Kenyatta Lee Frazier Jr. (born April 11, 2000), known professionally as Ken Carson, is an American rapper, singer-songwriter, and record producer. He rose to prominence following the release of his second studio album '' X'' (2022), which became his first entry on the ''Billboard'' 200. His third studio album, '' A Great Chaos'' (2023) reached number 11 on the chart. Carson signed to

Playboi Carti Jordan Terrell Carter (born September 13, 1996), known professionally as Playboi Carti, is an American rapper. Carter was initially signed to local underground label Awful Records prior to signing with ASAP Mob's AWGE Label under Interscope R ...

's record label

Opium Opium (or poppy tears, scientific name: ''Lachryma papaveris'') is dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which i ...

, an imprint of

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Mus ...

in 2019. Prior, Carson released his

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

''Teen X'' (2020) and debut studio album '' Project X'' (2021). Songs from the latter, namely "Rock N Roll" and "Run + Ran", gained wide popularity on the platform

TikTok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version ...

. He is closely affiliated with Opium labelmate, frequent collaborator, and fellow Georgia native

Destroy Lonely Bobby Wardell Sandimanie III (born July 30, 2001), known professionally as Destroy Lonely, is an American rapper. He is best known for his studio album '' No Stylist'' (2022) which peaked at number 91 on the ''Billboard'' 200. He is also the son ...

Career

2015–2019: Beginnings

Carson initially joined

808 Mafia 808 Mafia is an American record production and songwriting team, founded by record producers Southside, TM88, and Lex Luger. Southside is currently at the helm of the group. The group also includes producers Young Miami , Fuse 100, Tarentino, P ...

in 2015 as a rapper after meeting fellow record producer

TM88 Bryan Lamar Simmons (born April 4, 1987), professionally known as TM88 (also known as TrackMan 88), is an American record producer and DJ from Atlanta, Georgia. He is a member of the Atlanta-based record production and songwriting team 808 Mafi ...

, and would begin releasing music on

SoundCloud SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming se ...

as early as 2017. After gaining popularity in the underground rap scene, he would be discovered by fellow Atlanta rapper

and signed to his label Opium in 2019. Carson was also the first to be signed to Opium out of

, and Homixide Gang.

2020–2022: ''Teen X'', ''Project X'' and ''X''

After signing to Opium in 2019, Carson would release two extended plays in 2020, ''Boy Barbie'' and ''Teen X''. At the start of 2021, he would release a sequel EP called ''Teen X: Relapsed'', before releasing his debut studio album '' Project X'' later that year. In February 2022, he appeared as a guest on the track "Gëek high" off American rapper Yeat's album, '' 2 Alive''. He released his second studio album '' X'' on July 8, 2022. It peaked at number 115 on the ''Billboard'' 200. In October 2022, he and fellow Atlanta rapper

SoFaygo Andre Dontrel Burt Jr. (born October 3, 2001), known professionally as SoFaygo (formerly stylized as $oFaygo), is an American rapper and singer. In 2020, Burt released the ''Angelic 7'' mixtape, which was produced by friend and fellow rapper Lil ...

released a single titled "Hell Yeah" for SoFaygo's debut studio album '' Pink Heartz'' with an accompanying music video. On October 31, 2022, Ken Carson released a deluxe version of his ''X'' album named ''Xtended'', alongside a music video on YouTube for his song "MDMA" featuring

2023–present: ''A Great Chaos''

Carson released the single "I Need U" on February 14, 2023. On May 5, 2023, Carson featured on Destroy Lonely's debut studio album, '' If Looks Could Kill'', on the song "Money & Sex". In June 2023, Carson produced the song "x2" from

Lil Uzi Vert Symere Bysil Woods ( ; born July 31, 1995), known professionally as Lil Uzi Vert, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. They are characterized by their face tattoo, facial tattoos, facial piercings, eccentric hairstyles and androgynous ...

's third studio album, ''

Pink Tape ''Pink Tape'' is the second studio album by South Korean girl group f(x). The album was released on July 29, 2013, by S.M. Entertainment. ''Pink Tape'' is the first studio album by f(x) in over two years, the last being the repackage of their fi ...

''. On October 6, 2023, Carson tweeted a

pre-save A pre-save is a digital pre-order, usually of an album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed i ...

link for his third studio album '' A Great Chaos'', indicating that the project would be released on October 13 with a tracklist of 18 songs; three days later, nearly the entire album leaked online after several tracks were shared on a

Discord Discord is a VoIP and instant messaging social platform. Users have the ability to communicate with voice calls, video calls, text messaging, media and files in private chats or as part of communities called "servers".The developer documenta ...

server. On October 12, an album launch party was held at the Silo dance club in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

to commemorate the project's release. Carson performed tracks " Fighting My Demons", "Lose It", "Hardcore", "Singapore", and "Paranoid" alongside his Opium labelmate, Destroy Lonely, before bringing out fellow rapper and the aforementioned label's founder, Playboi Carti, to perform songs from the rapper's latest album,"Stop Breathing" from ''

Whole Lotta Red ''Whole Lotta Red'' is the second studio album by American rapper Playboi Carti. It was released on December 25, 2020, by Interscope Records as well as ASAP Rocky's AWGE label. Work on the album commenced in late 2018 and concluded in November 202 ...

'' (2020), and " Fe!n" from Travis Scott's fourth studio album ''Utopia'' (2023).

Musical style

Carson's musical style has been described as " avingelectronic production that is energetic in nature" and having "focused flows." He has been compared to his mentor

, especially his 2020 album ''

'' as well as to Lil Uzi Vert for his flow and mentality.

Discography

Studio albums * '' Project X'' (2021) * '' X'' (2022) * '' A Great Chaos'' (2023)

Tours

Headlining

* The X Man Tour (2022)

Co-headlining

* Antagonist Tour – (2024)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Carson, Ken Living people 21st-century American rappers African-American male rappers American male rappers African-American male singer-songwriters American hip hop singers Interscope Records artists Rappers from Atlanta Rappers from Georgia (U.S. state) Record producers from Georgia (U.S. state) Singer-songwriters from Georgia (U.S. state) Southern hip hop musicians Trap musicians 2000 births Opium (record label) artists