Hi, everyone. Waythony Grosstano here, and it's time to take a second, a minute, a moment to talk about Playboi Carti. Rapper, songwriter extraordinaire, one of the hottest and most relevant and most in-demand artists at the moment. Someone who shine is so bright and intense right now. Even a handful of mixed reviews and reactions to his latest LP, Music, have not really been enough to slow this man's popularity and momentum.

And, as someone who has been very on the fence with a lot of his recent output, it's just been crazy to see the magnetism around this man in the music industry, because, not only is the support for him within his fandom seemingly undying, but the draw to him was obviously enough for artists like Kendrick Lamar to sink multiple features into his new album and even called the guy his "evil twin."

Even more recently, Carti did a live performance where he brought out not only Kendrick, but A$AP Rocky, too, someone who he has a pretty long-standing connection with. Now, this is all fine and well and good, but what I personally find to be disturbing and concerning is the continued deafening silence around stories like these, where it's been revealed that Carti is facing allegations and, I guess, charges over an assault that supposedly happened at the start of this month, October 2025, against his girlfriend and a limo driver, and allegedly, Carti even threatened to shoot the driver.

There's even dispatch audio around this ordeal that's leaked in the wake of this story getting out there. It would be one thing if this was a completely isolated incident that didn't make sense in the greater narrative or context of Carti's character.

But Carti has, in fact, faced allegations like this before from his ex-girlfriend, Brandi Marion. Many Carti fans may know this as the story of him putting hands on and choking his pregnant girlfriend at the time, which for months and months and months now, there has been police bodycam footage of her interacting with authorities, retelling the goings on, the altercation, everything. Showing injuries at her back and her throat.

"How did he attack you?"

"I'm standing there, and he just ran up on me, and grabbed me by my neck, pushed me down. The trees, I think, got scraped my back."

"So he was outside?"

[inaudible]

"...then I got up to try and get into my car, and then he had someone else come and pull me out of my car, covering my mouth..."

"The other dude was a friend of his?"

"No, it was a woman."

"Oh, the other woman was a friend."

"There was two dudes also."

"What did he do?"

"I don't even know how to mention what he does."

"Why not?"

"Just because it's just going to escalate. Because they always hold it against me like, 'Oh, you really want to ruin this person?'"

"It's not holding it against you if he attacked you."

"I know, but it's still a part of me that's like it's my kid's dad. It's just hard. I don't want to call the police. I don't want to have to make a police report, because you are the father of my child, but I don't really know what to do. When I'm trying to call the police, they're, like, dragging me out of my car and covering my mouth. I was like, 'I don't know what to do at that point.'"

"He wants to take a picture of your neck. A lot of the redness."

"Yeah. Turn around for me."

Yeah, they go down. We have more two. Just the back of your neck.

"You have bruises on your back, too?"

Even more recently, there's actually been a newly-surfaced video of her talking about all of this at the station, too.

"So, other than pushing you down and choking you, and I know you said you're getting green, were you gasping for air? Were you asking him to let you go?"

"I was trying to, but I couldn't even... I was scared. At that point, I'm like, 'Oh, my gosh, I'm going to die.'"

"Oh, wow."

"I was going to pass out or something."

In an absolutely tough to watch, heartbreaking moment, she goes on to describe being made to carry Carti's kid, even though she personally did not feel ready to do so.

"So this time, when you found out you were expecting the baby, he wasn't happy?"

"No, this is what he wanted. Out of anything. I wasn't ready. This is what he wanted."

"So what's the problem?"

"I don't know. Just ever since I found out, he's been more aggressive. He's mean. Before I was always... I don't know. He would treat me better than he treated me now, just knowing that any second I could leave him, do whatever I wanted now, and now that I'm pregnant... This is what he's told me. He's like, 'Now that you're pregnant, you can't do that.' Still, I feel… I don't know. I don't know why he feels like that, but it was like, you can do whatever and say whatever because I'm pregnant and I have to depend on him."

Again, absolutely harrowing and frankly, gut-wrenching stuff. And what feels so odd to me is just that there doesn't really seem to be much motion or discourse around these occurrences, around these stories, despite just how bad they are and how terrible they look.

I just don't really know why. It doesn't make sense.

I mean, I get that cancel culture isn't really a thing and moral outrage over artists doing terrible things. It's maybe not as big a thing as it was at one time or maybe around the #MeToo era. But by that same token, over the last five or four days, on the internet, there's been more willingness and more virality around discussing things Tyler, the Creator, has done and said 10 years ago versus the things that Playboi Carti is being accused of doing right now.

And again, it's perplexing. It doesn't really make sense. I mean, within the music publication industry, I can theorize that a lot of it has to do with the fact that there isn't really a whole lot of accountability going on within his audience. And if these stories, bringing them to light, isn't going to cause his audience to think, or do, or say anything, change their listening habits or their point of view in any way, then maybe it's pointless to talk about it.

Maybe we don't want to piss his fan base off or potentially alienate them in terms of being able to engage them in other pieces of music discussion. But, personally, I think that's a really shitty way to choose and editorialize around whether or not these stories should be discussed. You talk about ongoing issues to the degree that you can based on the fact that they are ongoing, not based on whether or not you get the result or the outcome you want immediately after bringing them up for the first time.

Also, I feel like in the past, and surely this is going to be a reaction people have to this, this video, too, I'm obviously going to face accusations that I just want Carti's career to be over, because I don't like him and so on and so forth, when in reality, I would really just like for him to be doing better and for him to face some account for his alleged actions.

Again, to bring it back to Tyler, the Creator, there was a point in time where I didn't really like his antics. I didn't really like his music. And while, surely to this day, he's far from a perfect person, I don't think he would profess to be as such. He has matured a lot personally, and artistically, and doesn't really conduct himself in the same way that he did back in 2012, '13, '14.

And personally, I would like to reach that same place with Playboi Carti, too.

But stories like this coming up again and again, and continuing to see deafening silence on the Brandi stuff in addition to that, that doesn't make me feel like we're going in that direction. Even with people like Kendrick now in his circle, who, if some of you guys remember, I was told that Kendrick connecting with him, surely that was going to create a situation where he could be talked to or reasoned with or mentored. Yeah, again, considering that happened a while back, and now this story is coming out from the start of this month, I don't know if the Kendrick Lamar mentorship is going well.

This is just so fucking embarrassing for everyone involved. I don't know why, because we enjoy the music that certain people make, we have to turn a blind eye to the things that they do. Personally, there are tons of favorite records that I have, classic records that I know and love, where the artist involved have done terrible things long ago, maybe even before I was born.

But just because that's the case doesn't mean I can't acknowledge those wrongdoings, or expect, or hope for, or push for, better if that artist is still alive, engaging in that behavior and active today. It just seems like right now with Carti, there's little to no expectations, which is sad and unfortunate. Not only because of what that says societally, but continuing to benefit despite behaviors and actions like these is obviously going to send the message that there's not really any issue or problem with doing stuff like this.

So yes, an absolutely terrible, and disappointing, update to this story. And you guys can let me know what you think about all of it in the comments. I'm sure you will.

Anthony Fantano, Playboi Carti, bleh.