The 2010s File Feature
Wokeuplikethis*
Wokeuplikethis by Playboi Carti Featuring Lil Uzi Vert: Recording History and Chart Performance When Playboi Carti released "Wokeuplikethis" in the spring of…
01 The Story
Wokeuplikethis* by Playboi Carti Featuring Lil Uzi Vert: Recording History and Chart Performance
When Playboi Carti released "Wokeuplikethis*" in the spring of 2017, the Atlanta rapper was still operating on the outskirts of mainstream hip-hop recognition, cultivating an intensely loyal underground following that had been tracking his every SoundCloud upload for years. The song arrived as part of his self-titled debut mixtape, Playboi Carti, released on April 14, 2017, through Interscope Records and AWGE. That project represented a formal major-label introduction for an artist who had already built significant cultural momentum through a string of loosie tracks and viral moments, but "Wokeuplikethis*" became one of its defining moments, largely because of the guest appearance by Lil Uzi Vert, who was at that precise moment one of the hottest rappers alive.
The production on the track was handled by Pi'erre Bourne, the South Carolina-born beatmaker who would become inextricably linked with Carti's aesthetic and commercial rise. Bourne had already collaborated with Carti on a number of tracks and possessed an uncanny ability to build skeletal, ethereal instrumentals that felt simultaneously minimal and emotionally vast. His work on "Wokeuplikethis*" exemplified that signature, layering delicate melodic loops over crisp drum programming to create a beat that felt weightless yet insistent. The asterisk in the title became a recurring trademark of the Carti-Bourne creative partnership, eventually appearing on numerous releases and becoming a kind of unofficial brand marker within the SoundCloud rap ecosystem.
Lil Uzi Vert's involvement was not incidental. By the first half of 2017, Uzi was riding the commercial and critical wave generated by his single "XO Tour Llif3," which would reach number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 that same summer and cement his status as a generational voice in hip-hop. His appearance on "Wokeuplikethis*" therefore carried enormous commercial weight, and the collaboration felt organic given the overlapping aesthetics, shared Philadelphia and Atlanta underground connections, and mutual investment in a melodic, emotionally charged approach to rap that was rapidly displacing older paradigms of lyrical density as the dominant mode of popular hip-hop.
The track debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 on May 20, 2017, entering at position 100. Over the following weeks it climbed steadily, reaching its peak position of number 76 during the chart week of June 3, 2017. The song spent 10 weeks on the Hot 100, a strong showing for a deep cut on a mixtape-style debut from an artist who had not yet broken through with a conventional radio hit. The chart run demonstrated that streaming metrics alone, particularly on platforms like SoundCloud and Spotify where Carti and Uzi Vert both commanded enormous listening numbers, could drive a track into Billboard's official reckoning even without significant radio airplay.
The cultural context surrounding the track was inseparable from the SoundCloud rap movement that defined underground hip-hop between approximately 2015 and 2019. That movement, centered on artists including Carti, Uzi Vert, XXXTentacion, and Ski Mask the Slump God, prioritized atmosphere, brevity, and emotional directness over technical lyricism. "Wokeuplikethis*" embodied those values: its runtime is compact, its verses are loosely structured, and its appeal rests largely on the combined charisma of its two featured artists and the hypnotic quality of Bourne's production. The YouTube music video accumulated more than 110 million views, confirming the track's status as a genuine crossover moment within that genre ecosystem.
The song's title, which riffs on a phrase popularized by Beyonce's 2013 track "Flawless" and subsequently woven into internet vernacular and meme culture, gave it an immediate recognizability and cultural hook. The idea of waking up already elevated, already successful, and already unconcerned with conventional effort was precisely the kind of aspirational nonchalance that resonated with the demographics most engaged with SoundCloud rap. The phrase had become a shorthand for effortless cool, and Carti deployed it in a context that amplified its appeal to an audience already fluent in that cultural language.
Within the broader arc of Playboi Carti's career trajectory, "Wokeuplikethis*" occupies a significant position. The self-titled mixtape that contained it was certified platinum by the RIAA and laid the groundwork for his 2018 major-label debut album Die Lit, which reached number 3 on the Billboard 200 and produced multiple charting singles. That subsequent trajectory confirmed that the commercial foundation built by tracks like "Wokeuplikethis*" was substantial, not merely a fleeting moment of viral attention. Pi'erre Bourne continued producing the majority of Die Lit, reinforcing the partnership that "Wokeuplikethis*" had helped define in the public consciousness.
For Lil Uzi Vert, the collaboration represented one of several 2017 crossover moments that collectively established him as a dominant force in popular music heading into 2018. His stylistic range, which could encompass the frenetic energy of a track like "Wokeuplikethis*" as readily as the emotionally nakedness of "XO Tour Llif3," demonstrated an artistic flexibility that made him one of the most versatile collaborators of his generation. The pairing with Carti, whose own aesthetic was developing in parallel and in conversation with Uzi's, felt less like a calculated feature transaction and more like a genuine creative alignment between two artists who shared a vision of where hip-hop was moving.
The recording process for the self-titled mixtape, and for "Wokeuplikethis*" specifically, reflected the informal, high-output creative methodology that characterized the SoundCloud generation. Tracks were often conceptualized, recorded, and finalized rapidly, with minimal separation between the improvised and the finished product. This working style contributed to the feeling of spontaneity and immediacy that audiences found compelling, even if the apparent looseness was partly a stylistic choice rather than a pure accident of process.
Commercially, "Wokeuplikethis*" helped introduce Playboi Carti to audiences who had previously encountered him only through internet buzz. Its placement on the Hot 100 was a tangible metric confirming that the underground enthusiasm surrounding him had real commercial dimensions. The track remains one of the most-streamed songs from his early catalog and continues to surface in discussions of the defining documents of late-2010s hip-hop.
Production and Sonic Identity
Pi'erre Bourne's production on "Wokeuplikethis*" drew on a range of influences rooted in Atlanta trap but filtered through an aesthetic sensibility that was distinctly his own. The beat makes use of airy synth textures, a punchy but understated drum pattern, and melodic elements that lend the track an almost dreamlike quality. This sonic palette was well matched to the themes of effortless success and elevated living that the lyrics conveyed, and it distinguished the track from harder, more abrasive contemporaries in the trap space.
The mixing and mastering of the self-titled project reflected the production standards typical of major-label releases, even as the underlying creative approach retained the rawness associated with mixtape culture. That tension between polish and informality was itself part of the track's appeal, signaling that Carti had access to professional resources while maintaining the authenticity that his underground fan base valued above all else.
02 Song Meaning
Themes, Aesthetic, and Cultural Meaning in "Wokeuplikethis*"
"Wokeuplikethis*" operates primarily as a declaration of effortless ascendance, presenting a vision of success so complete and naturalized that it does not require active pursuit. The title itself frames the central theme: waking up already in possession of what others spend their lives chasing. This idea of involuntary, ambient excellence, of arriving at greatness through disposition rather than grinding effort, was a central preoccupation of the SoundCloud rap aesthetic and resonated particularly with audiences who found traditional narratives of hard work and delayed gratification inadequate or alienating.
The track participates in a long tradition of hip-hop boastfulness, but inflects it through the specific emotional and stylistic register of mid-2010s SoundCloud culture. Where earlier generations of rap braggadocio tended toward the explicit cataloging of material possessions and competitive hierarchies, "Wokeuplikethis*" conveys status through atmosphere and tone as much as through specific claims. The listener understands the position of the speakers not because an inventory of luxury goods has been provided, but because the entire sonic and verbal environment communicates a particular kind of elevated remove from ordinary concerns.
Playboi Carti's vocal approach is central to this effect. His delivery on the track is conspicuously relaxed, at times approaching a murmur, which reinforces the sense of waking life rather than active performance. The contrast between the energy of a typical rap verse and the somnolent casualness of Carti's delivery creates a productive tension that captures the feeling of still being in a half-dreamed state of comfortable excess. This was a deliberate aesthetic choice rather than a technical limitation, and it distinguished Carti from contemporaries who might have attempted to project conventional charisma or authority.
Lil Uzi Vert's contribution shifts the emotional register slightly, introducing a more excitable and melodically adventurous quality that complements Carti's languor without disrupting the overall mood. Uzi's section suggests a different mode of the same basic experience, one characterized by manic enthusiasm rather than drowsy satisfaction, but both artists are ultimately describing the same condition of feeling fundamentally outside the pressures and limitations that structure ordinary life. The dialogue between the two voices enriches the track's thematic content by suggesting that this elevated state can be inhabited in multiple ways.
The track's relationship to gender and desire is worth examining carefully, even though description of its lyrical content must remain at a thematic level. The song addresses romantic and physical attraction in a way that treats desirability as another dimension of the central theme of effortless ascendance. The speakers are attractive and desired not through effort but as an expression of their general condition. This conflation of romantic success with financial and social status was characteristic of the era's trap aesthetic more broadly, and reflected genuine cultural attitudes among the demographic that the song most directly addressed.
The asterisk in the title, beyond its function as a recurring Pi'erre Bourne and Playboi Carti trademark, carries a connotation of footnote or qualification that subtly complicates the track's otherwise unironic boastfulness. An asterisk traditionally signals that something requires additional explanation or comes with caveats. Whether this was a deliberate conceptual choice or primarily a visual branding decision, it introduces a small element of ambiguity that makes the title slightly more interesting than it might otherwise be. The qualifier implies that the condition of waking up already elevated is not a simple fact but something that might need to be unpacked or that cannot be fully captured in words.
Within the broader cultural landscape of 2017, "Wokeuplikethis*" represented a particular vision of young Black success that was simultaneously aspirational and matter-of-fact. The song did not celebrate hard-won achievement in the conventional sense but rather projected a state of being in which success was the natural baseline. This posture carried meaning beyond pure hedonism, articulating a refusal to accept deficit as a default condition and a claim to inherent worth and abundance. In this reading, the track participates in a tradition of hip-hop self-assertion that extends back to the genre's origins.
The cultural impact of the song extended well beyond its initial chart performance. The track became a staple of the SoundCloud rap canon and continued to circulate widely on streaming platforms years after its release, accumulating over 110 million YouTube views. Its influence on subsequent artists was considerable, contributing to the normalization of a production aesthetic characterized by minimal drum programming, airy synthesis, and melodic looseness that became widely adopted across commercial hip-hop in the years following its release. The Carti-Bourne sonic template helped reshape expectations for what a successful mainstream rap track could sound like.
The song's legacy is also bound up with the broader story of the SoundCloud rap generation's integration into mainstream commercial structures. "Wokeuplikethis*" appeared at a moment when the industry was still negotiating how to handle artists whose primary audiences were organized around streaming and social media rather than traditional radio. Its chart performance demonstrated that those audiences translated into measurable commercial outcomes, helping accelerate a shift in how labels evaluated and promoted hip-hop artists in the years that followed.
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