The setting in 850 Mckee St Houston, a small concert venue in the heart of the city’s booming youth art district, Its loud, its live and in the midst of all the chaos is Georgia’s very own PlayboiCarti, who can be described as nothing less than a Rap star in the making. From his unexpected but much anticipated late arrival at his OWN concert to his minimalistically extravagant signature style, Carti’s very essence reflects not just his musical views as far as influence but his youthful persona as well as the message he is trying so hard to portray to other youth, one of inspiration.
After a brief interaction in the VIP section of East Down Warehouse in which we are formally introduced to each other, we are then ushered backstage to a small white room that is mostly empty; lest for a matching leather couch and a desk set. A small mini fridge sits in the corner, which carti beckons me towards as we both lament on the lack of water bottles in the otherwise stuffy backstage spot. I locate a lone bottle and hand it to him as I feel, being the performer, he needs it more than I do, and we both take a seat.
At first I am taken aback at his willingness to let a lowly Blogger interview him but he is not put off by my status, He in turn seems excited to answer any questions I’m willing to pitch at him, encouraging me to keep doing what I’m doing and stating his admiration in my willingness to step up to him in the first place. His eyes almost have a gleam to them as he wildly spectates on how he wishes more people would help each other without looking at it as an investment, reiterating his right to give me an interview, by saying “besides any publicity is good publicity right?”
An almost nervous energy can be perceived as he rubs his hands on his ripped designer ksubi jeans, which he has outfitted with a stripped green and white t-shirt that would be unrecognizable if not for the large ice cream cone on the left breast; a well known logo largely affiliated with Pharrell’s BIllionaire Boys Club, some classic oreo 4’s in mint condition and two very simple but elaborate gold chains, each holding a 24k gold St John statement pendant. He crosses and uncrosses his legs as if in an effort to get more comfortable and suddenly, the mood in the room changes.
Prior to our relocations I had gotten a chance to observe Carti, whom, I will admit, I had unjustifiably presumed to be loud mouthed and arrogant; this conclusion I came to after bearing witness to his relentless bragging on how he “wanted to be the greatest” he gave off a devil may care attitude of entitlement, propping his feet up on a random girl sitting by him almost as if just to get a reaction from her but laughing and dabbing her up when she politely shoved his feet off. My first thought was “oh brother, not another one”
But with the doors closed and the camera no longer on him, it was as if I was faced with a different side of the young artist. As he sat solemnly in front of me sipping on his water, he began making comments not on the image of him that is widely known but on what he considers his “true’ self, one he feels, for the most part, is often misunderstood.
” I Aim To Inspire”
These are the first words expressed by the 18 year old Atlanta native, unprovoked nor even questioned by me. Carti takes the lead from there going on to explain himself, he expounds on his rough childhood but also admits to being raised around “rich white folk” making sure to state the fact that this did not change him as a person, nor did it “take the hood out of him”. He goes on to describe how this plays a role in his music, referring to what some might have perceived to be a “flexing” habit of his; although some might see it to be just a impetuous display of wealth, Carti instead has a whole other perception. Having seen both sides of the grass, he means not to intimidate but instead to genuinely inspire those who listen to his music, not just to “acquire wealth and disregard females” but to want something for themselves, and those that are closest to them.
The interview is interrupted in this moment by a knock on the door, after which a crowd of non other than 2 of the “cool bachelor white friends” as Carti so eloquently stated I quote in my interview; who enthusiastically offer him a blunt to smoke, to which he cheerily replies “Pipe Up!” again we see another side of him as he interacts with his friends, who introduce themselves as Dev and Gabe. The group of 3 interact with each other as though they’ve been friends for years, Gabe even mimicking Carti’s exact movements as he did a separate interview in the rooms corner desk; the latter having chose the chair because he wanted to “feel like the boss”.
When he finishes he’s back on the couch and ready for more questions. I ask him about his influences, which he takes into depth, beginning first with references to his fashion influence, which he relays as a kid cudi’s casual alternative meets Benny from “City of God” and a dash of Jordan’s loving sneaker head combo. I laugh and he replies “no but seriously” and from there goes deeper in the pot implying music in the works with A$ap Rocky, a possible single, and a few more remix’s that are up his sleeve and ready to drop, he says all this with a mischievous smile on his face, so naturally, I prompt him.
“So would you say A$ap Mob is an influence for you?”
“I mean yea I would definitely say that, Rocky especially, I feel like he’s really taken me under his wing and is teaching me and I look up to him so its a big deal for me to have someone like that believe in me” He sounds earnest, almost like proud son.
As we continue waiting for his stage cue, Carti receives a call from a close personal friend nicknamed Moody, their conversation is brief but the words hold depth, he encourages Moody to keep his head up, and never to forget he is family, he ends the call with a heart felt “i love u” and in the blink of an eye is right back to his regular rhetoric.
Standing up he begins introducing himself to the scores of people that have now entered the small room and ends up challenging the biggest one, the bouncer. Who to his own discredit had not previously heard of him, instead of taking offense though, this seemed to motivate Carti, whose sudden burst of energy in excitement to put on a show must have been reverberated through the universe because almost immediately and much to his delight the director of the club arrived backstage to give him its cue
and just like that,
it was on.
GENERATION .Y-HTX 