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Words by Randy Roper

Loyal OZONE readers probably recognize Charleston, SC unsigned rapper Carlos Cartel. His bold advertisements in this very magazine have been memorable. For months, his ads featuring two dead bodies resting inside of coffins, with Cartel standing in between, holding an automatic weapon, ran on the pages of OZONE. “[The bodies pictured on the ads are] my cousin and his homeboy, [who] got killed by another homeboy,” he explains. “That’s just to show the other side of the game, to what these rappers [aren’t] talkin’ about.”

But when he ran an ad looking more like an endorsement for dealing cocaine than promotions for a rap album, the alphabet boys decided to pay him a visit. “I just felt like that was something I had to put out there,” he says. “[But] after I put that in the magazine, shit hit the fan,” he says. They tried to plant something on me, but they couldn’t find nothing.” Somewhat unfazed by the law, he states that no real case has been brought against him.

Born in North Charleston, SC (the 7th most dangerous city in the United States according to the CQ Press’ City Crime Rankings), Cartel had a troubled childhood. When he was just 10 years old, his father passed away due to complications from AIDS, which he contracted through drug use. At 13, Cartel moved with his mother to Memphis, TN. Seeing Memphis rappers like Three Six Mafia and Skinny Pimp hustling tapes out of their car trunks inspired his own hustle and flow. He later moved to Newport News, Virginia, where he befriended Marcus Vick, the brother of troubled Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick. “I’ve been around niggas all my life who’ve been stars,” he says. Although there were times he found himself homeless and the cards seemed stacked against him, seeing the success of Three 6 Mafia and the Vick brothers, motivated him in his pursue of a career in rap music.

But Cartel may be more known for his conflicts than his music. A UTP chain boosted from Juvenile’s camp ended up in the Cartel’s hands, which caught the media’s attention, and a subsequent incident where he threw a bottle at Lil Wayne during a performance in Florence, SC, earned him a troublemaking reputation and the nickname “Cause Hell Cartel.” He insists those days are far behind him. “A lot of people know me as a problem starter,” he says. “The Juvenile situation was a misunderstanding, much love to him. Much love to Wayne too. I ain’t on that beef stuff, it’s a new year. The old me would have shot somebody over some petty stuff.”

These days his music and grind speaks volumes. His two independent releases (Soulja Stories and Cause Hell Cartel) are heavy on the streets and a third, The World Is Yours, is set to be released soon. With records featuring Lil Boosie, Haitian Fresh, Spark Dawg, Skinny Pimp, and DJ Chuck T as well as dead bodies in caskets pictured on his wrapped van, Cartel is catching the attention of both law enforcement and media outlets throughout the Southeast. //

www.myspace.com/carloscartel