Being in New York City Carti had made the decision to stay at his drug dealer's house. Once Carti chose to pursue music full-time he made the decision to move to New York City with some family. Carti credits Ethereal with helping him find his sound. In 2014, after meeting producer Ethereal, he joined Awful Records.
Much of his early work has been deleted from the Internet. Career 2011–2016: BeginningsĬarti began rapping at an early age under the name Sir Cartier in 2011 and soon after changed it to Playboi Carti in 2013. Ĭarti shopped in thrift stores in his youth, something that has had an effect on his fashion and music style. Carti hated the idea of being an upcoming rapper working at H&M, so he made the decision to quit. In an interview with The Fader he said, "I was in class with freshmen finishing work, and if I finished the nine assignments before this time I could graduate." He was so close to not graduating that no one showed up to his graduation because they didn't know he was going to graduate. Carter skipped high school classes regularly to work on his music or go to his job at H&M which led to Carti barely graduating high school. I would smoke before practice, get on the court and drop 30." He stopped playing basketball after a disagreement with his coach, and then dedicated his time to music. That was the time I was really ducking school and it was all hoop and no rap. In an interview with The Fader Carti said "I was a young AI and didn't go to practice.
Before rap, Carter wanted to become an NBA star to try and make something of himself. He attended North Springs Charter High School in Sandy Springs. Nobody could tell me shit." This type of lifestyle influenced Carter to get into trouble as a youth and sway away from the idea of pursuing a higher level of education after high school. In a 2016 interview with Complex he stated, "My ma couldn't tell me shit. Jordan Terrell Carter was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and grew up in Fairburn, Georgia.