Jordan Carter, more commonly known as Playboi Carti, has become a phenomenon in the rap community since his “Playboi Carti” mixtape released back in 2017. Since then, he has made hit singles and two culturally popular albums. Along with this, he has been featured with plenty of icons in the music industry like Tyler the Creator, Lana Del Ray and more.
Since his early days on Soundcloud, Carti has had one of the most loyal fanbases in music. Recently this group has gone by the moniker “Vamps." This name was picked up after the release of his “Whole Lotta Red” album, which is known for its gothic theme and aggressive tone, making the name a perfect fit for Playboi Carti’s fans. The Vamps, like many "stans" or super fans can take things too far and this recent tour is a superb example of this.
The world got the first true exposure of the Vamps during Playboi Carti’s Lollapalooza performance in the summer of 2021. For the schedule, they had placed Playboi Carti right before Miley Cyrus on the same venue. Which meant that some of the thousands of people at the performance were Miley Cyrus fans which commonly included a younger demographic. However, many of the fans got more than they could handle from the Vamps. There are claims of Miley’s fans getting punched, being thrown into mosh pits and even reports of blood and seizures. Fans rushed to twitter and described the fans as “insane.”!Of course the fans and Playboi Carti himself don’t care much about that.
Now, during his “Narcissist” tour the fans have only ramped up the aggression. There are plenty of instances in just five of his venues of fans acting out of control. At the beginning this tour it started off as small typical concerts with mosh pits but it has erupted past that into utter chaos.
On Saturday, Oct 23, the madness had reached its peak. As eager fans waited at the venue to enjoy a concert after some time had passed waiting, anticipation and excitement led to anger. Some of the crowd began to break down entry gates, metal detectors and even hospitalized a security guard after she had been trampled over by the wave of fans. This led to the entire concert being cancelled and Houston police getting involved.
Playboi Carti himself has barely spoken up about the situation at Houston or at any of his concerts. The only replies anyone has gotten is from his personal twitter. On the night after the event he made his first post of the month saying “cult” and “hardcore”.
With all this trouble one has to ask when this is becoming too much. Yes, many fans are having fun and enjoying the opportunity to see an artist they love. Yet, many of these “Vamps” seem to be taking this as a chance to cause damage and get away with it. Hopefully the fans for the next few venues do not ruin this for the rest since it was just last year we didn’t have the opportunity to go to concerts.
