Rapper Lil Baby, who was born and raised in Atlanta, is a charismatic, self-assured, and hugely successful global star who routinely tops charts with his gritty, yet approachable, commercially oriented style. After releasing a number of mixtapes, he gained widespread recognition in 2018 when he dropped his first official album, Harder Than Ever (which featured Drake’s hit song “Yes Indeed”), and a joint mixtape with Gunna, Drip Harder, both of which peaked in the Top Ten of the Billboard 200.
Rapper Lil Baby, who was born and raised in Atlanta, is a charismatic, self-assured, and hugely successful global star who routinely tops charts with his gritty, yet approachable, commercially oriented style. After releasing a number of mixtapes, he gained widespread recognition in 2018 when he dropped his first official album, Harder Than Ever (which featured Drake’s hit song “Yes Indeed”), and a joint mixtape with Gunna, Drip Harder, both of which peaked in the Top Ten of the Billboard 200. In 2020, he achieved two consecutive number-one albums: My Turn, his second studio album, and The Voice of the Heroes, a joint project with Lil Durk, which he released the following year. Known for his ability to rule the charts, Lil Baby made his debut at the top of the charts in 2022 with his third studio album, It’s Only Me. In 2023, singles like “Go Hard” and “Crazy” came out.
Ideal Time
Dominique Jones gave birth to Lil Baby in Atlanta in 1994. He hung around with buddies like Pee, Coach K, and Young Thug while growing up, and although his friends succeeded in the music business, he tended more toward a life of street hustling and small-time crime. Due to a probation breach, Lil Baby, then 19 years old, served two years in prison in 2015. After being freed in 2017, he used the April release of the mixtape Perfect Timing to launch his rap career. Along with great production from 808 Mafia, Brickz, and many more, the mixtape had cameos from friends like Lil Yachty, Young Thug, and Gunna, which were emphasized by Lil Baby’s ethereal flows. The young rapper’s mixtape quickly made him famous, partly because of his connections to members of the 4 Pockets Full gang and the Quality Control family of artists.
More Difficult Than Easy
Lil Baby continuously worked on new music while his mixtape gained more traction, delivering hits like “My Dawg” and the Young Thug collaboration “Pink Slip” in the summer of 2017. That year, there were also releases of Too Hard, Harder Than Hard, and 2 the Hard Way (with Marlo). Harder Than Ever, Lil Baby’s first studio album, was released in May 2018. Drake, Offset, Lil Uzi Vert, and other artists made cameo appearances on the album, which debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 album list. The rapper’s career took off after he released Drip Harder, a joint mixtape with Gunna that October peaked at number four on the Billboard 200. In November 2018, another mixtape called Street Gossip was released. The subsequent year, Lil Baby featured in the movie How High 2 and made several tracks available, one of which was a duet with Future called “Out the Mud.”
His second studio album, My Turn, which was preceded by “Woah” and “Sum 2 Prove,” was released in February 2020 and immediately shot to the top of the charts. Lil Baby released two songs later that year, “On Me” and “Errbody.” He released “The Bigger Picture,” a protest song that June in response to institutional racism and police violence. The song was nominated for two Grammy Awards, including Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance, and debuted at number three on the Billboard singles chart. That year, Lil Baby gave a live performance of the song at the Grammy Awards. He made an appearance on Drake’s song “Wants and Needs” in March 2021 as a featured artist. The song was Lil Baby’s highest-charting single to that moment, debuting at number two on the Hot 100. He collaborated with Lil Durk on the album The Voice of the Heroes in June of that same year. The album, which debuted at number one, included cameos by Rod Wave, Meek Mill, Young Thug, and Travis Scott.
During the beginning of 2022, Lil Baby and Nicki Minaj collaborated on the songs “Do We Have a Problem?” and “Bussin.” In October 2022, he made a comeback with his third album, It’s Only Me, which had guest performances by Young Thug, EST Gee, Nardo Wick, and many more. It debuted at the top of the Billboard charts. Twenty-three was a great year for Lil Baby because of the huge hit single “Go Hard.” Next came a cameo on “Supposed to Be Loved” by DJ Khaled, as well as solo hits “Merch Madness,” “350,” and “Crazy.”
