During the late 2010s and early 2020s, rapper Playboi Carti amassed a cult following and was propelled into stardom. From his first self-titled mixtape to his second studio album, Whole Lotta Red, Playboi Carti has developed his voice and style. His iconic “baby voice,” introduced in Die Lit, became a key component in the style and execution of Whole Lotta Red. Simultaneously, he played a pivotal role in pioneering the entire rage genre, alongside other artists such as Trippie Redd and SoFaygo. In 2019, he started the Opium label, signing artists Ken Carson, Destroy Lonely, and Homixide Gang. His label has now become the forefront of current rage music.
With all of Playboi Carti’s success, he has created a very large and vocal fanbase. A fanbase that he often lies to, whether it be album drops or just blatantly lying in his lyrics. His fans have recognized his lying tendencies and many have labeled him as a pathological liar and “Rap’s biggest Liar.” Though some fans choose to believe Carti, they will always be disappointed.
The biggest and most frequent thing Carti lies about is the release of his upcoming albums. His most recent album, Whole Lotta Red, had been almost constantly lied about. On October 15, 2019, Carti made an Instagram post with the caption stating “him <3 red incoming.” A day later, Carti made another post to Instagram with the caption “> than 48 hours locked in.” This made people believe that he would be releasing Whole Lotta Red in 48 hours, and it made sense because 48 hours later would be a Friday, which is the day most artists release music. Unfortunately, this was not the case, and he didn’t end up releasing an album until over a year later. Another lie that Carti said concerning Whole Lotta Red was during a concert on July 27, 2019. Carti told the audience that he was planning to drop music in 60 days, implying that he was planning on releasing a project. This was not the case, however, as nothing was released in the following 60 days. It ended up being 517 days until his next album. Then there is the infamous “Monday” tweet. On April 16, 2020, shortly after the release of the song “Meh,” Carti made a tweet that simply read “.MoNDaY.” Since his album, Whole Lotta Red, was already highly anticipated at this point, he had just released a single. People thought that Carti would either be dropping Whole Lotta Red songs or some sort of information about his upcoming album the next Monday, or at least one soon. After that, this did not end up happening as it took Carti 36 Mondays after the original Monday tweet to finally reveal his next album’s cover art release date and pre-orders for Merch which he did on Monday, December 21, 2020.
Even after the drop of Whole Lotta Red, Playboi Carti would continue to lie about upcoming projects. The highly anticipated album “Music,” previously named “Narcissist,” has also been lied about several times.
On August 23, 2021, Carti posted a series of pictures to Instagram, all with the caption “narcissus 9 13 21.” He then changed his website’s theme and announced a tour called The Narcissist Tour. When the actual day, 9/13/21, came around, no music dropped. Carti’s website was updated and showed off a new narcissist-themed merch. The next day, Carti tweeted to clarify that his website was hacked and that the merch that had been posted was just a reference folder that was never approved. One day later, Carti made another tweet showing a text message he sent to three people, reading, “Forget about sample clearances, drop narcissists.” This confirmed that “Narcissus” was indeed music because he mentioned sample clearances. Two days later, Carti and Uzi were spotted together, both wearing jackets with Carti’s “Narcissist” text on the back. Nine days later, Carti made a tweet that simply read “narcissist.”
Over a year later, in October 2022, Carti launched a countdown timer on the website for his Opium record label. Once the timer expired, a new “Narcissist” clothing line was revealed, but still no music. It’s now been 25 months since the original 9/13/21 release date Carti announced for “Narcissus,” and yet no project has been released.
In addition to lying about projects, Carti lies in his lyrics. The lies aren’t even tried to be hidden and are often easily disproved. In the song “New Tank,” he states “Got tats on my face.” This is a blatant lie, as you can see by looking at any picture of him. Carti himself in 2018 even gave reasoning as to why he doesn’t get tattoos on his face. He says that he doesn’t need them because of his birthmark and that many women tell him not to get them. When mentioning basketball players, many rappers say things that are false about them, whether it be what team the player is on or their number. Carti is not an exception to this, rapping “All black 2-3, LeBron with the heat,” on the song “Beno!” LeBron’s number was six on the Miami Heat. Not all the lies even come from released songs, with one coming off the leaked song “Alma Mater.” He says this infamous lyric, “I swear to God I’ll never wear a dress.” During a performance in Miami, Carti wore a black dress.
There are more notable lies that Carti has said that don’t revolve around album release and his lyrics. In an interview with The Fader, Carti claimed to be very good at basketball during his high school years, saying “…would get on the court and drop 30.” After this interview was released, a fan found his high school basketball records and found that not only did he only play one varsity game but he only scored five points.
16*29 is a collaboration between Carti and Lil Uzi Vert. The hype for 16*29 began with the Snapchat post from Carti on September 17, 2017, where he made a caption that read, “Carti Uzi tape Uzi Carti tape 16*29.” Twelve days later, on September 29, 2017, Carti made a tweet that read, “Uzi Carti Carti Uzi tape loading.” This made it seem like they had an imminent collab album release coming.
Four and a half years later, on April 12, 2022, Carti did an interview for XXL magazine where he was asked if fans would ever hear about his joint project with Uzi. He responded by saying, “Uzi is working on mad Music right now. I don’t know if he’s serious about a lot of things, but I hope one day we can change the world with that for sure.” It’s been over five years and 16*29 has not been released.
Playboi Carti’s journey in the spotlight has seen artistic growth and a dedicated fanbase. However, the persistent pattern of unfulfilled promises, whether in album releases or lyrics, casts a shadow over his career. The mix of admiration and disappointment among his fans reflects the complex relationship between the artist and the audience. As we await the release of projects like “Narcissist” and “16*29,” the lingering question is whether Carti’s artistic appeal can withstand these inconsistencies or if it’ll diminish over time. Only time will tell the true impact of Playboi Carti’s career.