the most coveted tracks among those fans whenever he does release music. At the same time, the relative infrequency with which he releases likely drives interest in any new music from him.
For instance, “FE!N,” from Travis Scott’s 2023 album Utopia, was that project’s best performing track, despite the album also featuring Drake, Future, the incarcerated Young Thug, and even Beyoncé — all well-established hitmakers with proven chart success. “FE!N” was the fifth single released from the album, meaning it was more likely chosen for a push due to the existing response, rather than the other way around. Its popularity was such that they made the ill-advised choice to perform it at the 2024 Grammys, resulting in a fairly lukewarm reception from viewers.
Likewise, early this year, despite a rollout that could most charitably be described as “messy,” Kanye West’s oft-delayed album Vultures 1spawned a No. 1 hit, the third single, “Carnival.” While the title track failed to crack the Hot 100, and its follow-up with an adorable North West verse, “Talking / Once Again,” peaked at No. 30, “Carnival” became West’s first chart-topper in 13 years after entering the chart at No. 3. It’s hard to attribute its success to West, whose last few years have been denoted by a marked fall from grace, nor to collaborators Ty Dolla Sign and Rich The Kid, who’ve hardly been known for moving the needle all that much over their respective careers. Could it be the Carti effect?
Then, there’s “Type Sh*t,” from Future & Metro Boomin’s new album We Don’t Trust You. The Carti-featuring track didn’t become the album’s highest performing song, but that was probably only due to the feisty Kendrick Lamar verse on “Like That,” which drove the “Everlasting Bass”-sampling single to the top of the Hot 100. While “Like That” was Future’s first No. 1 that didn’t feature Drake, “Type Sh*t,” which also featured Travis Scott, was the second-highest charter, landing at No. 2. And yes, that song featured a lineup custom-made to game the Spotify algorithms, but that lineup still featured Playboi Carti, whose hot streak appeared to continue as a result.
Heck, Carti’s cachet even extends beyond hip-hop, with pop star Camila Cabello tapping the King Vamp to juice the urban appeal of her album C, XOXO‘s lead single, “I Luv It.” Cabello’s reached out to unconventional rappers before — Machine Gun Kelly, Young Thug, DaBaby, and Gunna all spring to mind — but it’s telling that the Miami-bred Cuban star bet on Playboi Carti’s strange style to announce her new album’s experimental direction.
It’s also telling that all these artists were willing to overlook troubling accusations of domestic abuse against the rapper. But, if his rabid fanbase is also willing to do so, why would his peers do any differently? If artists in the industry continue to feel that Carti’s fans are worth courting, they’ll continue to reach out. The snake eats its tail; Carti gets bigger with every feature, which only makes his features that much more in-demand.
Playboi Carti is the most mysterious man in hip-hop. Yes, Kendrick Lamar is extremely secretive about his release schedule, but Parti like to keep fans waiting for years. He’s been teasing the release of his third album, tentatively titled MUSIC, since 2021. If we’re to take producer Cardo at his word, however, the wait for new Carti is almost over. Cardo recently talked about the recording process for the album, and claimed that it was nearing an end.
Cardo recorded himself talking about his upcoming plans on July 3. The producer revealed that he was going to Atlanta to “finish up” Playboi Carti’s anticipated album. The other person in the room asks how the recording process has been going, and Cardo admits that it hasn’t been easy. “I don’t know, man,” he explains. “It’s been going crazy. That’s all I know… In a good way. It’s been crazy fun.” He noted that he’s unaware of what Carti will do at a given time. He could drop a song that Cardo produced at random, or it will never see the light of day.
The real kicker came when Cardo was asked how long he’d been working on the album. “For like four years,” he revealed. “Me and him have been working on this album for a good four years.” The timeline adds up with regards to the album’s announcement. It’s also humorous to know that people in Playboi Carti’s inner-circle are just as unsure of what he will do as the fans. Cardo has known Carti for almost a decade, and their collaborations have been consistently strong. The producer spoke on their unique chemistry during a Billboard interview in April.
Cardo hesitated to get too specific about their process, but he did say that him and Carti are musically aligned most of the time. “That’s my little brother, man,” the producer gushed. “Just being around him, the young one, you know, and gaining some kind of different kind of energy and inspiration from what he’s doing. Seeing what levels he’s going on. It kind of gives me an idea of what levels I should just keep going. That’s how we’re creating all these fun records.” We hope, for Cardo’s sake and the fan’s, that the album drops soon.
It seems like Playboi Carti is back outside, as he recently took to his Instagram Story with an odd and tantalizing post that has many fans scratching their heads. Moreover, new album hype is once again on the cards following an explosive Summer Smash headlining set and many prior weeks of radio silence. But the Atlanta rapper didn’t provide any update on this: just an Instagram repost of Yung Miami’s latest post that features the femcee sitting in pink. It’s unclear whether this is a cryptic hint at something to come or whether he’s just shooting his shot with the former City Girl.
Furthermore, it’s the latter possibility of this Playboi Carti shoutout that interests some fans out there thanks to Yung Miami’s previous relationship with Diddy. That obviously took a big pause as a result of the multiple lawsuits against the Bad Boy mogul for alleged sexual harassment, abuse, and sex trafficking, claims that even roped Caresha in, too. As such, this takes on a bit more of a scandalous connotation, but it’s obviously nothing to write home about other than a simple random IG repost. After all, it seems like the Puff connection is nothing more than an unfortunate coincidence at press time, something that more legal scrutiny and case development could potentially change.
Elsewhere, Playboi Carti’s last rap-related link-up or reference point was his time with NAV in the club back in April of this year. We don’t really know what his relationships and connections look like in the rap world, especially outside of his collaborative circle. Beyond “King Vamp,” it’s always interesting to guess at what artists are like with each other from the outside looking in. It’s a futile and often misguided effort, but a curious one nonetheless.
As for Yung Miami, she and JT are no longer the City Girls, but they both appear on Camila Cabello’s upcoming album. Many fans wondered why they appeared separately on the album’s tracklist, hinting that they will no longer use the duo’s moniker even in collaboration. Hopefully they continue to make music together, with or without that name. We’ll see as well whether or not Playboi Carti and the Florida multi-hyphenate collaborate or what this repost could possibly mean.
Playboi Carti was one of the headliners for Lyrical Lemonade’s Summer Smash Festival this weekend, particularly on Saturday (June 15), and it was even more wild and chaotic than you’d expect in the best way. The crowd was absolutely electric, he went through his recent non-streaming singles for the first time in a live performance setting (excluding VULTURES listening parties), and he even brought out the rest of his Opium crew, including Ken Carson and Destroy Lonely. The Atlanta rapper had some leaks emerge recently, particularly one with Travis Scott, but more importantly, he took matters into his own hands. Reportedly, he debuted two unreleased tracks during this set.
Furthermore, a clip of one of these tracks (reportedly titled “ALL RED”) features DJ Swamp Izzo, who claimed over the weekend that Playboi Carti would drop something on Saturday. While that didn’t end up manifesting officially, at least this performance refueled a lot of hype and hope concerning his next album. As far as the sound of it, it’s a bit more bombastic and bouncy than the other singles… or at least, from what we can tell in the distorted and choppy clip below. We’ll take anything we can get at this point, and we’re sure there are cleaner leaks online.
However, this excitement around Playboi Carti’s new era hasn’t taken away any interest or mystique behind what we’ve already received from him. For example, fans comically reacted to audio of his raw ad-libs, something that contextualizes his tracks in a pretty interesting manner. Some folks might not consider what goes into a recording process, especially for something so volatile and energetic. Even though it just sounds funny at face value, it’s always compelling to see how a track came together and how they masked that process with magic.
Of course, take all this with a massive, long-standing, and exceedingly frustrating grain of salt. Playboi Carti’s made promises before that never came to fruition, and it’s clear that there are a lot of factors in the album’s release that might not have much to do with the artist himself. But whenever he does have something big in the public eye, he always shows out and usually offers at least something new for fans to chew on. So we’ll sit patiently until a drop lets us loose in the pits.
“Imma have to go find Playboi Carti again….” DJ Akademiks complained on Twitter over the weekend about the rapper’s mysterious absence despite multiple non-streaming singles in the past few months. “Last thing that n***a told me was ‘2024’ music … its half way thru the year …its finna be 2025 soon. they gave me two dates that dey aint stick to lol.” However, DJ Swamp Izzo came through in the comments of Ak’s IG repost of this tweet, and for those unaware, he’s apparently working closely with the Atlanta MC these days, even appearing on his track “Evil Jordan.” First, he posted a “soon” emoji, and then another comment that read “Fuk it TONIGHT,” lining up with Carti’s Summer Smash festival performance in Chicago tonight (Saturday, June 15).
Of course, we don’t really know what this means, nor whether or not Playboi Carti will actually drop something or just perform at the festival. Maybe he’ll finally give a date for the next release, put the whole thing out and shock the world, or the most likely scenario: nothing happens. After all, “King Vamp” is notoriously inconsistent when it comes to his presence, his promises, and his releases, although some recent hints and teases have fans’ hopes up again. We’ve got a couple of hours to theorize and prepare if you’re reading this soon after publishing.
Meanwhile, Playboi Carti is also making the online rounds for less concerning and more bizarre reasons that seem out of nowhere. One of these is the animosity that metalcore artist Ronnie Radke has continuously shown him online over a merch dispute and more grievances. Knowing Carti’s online tendencies, we can’t imagine he’s getting very fast responses. So in the end, Radke might unfortunately be as frustrated as fans waiting on a new album.
Still, “FE!N” remains a hot track, there’s still a lot of hype around Playboi Carti’s IG singles, and we doubt that we’ll finish 2024 with absolutely nothing more from him. All we have to be is patient, which definitely disappoints a lot of fans out there. After all, he’s so close to dropping something that most of his die-hard fanbase will absolutely eat up. But there must be a reason behind all this, and whether it’s a good or bad one, we’re in no position of power to speed things up.
