Playboi Carti, and Harvesting The Fruit of Aura Farming

My relationship with God has always been complicated, as organized religion requires the one thing I’ve always struggled with—consistency. In Islam, among other things it looks like a certain amount of prayers, of visits to a center of worship, of days of sacrifice. It means continuously showing up, believing that someone or something will be there when you come. As a kid, my beef was that God seemed to play hooky a lot. My mom was sick all the time, and none of the medication or the hours we spent in prayer seemed to do anything. When I learned God had a house, and that your prayers got buffed up if you took them there, I went to the Mosque in earnest. But he wasn’t there either, just a scary Imam who said we were all going to go to hell. Many of my darkest days were preceded by darker nights spent calling out to someone who never answered, so I stopped calling.

Back then, the closest I got to any kind of really regular worship was when I was eight, but instead of logging hours at the mosque, I was worshipping at the altar of a TV programming block. Service was on Saturday nights, and my brother and I would take our places in front of the TV at 7:50. When 8:00pm struck, we’d rejoice at the sight of Tom, the robot host and pastor of Church Toonami. After some short introductory remarks from him, we’d sing along to our favorite hymn—the theme song—and then the guy I’d been waiting to see all night would show up.

A man of few words, his sermons were often short, but I was enraptured by his delivery. When he spoke, his jet black bangs often swayed gently in the breeze, as if the wind itself rushed to hear his words; words I didn’t always understand, but I knew sounded cool. He had the most amazing outfits, and sometimes he even performed miracles, like breathing fire and walking on water.

His name was Sasuke Uchiha, a character from the anime Naruto, and he was the first aura farmer I ever encountered.

If somehow you’re still confused at what the hell “aura farming” is, it was called “being cool” like a year ago. “Aura” is a currency—doing something considered lame leads to an “aura loss”, while doing something cool leads to “aura gain.” Within this context, “aura farming” is going out of your way to look or be perceived as cool, while simultaneously coming off as nonchalant. Let’s take the first aura farmer in recorded history as an example—Jesus Christ.

Everyone from the believers to the baddies could be counted as fans of Jesus in his prime, and he achieved this status purely off the strength of kindness and unparalleled feats of wonder. Think about it. If you met a guy who could heal your blindness, bring your dead homies back, and turn water into wine, I think you’d be a follower too. Jesus literally was killed because he had too much aura. Then, in a final act of aura farming from beyond the grave, he clambered out of it, but not before waiting three days for suspense. If it sounds familiar, it’s because the anime Yu Yu Hakusho starts the same way.

There is a long history of aura farming in anime. A recent example is the character Sung Jin Woo from Solo Leveling, but if we look back, we’ve got Piccolo from Dragon Ball Z, or Killua from Hunter X Hunter. These are all characters known for being stoic and cool, yet often unnecessarily flashy. But there’s nothing like your first, and for me, that was Sasuke.

Yeah, the show was called Naruto, but it was immediately apparent that Sasuke was that guy. He showcased mastery of all the ninja arts, and always had the highest test scores. Plus, his fits were always immaculate. Before I even knew what “that shit” was, I knew that Sasuke had it on. He was giving his opps the work in a romper decades before they were a Coachella trend; blowing fireballs and summoning lightning with arm warmers on. He disappears at the end of Naruto in search of power, and returns in the sequel Naruto Shippuden with easily the best re-design. The funny part is that in a show largely comprised of fights, Sasuke’s reputation comes not from his victories, but from how cool he looked and sounded, even when he lost. And he lost a lot.

As a fellow anti-hero, fashionista and deadbeat dad, Playboi Carti has a lot in common with Sasuke. They’re both beloved characters that entire generations have cast themselves onto, paragons of nonchalance. Just for fun, I actually briefly considered making this aura farming piece about Playboi Carti and Jesus, but landed on Sasuke since JC washes Carti a little too easily. All they have in common is being tall dreadheads.

Aside from his music, Carti has become quite popular for the way he presents, but it isn’t limited to the way he dresses, or even his physical appearance. His fans seem really obsessed with the way he kind of just…exists? The make Reddit posts about the way he stands. The way he laughs. Even when he does something that would normally be embarrassing like falling on stage, there’s someone in the comments saying “the way he fell was “tuff.” It’s one of the funniest, most beguiling phenomena I’ve encountered in a long time, but it makes for an interesting case study on what today’s consumers do when you stop giving them the usual tools—like music—to understand you.

It used to be pretty normal that you wouldn’t hear much from an artist in between albums, but in today’s day and age where the biggest media fixtures stream their lives 24/7, it feels like a conscious choice to limit the access people have to you. You aren’t taking a beat, you’re being “mYstEriOus,” and your fans will find their own ways to remain tethered to you.

It wasn’t always this way with Carti. He had never been the most outspoken person, but something seemed to change after the release of Whole Lotta Red back in 2020. He stopped posting to social media and started declining interviews. He stopped putting out music; stopped speaking much at all. His performances, already pretty lyrically sparse, devolved into full on screaming. Not screaming lyrics. Just screaming. And Carti’s fans gorged on the crumbs he dropped, whether that meant a fit pic, a shadowy appearance on a live stream, or a loose verse here and there. By the time he released his album MUSIC this past March, he had amassed a legion of diehard fans who had never really heard him speak. It’s wild.

Carti was far from the first artist in modern hip-hop to go on an extended hiatus, but few have been able to do so while aura farming as successfully. Between the fits, film and occasional guest verses and songs that he drops, we see too much of A$AP Rocky for him to effectively accumulate aura. Frank Ocean gets a little closer. His fans are more rabid, and with his last track having been in 2020, he’s been technically inactive for about the same time as Carti. His problem is that he has time and time again demonstrated his awareness of this dynamic by exploiting it. Not very nonchalant to bait your audience with a song snippet or a photo, only to follow up with a link to your latest vinyl drop or diamond encrusted cock ring.

What made Carti an especially effective aura farmer over the last four years was knowing how to give his fans just the right amount and variety of nothing. You have to give people never more than a glance of you, to blind them with a glint from your custom iced out lollipop as you stroll from the club into your hulking black SUV, so they have no option but to imagine what they’ve seen, and what they fill the gaps with will always be infinitely more interesting than reality. You have to allow people to draw their own conclusions, but if you wait too long, you’ll eventually be unable to compete with the version of you they create in their heads.

Going back to Naruto, we eventually learn that Sasuke is the way he is, stoic and standoffish, because of an extremely traumatic childhood incident. Everyone he loved was killed, so he avoids getting close to others, lest they become new people to lose. His path of revenge eventually leads him to near insanity, culminating in a death match with his best friend, which ends with Naruto knocking some sense into him. He never quite loses his cool veneer, but he eventually lets his walls down a little, becoming a parent himself, and ending the generational curse of hatred.

The end of Carti’s “mysterious” era was a lot less dramatic. Immediately following the release of MUSIC back in March, Carti performed at Rolling Loud California. His high octane, career spanning set was a momentous occasion for obvious reasons, but the most interesting thing happened in between the songs. He actually addressed the crowd. Smiled. Laughed. It was the most anyone had seen him speak, or emote in four years, and this increased visibility has continued. He’s back to doing interviews, and has a spam page on IG now. He seems happier, and so do his fans. Again, aura is a currency, and Carti cashed out on it big time.

Nowadays, with everything happening in the world, it honestly feels like God is playing hooky again, so we’re back to quasi-beefing. Many people I love and many I will never meet are at risk of / are currently suffering like never before. When I was younger, and it felt like God stopped listening to us, community always saved me without fail, and it is once again true in times like these. We all have to look out for each other. Go to marches, donate when you can, check on your loved ones, and stand up for your community.

But who knows? Islam does say Jesus is supposed to come back following the arrival of the anti-christ, and Netanyahu b e e n rockin’. Maybe all I need is to see a clip of JC at Rockaway Beach, hitting the griddy on the waves, and I might be back on board. I can see myself now, opening the comments, and typing.

“Bro is really Him!”

Send.

It’s been a while since I did one of these lmao. These usually aren’t particularly new songs—check out the homie Rhapsody’s New Music Friday roundup for the latest and greatest!—but what I just happen to be spinning a lot recently. Check out the songs below, & follow the Six Disc playlist on Apple Music & Spotify to get it all in one place!

Playboi Carti—FOMDJ

This week’s highlight! Not only is this one of my favorite Carti songs from this era, but it’s a fun look into his aura farming antics. What reason do you have to be rapping from a moving vehicle, bra?

Leon Thomas—Party Favors (feat. Big Sean)

I was regrettably late to the Leon Thomas train. I’ve known of him for years, but when MUTT released last year, I slept. Train came back around, and I got my tickets right in time to catch HEEL, the deluxe version of MUTT from last year. This is one of my favorites. Incredible beat, and a smoking guest verse from Big Sean.

Favorite moment: 1:50. I love when rappers have little sonic signatures. Not ad-libs, but sounds effects that they take with them even on features. Big Sean has this laser sound effect he sometimes adds at the end of his lines, and I just love the way it drives a line home.

Erykah Badu—The Cell

On Juneteenth, Erykah Badu held a concert in her hometown of Dallas, and I had the pleasure of attending & helping put it on. Running through her discography again, I was astonished at how well New Amerykah Pt 1 has aged, both from a content standpoint and sonically. I love how urgent this song sounds. Also, this song marks one of Thundercat’s earliest appearances. That’s him on bass!

Ray Vaughn—East Chatt (feat. Isaiah Rashad)

Ray Vaughn dropped off his TDE debut earlier this year with The Good, The Bad, The Dollar Menu and man, what an incredibly promising project. He really strikes the balance of deep and danceable so well, all while truly rapping his ass off. There are so many great tracks on it, but “East Chatt” is the one that I’ve been returning to constantly, and God—I miss Isaiah Rashad. I’m so glad he decided to give this song to Ray, because it may have never seen the light of day otherwise, and I really feel Ray rose to the occasion with his verse.

Favorite moment: 1:03 if you’re listening on Spotify or AM; 1:05 on YT. I love the way the strings briefly come in after the first half of the chorus. Keys are so dreamy too. Truly music for the vibers! Give Kal Banx his flowers!!!!!

KWN—Do What I Say

KWN is an R&B singer coming out of East London. She’s collaborated with Kehlani a lot recently, and actually just dropped her debut EP last month. Back in May, I had the pleasure of interviewing her for work and hearing the project a bit early, and man, incredible. Really refreshing alternative R&B, and I think “Do What I Say” encapsulates everything that I appreciate about KWN: amazing instrumentals, steamy songwriting, and incredible vocals. The music video is really steamy too.

Sam Gellaitry—Duo

As someone who’s known about Sam Gellaitry since about 2018—thank you, Darra—it’s kinda wild seeing him finally snag some mainstream recognition due to “Assumptions” taking off. Don’t get me wrong, “Assumptions” is great, but it isn’t even the best track on IV, Sam’s excellent edm-pop EP from 2021. That crown goes to “Duo”, a funky, bouncy track about a relationship meeting its end due to outside interference from other people in your ex’s life. #relatable, unfortunately.

“had me convinced that i knew you best / and now you’re sending paragraphs of words that came from someone else”

Favorite part: The chorus.

“they think you can do better all alone / a couple strangers acting clever, oh no / they come and go it’s temperamental i told you so / i only care about forever, but i wish you the best in all your future endeavours / let’s see where this goes and find out if we end up better.”

That Scottish boy bitter. I feel him.

I’m working on the next live event. I can’t show you anything, but I could actually use some help from you—any Future fans in the house? Email me at editedbrevity@gmail.com or DM me on IG. I wanna pick ur brain!

I’m Ebrima, and this has been Edited for Brevity. SeEYuH!