The Collective Milly Rock Playboi Carti's "Magnolia" Incited At Roots Picnic

Photo Credit: Averie Cole for Okayplayer.

At the front of the Oasis Stage, a crowd of fans awaits Playboi Carti's appearance at the Roots Picnic. Backstage, Carti is facing a fence, fending off the wind that is stopping him from lighting a blunt.

Finally, it's lit.

He turns around and is greeted by a microphone which he holds to his side as he takes a hit of the blunt. "When I say 'Playboi' you say Carti," the rapper's DJ instructs the audience.

Playboi!

Carti!

Playboi!

Carti!

Backstage, Carti joins his fans in saying his name, the smile on his face growing every time he says "Carti."

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As he finishes up what's left of the blunt a path is made for him to walk up to the stage. He hands someone his Gucci backpack and dashes forward, jumping up from the last stair hopping around to greet the audience. At that precise moment "Magnolia" was supposed to start but its brief delayed makes the moment that much better. The track cuts through the speakers — "Yo, Pierre you wanna come out here?"

Fans both front and backstage are winding up their hands to hit their Milly Rock. The latter has more space to cultivate theirs, keeping their hands close together near their chest and extending them further and further apart. The former has considerably less space to work with but those in the front row do what they can, initiating an overhead Milly Rock that looks like they are fanning themselves, seeking refuge from the Philly sun.

The 808s kick in.

Everyone's Milly Rock is different but equally intense. A group of kids backstage gradually get into a synchronized Milly Rock, all of them smacking the air as if they were fending off a swarm of Philadelphia's most feverish mosquitoes. The front is directing their Milly Rock at Carti, whose slender frame towers above them. He's understandably blissful, feeding off the Milly Rock, moving from side to side on stage and allowing the backing track to play out. When someone's Milly Rock seems to be slowing down, someone else is there to take their place, their hands moving at rapid speeds while the other slows for a bit.

READ: The Secret History Behind Every Roots Picnic Poster Ever Made

Up until the end of "Magnolia," we are all one collective Milly Rock — we are Playboi Carti's Milly Rock, a testament to the Atlanta native having his breakout moment this year and expanding the Milly Rock to other blocks beyond its Bed-Stuy origins. The moment is reminiscent of one of Carti's peers, Lil Uzi Vert, who performed at last year's Roots Picnic on the same stage. The Philly native climbed a cargo container during a performance of Carnage's "WDYW," which the rapper is featured on. Vert inched closer and closer to the container's edge, seeming as if at any point he might jump into the crowd, which they anxiously awaited. Instead, he climbed down from the container and continued his performance onstage. A year later, Vert has become the poster boy for rap stage dives and finally did take that large dive into the crowd during his performance at Rolling Loud.

Carti, like Vert at the time, is coming into himself as an artist. If his trajectory will continue is unknown but for now Carti is enjoying himself, celebrating his newfound fame and spreading the power of the Milly Rock on his journey.