Playboi Carti Will Have to Convince Skeptics That He's Actually Coming to Fort Worth

Two weeks ago, we saw Playboi Carti turn AT&T Stadium on its head in his opening slot for the Weeknd. His set was an all-out sprint, coming in at just five songs performed in a tight 15 minutes, with only two from his latest release, MUSIC. Clad from head to toe in black leather and backed by an entourage of hype men, dancers and a lone electric guitarist, his short appearance was a rowdy blast, leaving North Texas audiences clamoring for more.

This week, the rage rapper announced new dates for his Antagonist 2.0 Tour, including three nights in Texas. He’s set to visit our neck of the woods on Friday, Nov. 21, at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, sandwiched between arena dates at Toyota Center in Houston (Nov. 20) and Moody Center in Austin (Nov. 23).

For the tour, Carti is bringing along three artists currently signed to his record label, Opium, including Ken Carson, Destroy Lonely, and Homixide Gang, plus Apollo Red, who is signed to Opium's offshoot, YVL. Of course, Carti fans across Texas must be thrilled at the news of a new tour, but we’ve learned to be dubious about news of the Atlanta rapper touring. This isn’t the first time that the Antagonist Tour has booked Texas dates. It was originally planned for fall 2023, before being delayed for a few months at the start of 2024. Then, Carti was set for a date at American Airlines Center on Jan. 17, only for that date to be postponed again a few months later. By March, the entire nationwide Antagonist Tour was canceled indefinitely.

Three years before, Carti was booked at the Credit Union of Texas Event Center in Allen as part of his King Vamp Tour, based on the Whole Lotta Red album that was released during the pandemic. But yet again, his planned Nov. 2 date was ultimately postponed and eventually canceled altogether.

As far as we could tell, Carti’s last headlining Dallas show was all the way back in December 2018 at South Side Ballroom, when he was fresh off his seminal sophomore album, Die Lit. If he follows through on the Antagonist 2.0 date in November, expect not only an all-night rager, but one full of the same level of rage he puts into his music.

Whether he’s your style of music or not, Carti’s rowdy shout-along rage rap is a completely contemporary sound in a way that deserves to be appreciated more. This kind of music just did not exist even 10 years ago, and it’s clearly connecting to the youth music scene of today, bridging the gap between hip-hop and punk rock. To be cynical about Carti is to run the risk of sounding like the older generation that hip-hop once rebelled against, and rock and roll before that.

The artist presale for Playboi Carti’s tour dates began Tuesday, Sept. 9 at 10 a.m. General tickets will go on sale on Thursday, Sept. 11, at 10 a.m. Grab your tickets if you can, and hold on tight to see if it actually happens.