Playboi Carti’s manager

Playboi Carti drinking out of a Hello Kitty mug.

Who is Playboi Carti and why should you care about him?

Playboi Carti, also known as Jordan Terrel Carter, should be known about because of his very influential behavior that even managed to make Kanye West switch some of his music style in Vultures 1, like in the songs Carnival and F** Sumn. Not many people even know much about Playboi Carti’s upbringing on how he got here today so this article is about how Playboi Carti started and how he got to where he is now.

Jordan Terrel Carter was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on September 13, 1996. His life started to go downhill around his middle school years when he started to focus less on his grades and started getting lazy. This is where he started making his first beats. However he never released any music at this time. During the end of his middle school years he managed to get his grades up and culminate.

High school years

At the start of his high school years he met a rapper named UnoTheActivist (Lane) whom he would soon work with. Carti never intended to rap at first at all, but intended to become an NBA star. He says in an interview with The Fader, “I was a young AI [Allen Iverson] and didn’t go to practice. That was the time I was really ducking school and it was all hoop and no rap. I would smoke before practice, get on the court and drop 30.” He never got to actually become an NBA star because his grades were always down and he would later stop playing after a disagreement with his coach.

After he quit basketball he barely attended his high school classes and went to work on music or work at his job at H&M, which led to him barely graduating. But before graduating he started to work with a producer named Ethereal who helped him make his earliest songs named #PRAY #4 #ME, talk, and Heavy.

Start of his career

Carti began rapping because it was the second thing he was most passionate about besides basketball. Also because in an interview with Complex, he stated, “My ma couldn’t tell me s***. Nobody could tell me s***,” which is what he goes by. He did anything he felt he wanted to.

When Carti graduated from high school, almost no one showed up at his graduation because no one knew it was actually taking place; he continued working with Ethereal. Ethereal would then expose Carti to a music label called Awful Records which he would start to work for. This led to Carti being co-signed to the label.

Ethereal would also help Carti publish his first song to make it to streaming platforms called Beef. In an interview with Genius, Ethereal even said, “I am lucky to sit back and think. In some way shape or form, I used my production to help [Carti] get wherever he wanted,” and Carti would reply the same with “Ethereal is a legend.” and “Without him, I don’t know where the f*** I’d be.”

Soon after Carti and Ethereal would fall out of partnership and never work again. Carti would then go to work with Awful Records, getting the attention of the leader, named Father, so Father took Carti in as his protege. Awful Records at the time was known as an Atlanta based rap collective in the underground scene and had a lot of hype. While Carti was a part of Awful Records he was promoted heavily by Father and Awful, featuring Carti on their channel and producing songs for him. Carti started to label himself as Ca$h Carti of Awful Records. He would drop some of his most recognizable underground songs under Awful Records like Broke Boi, Mercedez, and By Myself / No Help. Carti’s first time performing would also be with Awful Records in 2015.

Controversies/problems

When Father wanted to officially sign Carti to Awful Records he faced a problem because at this time Carti was introduced to Ian Conner. Ian Conner wanted Carti to be more than just an underground rapper and hit mainstream so he told A$ap Rocky and A$ap Mob about Carti the day Father was going to sign Carti. They flew Carti out and signed him to A$ap Mob. Carti never said goodbye to Awful Records and went so far as to even disrespect the label by stealing one of their merch designs. Carti even said he was never an Awful Records member besides previously repping them. Carti is also still signed to A$ap Mob to this day by being signed with AWGE (ASAP Worldwide Greatness Entertainment).

Before even starting to work with A$ap Mob, Carti would find himself in trouble with producers like MexikoDro, DJ Akademiks and MilanMakesBeats. They would all accuse Carti of stealing their beats without paying them and these allegations seem to be true because when the producers asked Carti to pay he would refuse. Carti went as far to even send threats to the producers saying stuff like, “Can’t wait to see u B****, Ima find u, and F*** everybody who you love.” He would also send texts to friends of the producers and say he would pay them if he told him where the producers lived. Carti would also share a snippet preview of his first album with a stolen beat from MexikoDro, starting more drama between the situation. However, this never amounted to nothing due to Carti never dropping the album.

Ian Conner and Carti would continue being best friends even after Ian heard about the situation. Their friendship is shown by Carti dropping a song named “Ian Conner” and even giving Ian Conner 5% of his earnings from his music, which is still happening to this day. However there was another obstacle for Carti. The other obstacle was a previous music group named Splur Gang which quickly died off because of Carti joining Awful Records. Splur Gang consisted of UnoTheActivist (Lane) and Thouxanbanfauni, both childhood friends of Carti.

However, things would start falling apart after an affiliate of A$ap Mob, BloodyDior, shot UnoTheActivist. Carti, instead of siding with his childhood friend, he would remain friends with BloodDior and A$ap Mob.

This led to Lane tweeting, “They [Carti] sellin they soul and getting f***ed for fame the secret is out” and “This ain’t no diss but I would never sell soul for the fame, I would never change on my family over p****, U would never friend my brother enemy, U would never talk down on family so n***** don’t f*** with him before they meet, all that devil worship feeding statues is out.” Carti would respond to Uno that he was using his name for attention because all Uno would do at the time was drop diss tracks on Carti and others affiliated with Carti.

End of The Controversies

Carti would finally work with A$ap Mob, with whom Carti dropped his first mixtape Playboi Carti, on which A$ap Rocky would feature in the song named New Choppa. Rocky would promote Carti a lot to make him as famous as he was. At the time A$ap Rocky was recognized as a top rap artist, even getting recognized by the likes of Drake and Kendrick Lamar. At this time Carti would be exposed to actual mainstream music and artists. This is when he started making ties to people like Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Tyler the Creator, Kanye West, Frank Ocean, Kid Cudi, Lana Del Rey, Chief Keef and The Weeknd. This was the end of Carti’s troubles with music.

Gallery • 6 Photos

Himself

Young Cartier