“I’m on my way, I’m going fast,” Lil Baby promised us on his debut single The Atlanta rapper was describing his excitement to get home and have sex, Three years later, the line could just as easily stand as the perfect epigraph for the breakneck speed at which has career has advanced.
Baby’s trajectory spiked the moment he started rapping in early 2017, when he got out of jail after serving a two-year bid. Within six months, he had a Young Thug co-sign, a deal with Quality Control, and a bona fide street hit in “My Dawg.” Several mixtapes, two Drake guest verses, one album, and one joint project with Gunna later, he is now an industry linchpin, the kind of streaming monster and reliable feature artist that Rich Homie Quan was once supposed to be.
Last month, during an engagement at NBA All-Star Weekend, Baby proclaimed that his rapping skills had gotten “20 times” better in the past two years. On , his first release in 15 months, this is demonstrably untrue. If anything, his floor has simply risen; he is less likely to brick important verses like he did on Baby is an effective writer, even as he operates on the album’s narrow thematic terrain.
.JessRice_ nicoledemondo