At midnight on Christmas Day, Playboi Carti declared himself Santa Claus. After years of exaggeration, false starts and cryptic messages for fans, the rapper finally shared his album Whole Lotta Red, the long-awaited follow-up for 2018 Die Lit. The 24-track, 62-minute album inspired an almost immediate fork in social media. There were Carti’s diehards calling it his best job as soon as one in the morning. Critics regretted its long run time and its apparent lack of focus in an equally quick measure. A few minutes after the launch, Carti’s ex-girlfriend, musician Iggy Azalea, with whom Carti has a son, accessed Twitter to express frustration at the rapper’s alleged absence during his son’s first Christmas. All of this contributed to a particularly active week at Playboi Carti Reddit, which in recent years has been the source of every drop of information that has leaked out of the notoriously rapper’s field.
David Ha, a 20-year-old student at Ryerson University in Toronto, started the subreddit Playboi Carti in 2016, after starting similar pages for artists like 21 Savage and Bryson Tiller, although he says it was the subreddit Playboi Carti that invested in the most effort in “because that was my favorite artist”. Like the more than 160,000 community members, Ha followed the almost mythical trajectory of Whole Lotta Red, an album that many in the community have resigned to believe it would never come. Now that he’s arrived, taking Carti to the top spot on the RS 200 chart, Ha has told us about how to manage one of the most active and loyal fan communities on the internet.
How has it been browsing all the information about Carti – from leaks to rumors and fake release dates – in recent years?
I feel that it is divided into different ages. After Die Lit came out, he was getting a lot of traction and a lot of people were coming to the sub. And then between that and Whole Lotta Red, the sub became famous for memes to be honest, because everyone got tired of waiting. I think many of us just wanted the newest leak or fragment.
Many fans would create their own tracks from these fragments and leaks. Have you seen people develop as producers through the subreddit?
I’m not entirely sure in terms of development, just because we have so many people on the submarine that I haven’t been following. But I think there is a lot of talent in this fan base. I’ve seen a lot of kids posting their art and their remixes and stuff. I think Carti has a very talented fan base.
For the years leading up to the launch of Whole Lotta Red, the album basically existed as a meme. Have you lost hope that it will be released?
Part of Whole Lotta Red as a meme, to begin with, there was never much hope. We all think, “Okay, it’s never fading.” Better not even get your hopes up. He would tweet something enigmatic and make it sound like he was leaving next week, so next week comes and there is no album. But I think everyone had hopes. I didn’t think it would fall until [2021], so I’m very happy.
What do you think of the album?
I really liked the album from my first audition, when it fell and has only grown on me ever since. I feel that Carti was totally punk rap on this project and I found that the music on this album fits very well in its new aesthetic. I am very happy to see you evolve as a musician and artist.
How did the community react?
The community’s response was mixed. Many fans who did not like the album did not expect such a drastic departure from their last project and expected songs similar to the leaks that would surface before the album’s release. I think many of those who liked the album had the same reasons that I liked it, and they value their ability to still be able to experiment with their music and further develop their sound, regardless of its growing popularity. I feel that if you are a true fan of Carti himself, you would have liked this album instead of just being a fan of Self-titled or Die Lit, but in the end the music is subjective.
Did you have to take special precautions to browse Iggy’s tweets?
As a mod, Iggy’s situation only added to the existing drama surrounding the album’s release. Our subreddit increased the karma limit for posting for a few days after the album’s release in order to promote better content and less shitty messages. Overall, this situation just gave people more to talk about and make memes about launching WLR. I personally feel that this situation is not something that should have been publicized on social media in the first place, I just hope that Carti understands this as a sign of doing better as a father, because what he [allegedly] did it was shit.
Where does Carti’s fan base go from here?
I think Carti’s fan base will continue to grow rapidly as he starts to become mainstream. For me, Carti has always been ahead of his time and was an innovator, so if people don’t understand him now, they will understand. I hope to see him accumulate a fan base that values his progression as an artist who is not afraid to take risks, to prevent this type of reaction from happening again, although it is inevitable lol.
Would you like to see artists like Playboi Carti recognize their online fan communities?
Would be nice. But I feel that they have no obligation. But I would definitely appreciate that.