Playboi Carti fans are a different breed of dedicated. If you spent any time on r/playboicarti or Twitter during the excruciating two-year wait for his sophomore album, you know the lore. It wasn't just about the music. It was about the aesthetic shifts. The "eras." Specifically, the Whole Lotta Red V3 cover remains a massive point of contention, a "what if" that still sparks heated debates in Discord servers today.
Most people see the final Whole Lotta Red cover—the Slash magazine tribute with the black-and-white high-contrast filter—and think that was always the plan. It wasn't.
Carti is notorious for scrapping entire projects weeks before release. By the time we got the actual album on Christmas Day 2020, the project had undergone at least three distinct iterations. The third version, or "V3," was the most experimental. It was the "vamp" peak. And while the final cover we got is now iconic, many purists still swear by the leaked and rumored visuals that defined the Whole Lotta Red V3 cover era.
The Art of the Scrap: How We Got to V3
To understand the cover, you have to understand the chaos of the recording process. Carti didn't just sit down and make one album. He made three. V1 was the "pissy pamper" era, full of light, melodic "baby voice" tracks. V2 was even more experimental, featuring the polarizing "@ MEH." But V3? That was the dark stuff.
The Whole Lotta Red V3 cover was supposed to signal this shift into aggressive, punk-inspired trap. Rumors circulated for months that Carti was working with Art Dealer and Matthew Williams of Givenchy to create something that looked less like a rap album and more like a high-fashion editorial from a basement in Berlin.
People often confuse the "V3" era visuals with the work of Jung "Art Dealer" Chung. If you remember the red-tinted, grainy photos of Carti in leather pants, surrounded by crucifixes, that was the vibe. It was a complete departure from the colorful, psychedelic imagery of Die Lit.
What the Whole Lotta Red V3 Cover Represented
It wasn't just a picture. It was a mood.
The aesthetic was heavily influenced by 1970s punk zines and 80s gothic rock. Think Bauhaus meets Chief Keef. The community generally refers to the Whole Lotta Red V3 cover as the era where the "Opium" aesthetic was truly born. Before the all-black outfits became the uniform for every underground rapper on Soundcloud, Carti was testing the waters with these V3 concepts.
✨ Don't miss: Why the Cast of Hold Your Breath 2024 Makes This Dust Bowl Horror Actually Work
One of the most famous "lost" covers featured a grainy, distorted image of Carti with his head back, almost unrecognizable through a red haze. It looked DIY. It looked dangerous. It looked like the music sounded—distorted 808s and screeching vocals.
When the actual cover finally dropped, it was a tribute to Slash, a punk fanzine from the late 70s. While technically the "official" V3 cover, fans often separate the "Slash" cover from the "V3 Concept" art that leaked during the Richie Souf and Art Dealer sessions. The distinction is subtle but important for the hardcore fanbase.
The Matthew Williams Influence
You can't talk about the Whole Lotta Red V3 cover without talking about Givenchy.
Matthew Williams was essentially the creative director of Carti's life during this period. The V3 visuals were stripped back. No jewelry. No flash. Just raw, abrasive imagery. This was a response to the polished nature of mainstream hip-hop at the time. Carti wanted to look like a rockstar, not a rapper.
Honestly, the V3 era was a bit of a middle finger to the industry. Fans were begging for the "old Carti," and he responded by leaning into a vampire persona that baffled anyone over the age of 25. The visuals were meant to be off-putting. If you liked it, you were "in." If you hated it, that was the point.
Why the Final Choice Was Better (or Worse)
There’s a massive segment of the fanbase that thinks the leaked V3 concepts were superior to the final product.
- The leaked art felt more "underground."
- The final Slash tribute felt more "curated" and high-concept.
- The V3 leaks had a visceral, messy energy that matched the "Rockstar Made" energy of the tracks.
But here is the reality: the final cover is what made the album a classic. By referencing Slash, Carti positioned himself as a direct descendant of the punk movement. It wasn't just about being "edgy"; it was about lineage. The Whole Lotta Red V3 cover that we eventually got told a story of rebellion that a simple "cool photo" couldn't achieve.
🔗 Read more: Is Steven Weber Leaving Chicago Med? What Really Happened With Dean Archer
The Leak Culture and Misinformation
Social media is a mess when it comes to Carti lore. You've probably seen dozens of "V3 Covers" on Pinterest or TikTok that are just high-quality fan art.
Let's be clear: there are very few "confirmed" scrapped covers. Most of what you see tagged as the Whole Lotta Red V3 cover is actually promotional photography taken by Gunner Stahl or shots from the "M3tamorphosis" video shoot.
The actual V3 sessions were shrouded in secrecy. Producers like Richie Souf have hinted at the sheer volume of material that never saw the light of day. When we talk about the V3 cover, we're really talking about a lost era of creativity that was redefined in the final weeks before the album’s release.
The Legacy of the V3 Aesthetic
Look at the underground rap scene today. Look at Ken Carson. Look at Destroy Lonely.
Every single one of them is living in the shadow of the Whole Lotta Red V3 cover aesthetic. The blurry photos, the heavy use of red and black, the obsession with "vamp" culture—it all traces back to those 2020 sessions.
Carti managed to create a visual language that outlasted the album's initial mixed reviews. Whether you prefer the leaked concepts or the official Slash tribute, you have to admit that the V3 era changed the way rappers present themselves. It moved the needle away from "streetwear" and toward "avant-garde horror."
It’s kinda crazy to think that a cover choice could influence an entire generation of artists, but that’s the power of the V3 era. It wasn't just an album rollout; it was a rebranding of an entire subgenre.
💡 You might also like: Is Heroes and Villains Legit? What You Need to Know Before Buying
Tracking Down the Truth
If you’re looking to find the actual V3-era artifacts, you have to dig through the archives of the creative directors involved.
- Check the early 2020 Instagram posts from Art Dealer.
- Look at the "Joy Divizn" (Phoenix) archives—he captured the raw, behind-the-scenes footage of the V3 era.
- Search for the "Opium" files that leaked in early 2021, which contained many of the mood boards for the V3 visuals.
The Whole Lotta Red V3 cover is a symbol of a transition. It represents the moment Playboi Carti stopped being a "mumble rapper" and became a polarizing cultural figure. Even years later, the minimalist, aggressive style of that era remains the gold standard for "cool" in the digital age.
To really appreciate what happened, you have to look at the album as a piece of performance art. The music was the sound of a mental breakdown and a rebirth; the cover had to be just as jarring. Whether it was the red-hazed leaks or the final black-and-white tribute, the mission was accomplished. It stayed in your head. It made you feel something, even if that something was confusion.
How to Apply the V3 Aesthetic Today
If you're a creator or artist inspired by this era, don't just copy the red filter. The lesson of the Whole Lotta Red V3 cover is about subverting expectations.
- Embrace Imperfection: High-definition is boring. Use grain, motion blur, and "bad" lighting to create a mood.
- Reference the Past: Don't just look at other rappers. Look at old punk zines, horror movies, and 90s fashion editorials.
- Commit to a Persona: Carti didn't just change his cover; he changed his clothes, his voice, and his public presence.
The V3 era teaches us that your visual identity is just as important as your "product." People don't just buy music; they buy into a world. The Whole Lotta Red V3 cover was the gate to that world.
If you want to dive deeper into the specific artists who shaped this look, start by researching the photography of Gunner Stahl and the creative direction of Matthew Williams during his early years at Alyx. Understanding the bridge between high fashion and Atlanta trap is the key to understanding why that cover looked the way it did. Stop looking for the "scrapped" files and start looking at the influences that made them possible in the first place.