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Playboi Carti is one of the rappers carrying the torch for the new age of trap music coming out of Atlanta, but he wouldn’t be the trailblazer he is today without being inspired by an array of different artists.

Carti’s career has gone from strength to strength, earning his first number one album on the Billboard 200 in 2020 with Whole Lotta Red, debuting atop the chart with 100,000 album-equivalent units in its first week. The movement is set to continue with his long-awaited new album, which producer Cardo described to Billboard as “burnt music”.

Speaking to Hot 97’s Peter Rosenberg, Playboi Carti revealed some of his favourite rappers of all time include ATL artists Gucci Mane and Shawty Lo, as well as others such as Lil Wayne, A$AP Rocky, Kanye West and Frank Ocean. He was keen to not be boxed in, pointing out that he listens to “more than just trap music.”

Carti is signed to A$AP Rocky’s AWGE imprint and has previously opened up about how important meeting the ‘Praise the Lord (Da Shine)’ rapper has been in the context of his career.

“Me and A$AP Rocky was one of the best things that could ever happen to me in my life,” he told Numéro Berlin. “He was very genuine and everything was very organic and he’s a genius and it’s kind of hard to not pick up great things being around great people, you know?”

He continued, “I feel like the rooms that you surround yourself with most definitely can alter whatever is going to happen in your career. You put yourself in a room with people who are not being positive or not this and not that, then that’s the type of energy you don’t have. Put yourself in a room with the energy you need.”

Carti has collaborated with A$AP Rocky in the past on songs such as ‘New Choppa’ from his self-titled mixtape and ‘RAF’ from A$AP Mob’s Cozy Tapes Vol. 2: Too Cozy project.

The ‘Magnolia’ rapper has also been vocal about his admiration for Kanye, who executive produced 2020’s Whole Lotta Red album and featured on the song ‘Go2DaMoon’. During an interview with Kid Cudi, Carti called Ye “the OG” and credited him for being “on this king vamp shit” but didn’t explain exactly what that entails.

“Kanye is the OG,” he told Cudi during their conversation for Interview Magazine. “He opened my eyes to some shit. When I got around him, I realised why I love him so much. You get what I’m saying? When I get around you, I realize why I love you so much. I even appreciate Ye for introducing me and you.”

Adding, “Being able to talk to somebody who understands what I’m saying, I got that from his whole camp. I felt that energy from everybody he deals with. I didn’t feel like a loner. The world I’m trying to build, he already got it going on. Ye is on this king vamp shit. Cudi is on this king vamp shit. Y’all already on that.”