Playboi Carti Wants to Know How Tupac Would Feel About His Music

Playboi Carti dives into topics ranging from Atlanta to contemporary fashion for the new Rap Game Reincarnation feature from SSENSE. Speaking to SSENSE’s Nazanin Shahnavaz for his latest in-depth interview, the “Magnolia” rapper reveals his thoughts on reincarnation, the diary he keeps on his phone, the designers whose work he enjoys the most, the first album he ever purchased, his first experience with fashion, and much more. Says Carti:

As a musician, you evolve with fashion. I can be rapping about whatever the fuck I’m rapping about and then my fans will be like, ‘He doesn’t even dress like that.’ Growing up my man Brick was making this clothing line called Boys Don’t Cry, and that’s probably when I was like ‘I have got to expand my mind.’ He showed me a lot of designers. I didn’t have the money, but once I did, I knew exactly what to get. My friends made sure I was fly. Brick used to give me mad clothes, my friend Reggie put me onto Supreme—heavy. I was still in high school when I was getting introduced to these things. I love fashion. If I’m not rapping, that’s what I’m doing. I love taking pictures, I love clothes, I love getting dressed up.

Most notably, he also reveals an understanding of hip-hop that many other new-school rappers shy away from or don’t want to bother themselves with.  While some can’t even name an album’s worth of songs from the “Golden Age,” Carti appears to love the older forms of hip-hop culture:

I feel like a lot of the styles we’re doing now have already been done. Maybe not in the exact same way, but it has been done. I was talking to my friend Uzi about this, I feel like if we were a part of the same era as Master P and those rappers, we would really be cashing out. Money was different back then. We’re getting money now, but the money then was even bigger. From cars to gold, you look back on pictures and you see Money Mitch and all the street hustlers rocking big gold chains, snap backs. I think it’s the 90s era that my generation is so intrigued by. We just love the styles they had.

Besides the flamboyant style of the Master P and Cash Money era, Carti also has a great deal of admiration for hip-hop’s two most well-known fallen heroes:

I’m a huge fan of Tupac and Biggie. I wish they were still alive. Maybe music would be different. I wonder if Tupac would have improved my music? I want to know how Tupac would react—not just me but to everything that’s going on in the world at the moment.

You can check out Playboi Carti’s entire SSENSE interview here. Previously, Carti sat down with Mass Appeal for another interview.