Is Playboi Carti Making a Joint Album with NBA YoungBoy?

The 23-year-old Louisiana rapper YoungBoy Never Broke Again has already put out three full-length projects so far in 2023 for his cult fanbase. But, now it looks like he could be gearing up for No. 4.

On Monday (June 12), Playboi Carti posted an Instagram story of a photoshopped image of YoungBoy wearing an upside-down cross-chain necklace. The cross has reportedly been co-opted as a symbol for Carti’s record label Opium, signifying that he and YoungBoy have been working on music together.

Additionally, a jeweler in Carti’s hometown of Atlanta named Jewelry Unlimited uploaded a video to Instagram on Monday of an Opium upside-down cross chain. In the caption of the post, Jewelry Unlimited confirmed that the collaborative LP is on its way and is titled 004KT.

“004KT @playboicarti GIFTS YOUNGBOY A CHAIN AHEAD OF THEIR NEW COLLAB ALBUM,” the caption reads.

Soon after these posts from Carti and Jewelry Unlimited went up, hip-hop producer F1LTHY also tweeted the phrase “004KT,” again alluding to the impending Carti-YoungBoy album. In 2020, F1LTHY earned production credits on six songs from Carti’s sophomore studio album Whole Lotta Red, including hits like “Stop Breathing” and “M3tamorphosis” with Kid Cudi.

It’s currently unclear when 004KT will release, what is contained in its track list, or what the phrase means. But, this would not only amount to Carti’s first full-length effort since Whole Lotta Red, but his first collaborative album ever.

On the flip side, YoungBoy has put out four solo albums and five mixtapes since Carti’s last LP. Also, YoungBoy has collided with multiple different artists for joint albums throughout his career, most notably Moneybagg Yo in 2017, Rich the Kid in 2020, and DaBaby in 2022.

What Carti and YoungBoy do have in common, though, is that their albums tend to top the charts. With his two most recent tapes, Die Lit (2018) and Whole Lotta Red (2020), Carti was able to reach Nos. 1 and 3 on the Billboard 200. As for YoungBoy, he’s had four albums hit No. 1 and three others hit No. 2.

Photo by Kyle Gustafson / For The Washington Post via Getty Images