WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.419 You know, normally when we think about a musician 00:00:02.419 --> 00:00:07.299 building a massive career, we picture a master 00:00:07.299 --> 00:00:11.349 craftsman. Someone in a dimly lit studio agonizing 00:00:11.349 --> 00:00:13.910 over every single lyric. Right, like an architect 00:00:13.910 --> 00:00:16.109 blueprinting a skyscraper. That's the traditional 00:00:16.109 --> 00:00:19.350 approach we expect. Exactly. But today, we are 00:00:19.350 --> 00:00:21.829 doing a deep dive into someone who takes that 00:00:21.829 --> 00:00:24.469 meticulously drawn blueprint and just completely 00:00:24.469 --> 00:00:27.489 shreds it. He doesn't build a skyscraper, he 00:00:27.489 --> 00:00:29.309 summons a storm. And you stand in the middle 00:00:29.309 --> 00:00:31.649 of it, and you can't really make out the words 00:00:31.649 --> 00:00:33.969 being shouted, right? The structure is chaotic. 00:00:35.000 --> 00:00:37.299 millions of people are perfectly happy standing 00:00:37.299 --> 00:00:40.200 out in that room. Okay, let's unpack this. Welcome 00:00:40.200 --> 00:00:42.359 to the Deep Dive everyone. Today our mission 00:00:42.359 --> 00:00:45.159 is to explore the incredibly comprehensive biography 00:00:45.159 --> 00:00:48.100 of Jordan Terrell Carter, better known to you 00:00:48.100 --> 00:00:50.880 and the world as Playboy Cardi. It is a fascinating 00:00:50.880 --> 00:00:52.899 trajectory. It really is. We're talking about 00:00:52.899 --> 00:00:55.179 a kid from Atlanta who used to skip high school 00:00:55.179 --> 00:00:57.759 classes to fold clothes at an H &M who somehow 00:00:57.759 --> 00:01:00.560 transformed into a vanguard of modern hip -hop. 00:01:00.820 --> 00:01:03.460 Yeah, and an artist whose lyrics are often entirely 00:01:03.460 --> 00:01:05.819 secondary to the atmosphere he creates. Which 00:01:05.819 --> 00:01:09.000 is the wildest paradox of his success. Critics 00:01:09.000 --> 00:01:11.659 openly talk about how he prioritizes mood over 00:01:11.659 --> 00:01:14.500 traditional writing, but his latest project, 00:01:14.719 --> 00:01:18.879 the 2025 album Music, became his second consecutive 00:01:18.879 --> 00:01:21.900 number one on the Billboard 200. Moving hundreds 00:01:21.900 --> 00:01:23.840 of thousands of units right out of the gate. 00:01:24.040 --> 00:01:26.500 Right. So why should you care about this? Because 00:01:26.500 --> 00:01:28.879 whether you even listen to hip hop or not, Cardi's 00:01:28.879 --> 00:01:31.640 rise is a master class in how modern pop culture 00:01:31.640 --> 00:01:34.260 icons are built. It's an empire built almost 00:01:34.260 --> 00:01:37.799 entirely around mood, aesthetic, and this unwavering 00:01:37.799 --> 00:01:40.450 commitment to a persona. To understand how you 00:01:40.450 --> 00:01:43.030 build an empire out of pure mood, I mean, you 00:01:43.030 --> 00:01:44.790 really have to look at his early years. It starts 00:01:44.790 --> 00:01:48.530 in Atlanta. He was born in either 1995 or 1996. 00:01:48.810 --> 00:01:51.209 Wait, even his birth year is debated. Yeah, even 00:01:51.209 --> 00:01:53.810 the official record carries this deliberate mystique. 00:01:54.109 --> 00:01:56.109 But what stands out in the source material is 00:01:56.109 --> 00:01:58.069 that music wasn't his first obsession at all. 00:01:58.310 --> 00:02:00.849 He actually wanted to be an NBA player. Oh, wow. 00:02:01.049 --> 00:02:03.049 I didn't know that. He was hyper -focused on 00:02:03.049 --> 00:02:05.819 basketball. But the way that dream ended is so 00:02:05.819 --> 00:02:07.879 telling. He had a severe disagreement with his 00:02:07.879 --> 00:02:10.599 high school coach, and he just quit. Just walked 00:02:10.599 --> 00:02:13.719 away entirely. Exactly. He doesn't compromise. 00:02:14.219 --> 00:02:16.120 If the environment doesn't suit him, he just 00:02:16.120 --> 00:02:18.599 severs the tie. And he actually ended up joining 00:02:18.599 --> 00:02:21.240 the school choir after that. Let me guess. To 00:02:21.240 --> 00:02:24.719 learn vocal control. No, he openly admitted he 00:02:24.719 --> 00:02:27.439 only did it to meet girls. That is hilarious. 00:02:27.599 --> 00:02:30.439 But by doing that, he accidentally stumbled into 00:02:30.439 --> 00:02:33.000 genuine creative inspiration. And he took all 00:02:33.000 --> 00:02:35.300 that competitive energy and redirected it into 00:02:35.300 --> 00:02:38.860 this really specific visual and musical presentation. 00:02:39.419 --> 00:02:42.080 He was skipping classes to record music and work 00:02:42.080 --> 00:02:44.699 at H &M. To fund his wardrobe. Basically. Right. 00:02:45.060 --> 00:02:47.479 Because he was a self -described thrift store 00:02:47.479 --> 00:02:50.400 kid. While everyone else in Atlanta was following 00:02:50.400 --> 00:02:53.180 standard hip hop trends, he was hanging out at 00:02:53.180 --> 00:02:55.800 a punk skate park wearing super tight skinny 00:02:55.800 --> 00:02:58.560 jeans and skateboard gear. Which was totally 00:02:58.560 --> 00:03:00.500 against the grain for the Atlanta rap scene at 00:03:00.500 --> 00:03:02.759 the time. And he got ruthlessly ridiculed by 00:03:02.759 --> 00:03:05.419 his classmates for it. But instead of conforming, 00:03:05.560 --> 00:03:08.060 he doubled down. What's fascinating here is that 00:03:08.060 --> 00:03:10.199 we are seeing the psychological formation of 00:03:10.199 --> 00:03:14.129 a true iconoclast. Quitting basketball over a 00:03:14.129 --> 00:03:16.870 fight, skipping school to thrift clothes, taking 00:03:16.870 --> 00:03:19.430 the daily ridicule, it's a distinct pattern. 00:03:19.770 --> 00:03:22.370 A pattern of just rejecting traditional authority. 00:03:22.830 --> 00:03:25.250 Exactly. He was building his own curated reality. 00:03:25.330 --> 00:03:27.169 He wasn't just learning to rap, you know. He 00:03:27.169 --> 00:03:30.849 was aggressively curating a visual and social 00:03:30.849 --> 00:03:33.530 identity from day one. And then he takes this 00:03:33.530 --> 00:03:35.930 massive, almost reckless gamble on that identity. 00:03:36.270 --> 00:03:38.889 At 18, he decides he's hit the ceiling in Atlanta 00:03:38.889 --> 00:03:41.550 and he moves to New York City. With zero safety 00:03:41.550 --> 00:03:44.509 net. None. He literally ends up living with a 00:03:44.509 --> 00:03:46.990 drug dealer he knew just to physically place 00:03:46.990 --> 00:03:50.270 himself in the city. To me, that's like an extreme 00:03:50.270 --> 00:03:53.669 gritty version of a Silicon Valley tech founder 00:03:53.669 --> 00:03:55.750 dropping out of college to sleep on a friend's 00:03:55.750 --> 00:03:58.860 couch. That's a great comparison. It's a high 00:03:58.860 --> 00:04:01.599 -risk all -or -nothing immersion, and strategically, 00:04:02.039 --> 00:04:03.719 it was the best move he could have made. Because 00:04:03.719 --> 00:04:05.620 it put him in the path of the ASA mob, right? 00:04:05.620 --> 00:04:09.080 Yes. For context, the ASA mob was this incredibly 00:04:09.080 --> 00:04:11.419 influential collective out of Harlem, blending 00:04:11.419 --> 00:04:14.419 high fashion with street -level hip -hop. He 00:04:14.419 --> 00:04:16.860 met a member named ASA Bari, who introduced him 00:04:16.860 --> 00:04:19.899 to their breakout star, ASA Rocky. And Rocky 00:04:19.899 --> 00:04:22.560 just saw the vision immediately? He did. That 00:04:22.560 --> 00:04:24.850 connection became his launch pad. He eventually 00:04:24.850 --> 00:04:28.509 signed with Rocky's AWGE imprint, which had the 00:04:28.509 --> 00:04:30.970 massive backing of Interscope Records. So the 00:04:30.970 --> 00:04:33.550 gamble pays off big time. Yeah. But let's transition 00:04:33.550 --> 00:04:35.829 to the actual sound that came out of this because 00:04:35.829 --> 00:04:38.610 he didn't just apply that DIY thrift store aesthetic 00:04:38.610 --> 00:04:41.509 to his clothes. He applied it to his vocal cords. 00:04:41.670 --> 00:04:44.490 Yes. His sonic evolution is arguably his most 00:04:44.490 --> 00:04:47.069 disruptive legacy. We see his ascent through 00:04:47.069 --> 00:04:50.470 these major projects. First, his 2017 self -cited 00:04:50.470 --> 00:04:54.120 mixtape with the massive hit Magnolia. You literally 00:04:54.120 --> 00:04:56.639 couldn't escape that song in 2017. Right. Then 00:04:56.639 --> 00:05:00.300 his 2018 album, Dial It, followed by 2020's Whole 00:05:00.300 --> 00:05:03.779 Lotta Red, and of course, music in March 2025. 00:05:04.579 --> 00:05:06.740 Through all of this, he is credited with pioneering 00:05:06.740 --> 00:05:09.639 an entirely new micro -genre called Rage. The 00:05:09.639 --> 00:05:12.259 rage sound is wild. It's characterized by these 00:05:12.259 --> 00:05:14.800 incredibly energetic, abrasive synthesizers. 00:05:14.920 --> 00:05:17.160 It takes the energy of a heavy metal mosh pit 00:05:17.160 --> 00:05:20.060 and forces it into hip hop. And his method for 00:05:20.060 --> 00:05:22.079 recording these tracks is completely unconventional. 00:05:22.519 --> 00:05:24.639 Almost all of his raps are freestyled. He just... 00:05:24.360 --> 00:05:26.360 gets in the booth and goes. Which he cites Lil 00:05:26.360 --> 00:05:28.620 Wayne as the inspiration for, right? No, exactly. 00:05:28.860 --> 00:05:31.800 He prioritizes the feeling of the moment over 00:05:31.800 --> 00:05:34.199 any pre -written structure. I have to push back 00:05:34.199 --> 00:05:36.259 slightly on this, though, because critics constantly 00:05:36.259 --> 00:05:39.459 point out that his lyrics are, well, spare and 00:05:39.459 --> 00:05:42.959 repetitive. Is it possible that prioritizing 00:05:42.959 --> 00:05:45.800 atmosphere over lyricism is just a really convenient 00:05:45.800 --> 00:05:48.540 excuse for not being a strong traditional writer? 00:05:48.939 --> 00:05:51.680 That's a fair question. And it's a critique raised 00:05:51.680 --> 00:05:54.560 constantly by hip hop purists. But to really 00:05:54.560 --> 00:05:57.319 get Cardi, you have to understand that he doesn't 00:05:57.319 --> 00:05:59.759 view his voice as a vehicle for storytelling. 00:06:00.100 --> 00:06:02.560 He uses it like an instrument. Exactly. He treats 00:06:02.560 --> 00:06:04.819 his vocal cords as an instrument in the beat 00:06:04.819 --> 00:06:07.839 itself. Think about a distorted electric guitar. 00:06:08.300 --> 00:06:10.259 You don't expect it to tell you a literal story. 00:06:10.620 --> 00:06:12.699 You expect the tone to make you feel something. 00:06:12.740 --> 00:06:15.360 Oh, that makes a lot of sense. By using frantic 00:06:15.360 --> 00:06:17.779 cadences and sometimes unclear pronunciations, 00:06:18.160 --> 00:06:20.899 he completely bypasses the logical part of the 00:06:20.899 --> 00:06:23.519 listener's brain. He taps directly into pure 00:06:23.519 --> 00:06:25.680 feeling and energy. And you can really track 00:06:25.680 --> 00:06:27.540 that when you look at his vocal experimentation. 00:06:27.879 --> 00:06:30.519 Early on, he became famous for this high -pitched 00:06:30.519 --> 00:06:32.879 frantic delivery people called the baby voice. 00:06:33.139 --> 00:06:35.199 Right, on tracks like the leaked pissy pamper 00:06:35.199 --> 00:06:38.100 or Tyler, the creator's earthquake. The first 00:06:38.100 --> 00:06:40.519 time you hear it, it is so jarring, but it acts 00:06:40.519 --> 00:06:43.519 like an earworm. But then, just as the industry 00:06:43.519 --> 00:06:46.439 started copying the baby voice, he fractured 00:06:46.439 --> 00:06:49.730 his identity again. He started leaning into metal 00:06:49.730 --> 00:06:53.209 and punk aesthetics and debuted this coarse, 00:06:53.750 --> 00:06:55.850 aggressive, deep voice. Which really shocked 00:06:55.850 --> 00:06:58.149 people. Like, on his feature for Travis Scott's 00:06:58.149 --> 00:07:01.649 fame or the 2024 chart -topping hit Carnival 00:07:01.649 --> 00:07:04.009 with Kanye West, listeners genuinely thought 00:07:04.009 --> 00:07:05.850 it was a completely different person. Which builds 00:07:05.850 --> 00:07:08.829 this massive mythos around him. He's this shape 00:07:08.829 --> 00:07:10.670 -shifting figure. But if your voice isn't telling 00:07:10.670 --> 00:07:14.310 a linear story, your visual world has to overcompensate. 00:07:14.649 --> 00:07:16.649 And that leads us to the world -building aspect 00:07:16.649 --> 00:07:19.310 of his career. Standard song structures couldn't 00:07:19.310 --> 00:07:21.790 contain his vision. No, he had to build an entire 00:07:21.790 --> 00:07:24.610 ecosystem. Fashion is central to that. He models 00:07:24.610 --> 00:07:27.209 for Louis Vuitton, Yeezy, V -Files. And his favorite 00:07:27.209 --> 00:07:29.550 designer is Raf Simons, right? He even met him 00:07:29.550 --> 00:07:33.110 in 2017. Yes. Raf Simons is famous for pulling 00:07:33.110 --> 00:07:36.370 from youth subcultures and punk rock, which deeply 00:07:36.370 --> 00:07:39.350 inspired Cardi. That inspiration led him to found 00:07:39.350 --> 00:07:42.709 his own label and collective in 2019 called Opium. 00:07:42.910 --> 00:07:45.290 here's where it's really interesting to me opium 00:07:45.290 --> 00:07:47.790 signs atlanta artists like ken carson and destroy 00:07:47.790 --> 00:07:50.610 lonely but they don't just share a sound they 00:07:50.610 --> 00:07:53.990 share this extremely distinct dark 70s and 80s 00:07:53.990 --> 00:07:57.360 punk rock It's heavily curated. It operates much 00:07:57.360 --> 00:07:59.800 more like an exclusive high fashion house than 00:07:59.800 --> 00:08:02.079 a traditional record label. You don't just listen 00:08:02.079 --> 00:08:06.319 to opium. You wear it. You embody this dark cult 00:08:06.319 --> 00:08:08.480 -like aesthetic. If we connect this to the bigger 00:08:08.480 --> 00:08:11.180 picture, it's fascinating how he bridged the 00:08:11.180 --> 00:08:14.540 gap between that menacing underground punk counterculture 00:08:14.540 --> 00:08:17.120 and massive mainstream commercial platforms. 00:08:17.319 --> 00:08:19.199 Yeah, you cannot get more mainstream than what 00:08:19.199 --> 00:08:22.360 happened in late 2025. Playboy Cardi had a massive 00:08:22.360 --> 00:08:24.370 collaboration with Fortnite. getting his own 00:08:24.370 --> 00:08:28.029 in -game skin and event emotes. It's a huge digital 00:08:28.029 --> 00:08:29.949 footprint. Just picture that. The kid getting 00:08:29.949 --> 00:08:31.949 mocked for wearing thrift store clothes in high 00:08:31.949 --> 00:08:35.049 school now has millions of kids buying his digital 00:08:35.049 --> 00:08:37.370 avatar in the biggest game on the planet. It's 00:08:37.370 --> 00:08:39.809 an unbelievable testament to his branding. The 00:08:39.809 --> 00:08:43.409 cultural crossover is undeniable. But living 00:08:43.409 --> 00:08:47.169 that unfiltered punk rock ethos full -time, it 00:08:47.169 --> 00:08:49.710 makes for captivating art. But as we move to 00:08:49.710 --> 00:08:52.200 the final section of our deep dive, we have to 00:08:52.200 --> 00:08:54.360 look at the reality of his personal life. Right. 00:08:54.580 --> 00:08:57.019 This is the shadow side. The chaotic rock star 00:08:57.019 --> 00:09:00.019 persona has spilled over into reality with very 00:09:00.019 --> 00:09:02.580 real destructive consequences. When you look 00:09:02.580 --> 00:09:04.700 at the source material, the legal issues are 00:09:04.700 --> 00:09:07.100 alarming. There's a string of serious incidents. 00:09:07.679 --> 00:09:10.039 In 2017, he was arrested for domestic battery. 00:09:10.490 --> 00:09:13.370 In 2019, he was convicted for assaulting a tour 00:09:13.370 --> 00:09:15.690 bus driver in Scotland. And it just keeps escalating. 00:09:15.990 --> 00:09:18.470 In 2020, he was arrested on gun and drug charges 00:09:18.470 --> 00:09:21.110 after getting pulled over in a Lamborghini. Police 00:09:21.110 --> 00:09:23.950 found marijuana, Xanax, oxycodone, and three 00:09:23.950 --> 00:09:26.610 guns, and he clashed with the officers. Then 00:09:26.610 --> 00:09:29.029 in 2022, he was arrested for reckless driving, 00:09:29.350 --> 00:09:32.970 going over 130 miles per hour. Over 130. And 00:09:32.970 --> 00:09:34.850 the violence towards service workers repeated 00:09:34.850 --> 00:09:38.750 itself recently. In October 2025, he was charged 00:09:38.750 --> 00:09:41.769 with assaulting a limo driver in Utah. The personal 00:09:41.769 --> 00:09:44.690 life turbulence is just as severe. He had a highly 00:09:44.690 --> 00:09:47.090 volatile relationship with Iggy Azalea. They 00:09:47.090 --> 00:09:49.850 have a son together, Onyx, but she publicly alleged 00:09:49.850 --> 00:09:52.049 that he cheated on her, entirely missed the birth 00:09:52.049 --> 00:09:54.750 of their son, and as of 2025 reportedly has no 00:09:54.750 --> 00:09:56.889 relationship with him at all. And the most deeply 00:09:56.889 --> 00:09:59.230 disturbing incident in the source material is 00:09:59.230 --> 00:10:02.700 the early 2023 felony assault charge. He was 00:10:02.700 --> 00:10:04.919 arrested for allegedly choking his girlfriend, 00:10:05.279 --> 00:10:07.720 who was 14 weeks pregnant at the time, during 00:10:07.720 --> 00:10:10.019 an argument over a paternity test. It's incredibly 00:10:10.019 --> 00:10:12.379 grim, and it forces a difficult question for 00:10:12.379 --> 00:10:14.679 you, the listener, and for pop culture at large. 00:10:15.139 --> 00:10:17.340 How do we process this? How does his massive 00:10:17.340 --> 00:10:20.379 fan base reconcile this carefully curated, edgy 00:10:20.379 --> 00:10:24.000 vampire aesthetic with very real, serious allegations 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:26.139 of violence against women and service workers? 00:10:26.399 --> 00:10:28.820 It's a tension that is a hallmark of modern celebrity. 00:10:29.000 --> 00:10:31.539 The reality is that the exact same intensity 00:10:31.539 --> 00:10:33.879 and disregard for boundaries that fuel his artistic 00:10:33.879 --> 00:10:37.059 innovation often manifests as destructive, unacceptable 00:10:37.059 --> 00:10:39.379 behavior in reality. They're two sides of the 00:10:39.379 --> 00:10:42.320 same coin. Exactly. And it's important to remind 00:10:42.320 --> 00:10:44.879 ourselves that analyzing his cultural impact 00:10:44.879 --> 00:10:47.820 does not mean endorsing his actions. We're looking 00:10:47.820 --> 00:10:50.179 at the facts provided in the source material 00:10:50.179 --> 00:10:52.799 to understand the phenomenon. Absolutely. We're 00:10:52.799 --> 00:10:54.940 just imparting what the sources document. But 00:10:54.940 --> 00:10:57.799 it is a stark contrast to the brilliant marketing. 00:10:57.879 --> 00:11:00.860 It really is. So let's synthesize all of this. 00:11:01.139 --> 00:11:03.360 From the thrift stores of Atlanta to the runways 00:11:03.360 --> 00:11:05.600 of Paris and the top of the billboard charts. 00:11:06.110 --> 00:11:08.850 Playboy Cardi has redefined what it means to 00:11:08.850 --> 00:11:11.970 be a rapper. He focused entirely on mood, treated 00:11:11.970 --> 00:11:15.269 his voice as an instrument, and built an uncompromising 00:11:15.269 --> 00:11:17.690 aesthetic. Even while his personal life remains 00:11:17.690 --> 00:11:20.570 deeply troubled and chaotic. Right. So what does 00:11:20.570 --> 00:11:23.309 this all mean for you? Even if you never stream 00:11:23.309 --> 00:11:25.730 a Playboy Cardi song in your life, understanding 00:11:25.730 --> 00:11:28.110 his rise helps you decode modern pop culture. 00:11:28.649 --> 00:11:31.009 We are in an era where the vibe often completely 00:11:31.009 --> 00:11:32.990 eclipses the message. Which leaves us with a 00:11:32.990 --> 00:11:35.879 final thought to mull over. In an age where artists 00:11:35.879 --> 00:11:38.360 prioritize atmosphere, character, and visual 00:11:38.360 --> 00:11:41.240 aesthetics over traditional lyricism and technicality, 00:11:41.840 --> 00:11:44.460 does the concept of a musician need to be redefined? 00:11:44.700 --> 00:11:47.080 Ooh, that's an interesting question. Are we moving 00:11:47.080 --> 00:11:50.460 toward a future where artists are less like traditional 00:11:50.460 --> 00:11:53.159 songwriters and more like experienced directors? 00:11:53.539 --> 00:11:56.100 Experienced directors, I love that phrasing. 00:11:56.500 --> 00:11:58.860 Because the culture isn't looking for neat orderly 00:11:58.860 --> 00:12:00.659 blueprints anymore, they're looking for someone 00:12:00.659 --> 00:12:03.509 to summon the storm. Thank you for joining us 00:12:03.509 --> 00:12:05.750 on this deep dive, and we'll see you next time.