I'm Addicted to You Baby Feel the Beat
Lil Baby Might Be Rap's Most Reluctant New Star
The Atlanta artist, whose new album "My Turn" is out Friday, discusses how he has remained so low-key while earning more than 11 billion streams worldwide.
Credit... Johnathon Kelso for The New York Times
ATLANTA — Between the summer of 2016, when the Atlanta rapper Lil Baby got out of prison on drug and gun charges, and the end of 2018, when he solidified himself as a formidable presence in hip-hop, he released seven full-length bodies of music, resulting in a pile of smash singles that have gone platinum a combined 12 times over.
An inescapable presence on rap radio who's racked up even more street-level hits, Lil Baby, 25, has since been nominated for a Grammy, banked corporate sponsorships and performed alongside international stars like Drake, DaBaby and Travis Scott, in addition to his ubiquitous local cohort of Gunna, Future, Migos and Young Thug.
All told, songs by Lil Baby, who had never rapped before his two-year incarceration, have been streamed more than 11 billion times around the world. Yet, as he'll proudly insist — and his barber will attest — the reserved rapper is known even now to jump in an Uber or pull up to Chick-fil-A all alone, loud jewelry gleaming. The concept of celebrity still makes him bristle, and his public appearances remain limited to the ones that pay handsomely.
"People don't think I'm as big as I am because I don't really talk about it," he said recently. "Most people are acting like more than what they are, I'm acting like less than what I am."
Balancing flash and restrained grace was something Lil Baby, born Dominique Jones, learned from his neighborhood notoriety before music, when he was known as a local hustler (and dice aficionado) before committing to rap for a safer income stream. After the torrent of music that certified his arrival, the rapper took last year off, in the sense that he did not release an album or mixtape, though an endless stream of guest verses and a few one-off singles kept him relevant.
On Friday, he will return officially with the album "My Turn," 20 tracks that can't help but sound like a victory lap, with production by Tay Keith and Three 6 Mafia's DJ Paul, plus appearances by Lil Wayne, Lil Uzi Vert and the up-and-comers Rylo Rodriguez and 42 Dugg, artists Lil Baby has signed to his own 4 Pockets Full label.
A sneakily intricate rapper whose lyrics are often camouflaged by disarming singsong flows and a gravelly Southern drawl, Lil Baby has largely moved on from the open wounds of his earlier, bittersweet work. But a push-and-pull between his rough-edged youth and sparkling new reality remains.
On a recent weekday afternoon in the studio, he was direct and thoughtful in between fielding FaceTime calls from Gunna and his label boss; getting a haircut; and enjoying a box of Atlanta wings (with a full bottle of supplemental sauce). These are edited excerpts from the conversation.
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In 2017, when your career was first taking off, you told me were still itching to get back to the streets . Did you make the right decision sticking with music, or is there part of you that still misses your old life?
I don't miss my old life at all. Period. Now, I get a thrill from my old life sometimes, if I see some stuff, but as far as missing it? Not at all. Honestly, I ain't even make a choice. I didn't choose to get out the streets. Whatever I had going on, it came to an end at the time when I started to move up rapping. But I thank God that it happened like that, because I got more focused on rap and that's how I became what I am today.
When did it click that rap was your life?
I still have some of those moments now. Every day. I'm to the point where I can't go nowhere without someone knowing me. From the bank to church to the doctor, the gas station, anywhere. The weirdest places. Old women, old men. It's serious. And with the amount of money I get, I know it's serious.
There are a lot of rappers today that are big characters on social media, constantly saying controversial things, getting into beefs. Have you consciously avoided that path?
Hell yeah. That ain't me, though! To me, that's gimmicks — clout. I ain't for that. My following came from me, not like some old viral stuff. I don't even know how to do that.
You haven't really leaned into stardom — you don't do a lot of interviews, you're not popping up everywhere.
I just ain't into it. I'm low-key bigger than the people who do that. One day maybe. Probably not, though. I don't got a thrill for it. Fashion show in Paris, like … cool [shrugs]. I think I got that from prison. Like, just, you're there, but you're not there. It's a mental thing: "I'm in here, and I just got to get through it." When I got out, it was the same thing. I'm just there, but I'm not there. Even for good stuff. It keeps me going.
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When you see the direction a lot of young guys have gone recently, from the deaths of XXXTentacion, Juice WRLD and Mac Miller to 6ix9ine, YoungBoy Never Broke Again and Kodak Black being in and out of jail, does that make you worry for your generation of rappers?
Yeah, but at the same time, there's a generation of people going through that. I know people who get killed — my personal people — people in and out of jail, my family, my brothers. That's what really goes on in life. Rap is just a reflection of real life. I know like 10 or 12 people who died in Atlanta off the fake drugs going around. It's an everyday thing for me. And I know I ain't going out like that.
You've been pretty open about your struggles with [the codeine drink] lean . Do you worry about the people around you?
I drink a little bit here and there, this and that, so I can't be too hard on you. But if you are just like, obsessive, I'm going to be on you. I ain't really for that. To the point now where I stopped putting it in my music.
You're rapping less about doing drugs?
I'm trying. Because I done rapped about drugs that I don't even take. People think I take 'em and then people take 'em thinking I take 'em. Like popping Percs [Percocet]. I don't pop Percs — period. Every now and then, I used to take a half of one, but I say it in my raps because I might pop one and that's what's going on.
What did you want to accomplish on "My Turn," that you didn't on previous projects?
Due to the fact that I haven't dropped in a year — and the year that I didn't drop was the year that I blew up — this is a whole different me. This a whoooole different everything.
There's a line about how going back to the hood gives you chills.
It's like when you see an ex-girlfriend or something, that feeling you get from 'em. You left on bad terms, but you remember the good parts about it. It can never be no more, but it's one of them things. Ethereal.
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Did you ever foresee rap as a path for you?
I never saw me being a rapper. A big-dog dope boy, that's it. Not even just a dope boy. That's why I ain't got no tattoos, because I always knew I was going to run my money up, and I was going to have to go sit in front of some people to do something with my money. And I didn't want them to look at me like a dope boy. I had to keep my appearance straight. I literally said, "When I sit down in front of these white folks, I don't want to have no tattoos." In a way, it's still that today. Because when I'm sitting in these meetings, I don't have tattoos on my face. I know they'd have to think something if I've got tattoos on my face.
Have you ever met another rapper with no tattoos?
Nope.
What was it like being at the Grammys? Sharon Osbourne saying your name was pretty surreal.
I just want to put on a suit and take a picture more than anything. But I'm happy to just be a part of stuff like that. People in prison — stuff like that is probably on nobody's minds until someone like her is saying my name at the Grammys. My old roommate is still in prison and I've been out for a few years and I done went through all this.
Are you confident that you'll never be back there?
Too confident. No way. I'd die before I go to jail. That's all I needed to see. And it's different being a celebrity getting in trouble [than] a regular person getting in trouble. If I went to prison right now, I'd be lit. Prison now wouldn't even faze me, honestly. But in my mind, I ain't even dumb enough to think like that. I trained myself to think about how it was then. Hell nah, I'll never go back.
What areas do you need to improve in, musically or as a man?
[Whistles] My kids. And my attitude. So many people try to get me that I got into this defensive shell. If there's a disagreement, I'm getting defensive. That's the biggest thing I'm working on right now. I have so much going, I just get angry. Stressful. It seems like I got money to please everybody else.
What are your remaining ambitions for music? Do you want to be on pop songs alongside Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez types?
I want to be on some boss [expletive]. I don't care about my own music. I really want to own a label — like Def Jam, though. Like Roc Nation. I'd rather go that way, where I manage a Selena Gomez and get 10 percent off of it. Where I'm not even on the scene no more. That's my mind-set. Boy, if I can pop two artists right now, I'm down to slow up on what I got going on, straight up. Why wouldn't I? I can make the same money and I don't have to be catching all these planes.
I'm Addicted to You Baby Feel the Beat
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/26/arts/music/lil-baby-my-turn.html
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