I have lived near Baltimore since the 7th grade, and as rough as a city it was to grow up in, living near Baltimore really put me on to some really great music. One such artist I was introduced to from a very young age was Ca$h Carti, or as he know goes by, Playboi Carti. I have been a fan of his since his soundcloud days, with tracks such as smash pt2, Fetti, and YUNGXANHOE, that first sparked my attention. It has been a long 5 years but in this time Carti has cemented himself as one of Atlanta’s brightest and most creative minds in trap music. At first I wasn’t really able to understand what really set him apart from other trap stars until taking Design 264. And now I can see where the influence from dadaist and punk icons like Vivienne Westwood, and Salvador Dali have helped Carti take his music to the next level.
In order to understand that it is important to see where Carti started from, and what aesthetics he used to shape his music.
Being from Atlanta, Carti started rapping with the current trap aesthetic. Gun toting, chain hanging, diamond dancing aesthetic and his music reflected this aesthetic. It’s very easy to see why this aesthetic appeals to cities such as Atlanta, or Baltimore for that matter. Both cities have been ravished with harsh drug and crime bills which have left many African Americans unjustly in jail, furthermore the gentrification of certain parts of these cities makes the “trap” a hard reality for most young men. Thus, trap artists emerged from this circumstance, selling lyrics dedicated to brick layers, gang members, and most of all the importance of coming out of the trap and being able to move somewhere safe.
As his career started taking off, Carti started looking for new ways to separate himself from that demographic. That opportunity would arise as he would connect with Ian Connor and the AWGE collective from Harlem. The AWGE collective helped cultivate a new rap aesthetic, one that relied on feel good lyrics, and party anthems that had long replay value. During this time Playboi Carti rose to prominence with songs such as Magnolia, and *wokeuplikethis. His aesthetic also changed as he ditched the guns and true religion jeans for Rick Owens Ramones, and Raf Simmons sweatshirts.
Most people only know his two big hits, but his debut mixtape, Playboi Carti was warmly received even by non rap fans. His cadence and delivery were fast and repetitive, it was very catchy. His use of ad-libs and hooks as inspired by Chief Keef and Young Thug helped create the image of his voice being used as another musical instrument to support the beat rather than a vessel to deliver a witty rap verse. And this is where the comparisons to Dadaism begin. Dadaism is a creative approach as nonsensical as its name. Dadaist artists drew inspiration by mocking realism and realistic paintings, instead of trying to create accurate depictions of life, they tried to exaggerate the opposite. Similarly, in the world of rap and hip-hop, lyrical ability is put at an upmost importance. This is an art style used by the disenfranchised to voice out frustrations and criticisms. What Playboi Carti did in 2017 was instead of trying to master a lyrical ability, he exaggerated his lack of lyrical ability and instead focused on smooth sounding beats with minimal vocal presence.
“New choppa, new choppa, new choppa, new choppa
New choppa, new choppa, new choppa, new choppa
New choppa, new choppa, new choppa (yeah, uh-huh, uh-huh, mm-hm, yeah, yeah)
Run it up, run it up, run it up” – Playboi Carti from his song New Choppa.
This brings us to present day, Carti dropped his debut album Die Lit with wide critical acclaim. Die Lit leaned heavily on the simplistic lyrical choice and minimalistic beat patterns to create “a 57-minute sugar high that’s even wilder, more disorienting, and more perversely infectious than its predecessor.”- Pitchfork 2018. At this point Playboi Carti is as much of a rapper, as dadaist artists were painters. They both chose to change the course of their respective artistic mediums to create something satirical and nonsensical, but refreshing and creative. At this point, Carti has yet to drop his highly anticipated sophomore album Whole Lotta Red, several leaked tracks, and photoshoots have surfaced which give us a good idea on the artistic direction of Carti. Songs like Molly, and new snippets like Trenches show that Carti is ready to take his absurdist art form to a new level. Now he plans on altering his voice patterns to produced a whiney, high pitched, and screechy voice.
If you want to listen to Molly to see what I am talking about I have provided a link bellow.
