Playboy Cardi has carefully built his label Opium since 2019. He's carefully crafted artists and their image to create a cult like following. This has led to Opium becoming a music empire. Today we're going to cover exactly how Cardi did this. This is the Opium story. Cardi was a valedictorian in high school. He found school so easy that he was just smoking every day and skipping class to let the other students catch up. His friends wanted him to get into rapping. I'd assume they were all rapping as well at that time, so he would. Cardi was on GarageBand at first. It's a pretty shit app. I believe it's pretty easy to navigate though. So, Cardi would find his first love in recording music. He loved it so much that he would start skipping even more class to record music. Despite this, plus him smoking and being a bit of a dropkick, he would actually end up graduating from high school. He didn't want to go to college though. That's because he finally found a passion in music. Cardi was a bit lost in life, but he was determined to make it. He would begin to post on Soundcloud and just go hard on it, dropping whatever he thought was good. It would end up turning out pretty well for Cardi. He would link up with a producer and this was going to be very important in his career. Cardi would meet the producer Ethereal. They would lock in in the studio and start grinding. And through this their relationship would get stronger. Their song Beef is probably one of my favorites that they made during that era. Because Ethereal was working with Cardi and it was going so well. He would introduce Cardi to the record label Awful Records. They were pretty impressed at what he was doing and ended up signing him. Cardi would use the label to meet another producer who was about to get in some real buzz in the underground scene. Cardi would link up with Mexico Dro. And they would start working together as much as they could. Mexico kind of complimented Cardi sound at the time. Because of this, his SoundCloud would actually start getting some pretty serious numbers. This is also around the time where SoundCloud was at its peak of popularity in hip-hop. So growing on that was way more of the big deal back then. Cardi was getting so successful he was growing out of his hometown Atlanta. I didn't know that was a thing till now. I thought half the rap game was in Atlanta. But I guess he needed a change. So Cardi would drop everything he had at home and move to New York City to pursue his dream. Blow that dope don't get too high from that dope coast to the west coast come take this ride. Because of this move he did part ways with awful records. They served him well but he was getting pretty big so he needed to move up I guess. Cardi was in this polluted homeless. Dirty city with no idea what to do. This is where he would meet a manager who was going to connect him with cuts like ASAP Rocky. Ian Connor was a fashion designer but at the same time he was extremely tapped in with the underground hip hop scene, especially in New York. He was already a fan of Cardi hearing a shit he made with Ethereal and Mexico Drogue. They would eventually link up in NYC and build a friendship. There's like thousands of hours of camcorder footage of them cuddling. Ian also had connections with some of the biggest artists in New York City. So because of this, Cardi now had a chance to connect with those artists. And since Ian saw potential in Cardi, Ian would become Cardi's manager. Right away, Ian would get to work introducing him to artists. At a party, he would introduce Cardi to ASAP Rocky. And this is pretty cool, but Rocky was already a fan, so they would instantly become friends, being in the studio together and that. But they never had any official ties yet. So... no features on anything. They were just mates. Over the next few months, Cardi would have one of the biggest wins of his career. His song, Vogue Boy, would blow the f*** up. I think it has like 50 million plays now on Spotify. And this will cause a ripple effect and inflate all of his numbers. Then his single, Fetty, would blow up. It's not as good. I don't know how he plays jazz. All of a sudden, you've blinked. And now Cardi's the face of this 2016-2017 SoundCloud underground wave thing. Then finally, Rocky gave an actual fuck about him and asked if he wanted to sign to ASAP Mob. Cardi would agree, and this was going to change his life. Well, actually, he wasn't with them for too long, but what he did do was his first real taste of mainstream success. He would feature on the first Cozy Tapes, which was ASAP Mob's collab project. He was on the song Telephone Cause, which was the biggest on the tape. And look, that's a pretty big deal if Tyler, Rocky, Wiz Khalifa were all on that project. So. That was impressive. Off this project, Cardi would become friends with another artist that was featured on this project Lil Uzi Vert. Lil Uzi Vert was also an artist who was pretty much identically as popular at the time, maybe slightly more. But they both had the similar druggy laid back personality so they would click well. They would start recording songs together. They would release the song Left Right together on Uzi's project I think. I don't fucking know. But this was a notable moment for Cardi because it was so successful and then instead of competing with Uzi for who's on top of the underground, they were finally working together to develop the scene as a whole. This was pretty much it for the meantime with our ASAP Mob. Cardi would leave them to join Interscope. I mean this is a massive label. My guess is on why he left was because these types of labels have stupid amounts of money they can just pour into marketing new artists. So I would have done the same thing to be honest. Cardi and Uzi were continuing to be in the studio working together. Some random blokes sent them this beat from a producer named Pierre Bourne. They love this beat and look I do too. It would eventually be for the song Woke Up Like This. Fairly enough. Pierre felt a bit weird them just recording on a beat without ever meeting him. So they would link up in the studio and begin recording the song Woke Up Like This. And the song was a hit. The song was performed so well and it sounded so good. But Cardi would bring Pierre to produce his next project for him, Self Titled. Cardi would drop Self Titled in April 2017. This is where he'd take a step into the mainstream of hip hop. Heavily produced by Pierre Bourne, I think he's got like 4 or 5 songs on it. This project was loaded with hits. Magnolia which probably is like a billion streams now and it's 2 times platinum. Location, Yameen, even New Chopper with ASAP Rocky. Cardi was on top of the world but something was about to change. He would pretty much disappear for the next year, not really releasing anything. He was on Cozy Tapes Part 2 multiple times actually, but his part on Frat Rules was so good I'm really not too bothered to mention the rest. But still, Cardi's name was at an all time high in popularity. So he would use this buzz to drop his next album. So I let it. Cardi used his name and a ton of other artists to drive the popularity of this album. It has features from Chief Keef, Bison Tiller, Thug, Uzi and Travis which were all good and thematically matched Cardi's high energy throughout this album. So you could already guess this album sold. It had 64 sales first week. So again Cardi just kept getting more popular than ever. It would announce it's next album. right after Dilett, put a whole lot of red, but then he'd disappear. He actually disappeared this time, not half like last time. I just said that to make the script flow a bit better. Cardi wasn't releasing any, but this would cause a weird effect. Cardi's name was in such high demand that the supply was so low, the fans took it to their own hands. That would start leaking the absolute f*** out of Cardi's music. Every time the poor guy finished the album, it would already be up on Spotify under artist names like X underscore Broken Hearts. without any vows. But for some reason, this wasn't really a bad thing. Cardi's songs getting leaked only grew as demand. Some leaks were even charting. That's not even sarcasm. Kid Cardi hit number one on the Spotify charts. This leaking went on for years, and over this period, Cardi's style was changing. I never thought I'd see an artist develop their sound without them actually releasing a song, but that's open for you. We saw a big change in 2020 during peak COVID, where we would hear two songs from him. Mare, which was his first actual release for a while, and Pain. Cardi's voice had completely changed. It was all pitched up and pretty much a baby voice is the best way to describe it. Then over the course of 2020, this baby voice stayed high pitched, but somehow it got f***ing dark and punk. Cardi started dressing like a speed addict from Berlin. Everything was dark. Cardi wasn't the same. Then suddenly on Christmas Day that year, Cardi would break the internet. Cardi would drop the long awaited whole lotta red, and it was nothing like we expected. It was full of raw, punk sounding melodies, with honestly satanic themes. Let's not beat around the bush here. Because of this, mainstream hip hop has never seen anything so f***ed before. It sounded wrong to listen to. That was the effect of it. That's exactly why people were drawn to it. They felt like they were a part of something they shouldn't be. Basically a cult. It really embedded in Cardi's... shows following the album. It was dark, energetic and punk. They were all entertaining, well performed and f***ed. I dunno, I'm not smart enough to think of another word. Every concert fans became a part of this whole forbidden movement and put Cardi more on a pedestal every time. This is where the whole lot of red effect was created, but there's something I haven't told you. Cardi had been planning this all along after all. This punk satanic image had been planned for years, but Cardi just- wanted to make it bigger than him. Therefore, he could create, I guess, an ecosystem of artists to push this. So it was a self-sustaining movement. Cardi would create his label Opium. So how was Cardi gonna create this label? Well, first, he had his eyes on this young, methed out artist who he thought had the potential to match his aesthetic. This kid was named Ken Carson. So how was Ken gonna create the Opium Impulse? Oh, you hear what's happening? Ken would f**k around a lot growing up. He's known for slapping his teacher, which is really not something to brag about. But school was the time where he would try something. Ken would get into making music. He wasn't really trying, he was just doing it for fun. Ken would become friends with this chick in 8th grade. It's not weird for me to say because it's important. Because she would introduce him. to a kid who goes by the name of Lil 88. Ken and him would hit it off and become really good friends. These two were on a FaceTime together where Ken would find out that Lil 88 was actually cousins with the producer TM88, who could have guessed. If you don't know, TM88 is a massive producer and he's actually behind Exo Tour Life. Eventually, these two would link up. They were in the studio together. And this is where Ken's life would change. He would show Team 88 the music he was working on. And obviously, Team 88 was impressed. He would go and introduce him to his group of producers, 808 Mafia. If you don't really know, it's a quick Google search for you. They're just massive producers in hip-hop. They were all pretty keen on Ken's music. And because of this, they'd allow him to sit in some of their studio sessions. These were with artists like Young Thug and Playboi Carti. This is important down the line. But at the time, Ken was being a f***ing retard and ended up getting kicked out of school. But he would get his GED, so Ken was free. Ken would use his newfound freedom and time to really step into some bigger things. Drugs, partying and fashion. But Joke Society did finally start to take music more seriously. During this time he was a massive fan of Cardi. So I'm sure he was taking some inspiration from him in his music. Ken was such a big fan in fact. He would go and visit Cardi live. This was during around 2017, 2018. So self-titled dilute era. When Ken got to the concert for some reason. For some reason, he wasn't too fond of another fan, so he fought him. The Molly was probably meth that day. So he got kicked out. Cardi saw him getting kicked out, where he would actually recognize Ken from being in the studio sessions with him. So he would get Ken to wristband, so he could go back inside the concert. This planted the seed for Obium. Ken Wood finally released his first single, 32. It actually did pretty well, it got some press releases at the time. Ken finally seeing some success really began to drive his passion for music. Shit was really going up for Ken at the time. Over the next few months he was dropping more and more music, but he was cheating on his girlfriend a lot at the time and she retaliated by deleting his entire soundcloud. Which killed a lot of his progress. It's a bit extra but you could have just left her. This little bump wouldn't stop him. In fact it would actually motivate him more, as this time. He would change up his sound a little bit and it wouldn't be weird. Finally, Ken was getting some serious underground attention. But one person in particular would really f*** with Ken. Playboy Cardi loved Ken's raw and grungy but still fun sound. Cardi thought he could elevate his sound and image. So he took Ken under his wing and the two would start hanging out. We would start to see Ken sound slightly darker but the real change was his image. A ton of photos would release of Ken and Cardi cuddling in mirrors. Ken the upbeat MD fiend was now rocking dark clothing. It finally came time for Ken to release his first project in 2020. It had a mosh pit punk sound to it, perfect for the underground, having features from Yachty and Lancey. Ken was now popular in the underground, he had that credibility. This was all Cardi needed to see. He knew Ken was perfect for opium. With the right guidance, Cardi could turn him into an underground punk hip hop icon thing. Let's see what happened. Ken would drop his project Teen X later that year and it would completely step into the mosh bit rage sound that was very similar to Playboy Kai. His tracks were raw and aggressive. Then finally, it was time for a whole lot of red to drop and Cardi finally had his first member of his Opium label. Ken was someone who perfectly matched the sound and aesthetic that Cardi envisioned Opium to be. But Cardi wasn't done. He needed more members, so he would turn to a kid sitting in his room. Hooked on drugs, making dark music to be the future of all these You know what, that sounds so weird Destroy Lonely always grew up around music. His father was rapper Ivy, who was on the move bitch dong. But high school was when things got dark for Lone. He was in his room alone a lot and started getting into drugs. This is where he'd eventually come up with his name, Destroy Lonely. He was skipping class a lot, like every other Ozean member. But this time his teacher was actually cool with it, because he would skip class to use the school studios, which is pretty sick. This is where Lone recorded his first track, but I can't find them, you just have to trust me. Eventually, he would meet his two best friends during high school, Nesus and Texaco. He would meet Nesus because he was new to the school, but Lone recognized him from a function they went to, so they would start talking about music because they were both super into it. Plus, they lived pretty close to each other. Soon, they would become good friends. This is where Nesus and Lone would always be over recording music. One night, Nesus was over, and they had the idea to take some Adderall and stay up all night to record a project. They did exactly that. The project was called Kneezes Destroyed, dropping in 2018. It's not great. I'm not going to sit here and lie to you. But it was a start and that's important. A few months later, he would drop another project called Dark Force, which was definitely a step up. Then he would release Sometimes We Lose and Forever I Love You. Again, not very good, but still improvements every time. But then something would change. 2019 would roll around. And Lone would record his song Band. It was this really catchy beat. He actually made the thing on live with like three viewers. The song now has 50 million streams. But we'll have to slow the f*** down because that's a bit later. In 2020, Lone was f***ed. determined. He would continue to drop and drop, releasing Underworld, Lord, and Overseas, which again, it was getting better, but suddenly, he would take the bigger step forward. Lone would release Broken Heart. The project actually crossed the mark of something worth listening to, but there was a specific song on Broken Heart that would cause Cardi to notice. Oh yeah, the song had a translucent, ambient feel, while still keeping the underground sound. This caught the attention of Playboi Carti. He thought that Lone had the aesthetic sonically and visually for his opium vision. Soon, Cardi's A&R would DM Lone after the song Oh Yeah and said he liked his music. Lone would say thank you or whatever and didn't think too much of it. That was until a few weeks later. Jay would text him again saying that Cardi actually f***ed with his music. This would lead to Lone going to the studio with Cardi. Here is where they would make a ton of music and Cardi would begin to shift Lone's sound to match exactly what he needed for opium. We'll get to exactly what he would do soon, but Cardi still needed one more recruitment. So he would turn to a duo in Atlanta, making waves through their murder music. Bino and Michi both grew up in Atlanta. They met at a high school basketball game. It was a friend that brought them together. They weren't playing, they were just both watching and they would become mates instantly. For the rest of high school they would just become better and better friends. They wouldn't start making music together until 2019, but they didn't even take it seriously then. All they would do is get on some aggressive hard rock beats and talk about murder on them. It was actually pretty good though. Cardi kinda knew them because of some street affiliation in Atlanta. Not like really know them. It wasn't until their mutual friend Problem Child would introduce the three. They would randomly all end up in the studio. This is where Cardi asked to hear their music. The two would show Cardi the song SSN. Cardi loved it. The hard rock satanic shit fell perfectly under what Cardi was trying to do for Opium. They already fitted the sound. So Cardi would invite the two to be the final members of Opium. It was now December 26, 2020. Whole Lotta Red just dropped. Cardi had all the members he needed to create his vision for Opium. Now he just needed to do it. He first began by making sure every artist dressed really dark and punk. You know that skin tight black clothing they all wear? You would see Ken wearing this. You would see Homicide Gang wearing this. You would definitely see Lone in this shit. This was to create the visual aesthetic to go with their music. Because you wouldn't take it very seriously if they all made the music they were making and wearing blue autism Under Armour hoodies. Now the visual image was created. Cardi needed to plan the next Opium projects to perfectly encapsulate the Opium aesthetic. sonically it's a corny word to say but we're just gonna call it that so first up ken's project would end up dropping in mid 2021 called project x this project would follow the rage sound that was really popular at the time this style was heavily influenced by cardi because the really angry aggressive rage was almost pioneered by whole lot of red but it did have its own twist on it so it fell under a whole lot of red without straight ripping it ken was also more playful about it but still dark at the same time. It's pretty hard to explain. Ken would follow this up with X. The project still had elements of rage but played more into heavy synths. Again, very similar to Cardi. So now his name was becoming very closely associated to him, which is exactly what they wanted. Now they share the demand. Two of Ken's biggest songs on the project were with Destroy Lonely, which worked perfectly for Opium. Because now they were seen as a pair, which added to Destroy Lonely's hype at the time. And now Lone's hype was building up off those collabs and his personal success on TikTok for him to release his first project in August 2022. This project fell into the theme of having dark, sound, almost rage music. But Lone focused more on relaxed flows. This is where he would differentiate from the other artists in Opium. The album would be f***ed. successful with the leading single no stylist reaching 70 million plays on spotify and going off on tiktok this would push lone to the forefront of opium it wasn't cardi and ken it was now cardi lone and ken cardi now had two artists lifting the opium name they were self-sustaining their own popularity which only grew the cult fan base now he just needed a homicide gang to start seeing success his plan with m2 was to focus more on traditional trap while still having punk elements you This is where we would see the project Homicide Lifestyle, which is exactly what we just explained, and it's bloody good too. The song Lifestyle performed the best and got them a ton of popularity. They would soon come back with their project Snot or Not. This was much of the same but just a bit more versatile. Not really too much to say about this one if I'm being completely honest. Now finally we have three acts that were self-sustaining, and it created this effect where their success was promoting Tide. because they were so closely associated. So Cardi could step away from the spotlight. When it came to the concerts, Opium were very careful with how they would do these. Like I discussed, concerts are an essential part to the Opium's marketing because they were such a spectacle that it felt like you were a part of the collective forbidden movement. You were losing your f***ing mind off drugs to satanic music. I hate to say it, but it does draw a lot of people in. The most recent project for Opium is Loans If Looks Kill. This was one of the projects that were marketed most carefully. It had releases of dark, mellow music with everything just having a sinister tone to it. This was then all perfectly encapsulated with a short film, which might have been the most horrific acting I've ever seen in my life, but the whole horror aesthetic played perfectly into the music. So I'll take it as a win. I'll take it Cardi has carefully and strategically been planning the creation of Opium since 2019, with every movie made set up to create a whole cult fanbase around Opium, which all in all turned into an empire.