Lil Baby

Atlanta-bred rapper Lil Baby is charismatic, confident, and overwhelmingly popular on a worldwide level, consistently topping the charts with his rough yet accessible commercially geared sound. Following a series of mixtapes, his popularity exploded in 2018, the year he released his first proper album, Harder Than Ever (which included the Drake-featuring hit "Yes Indeed"), and Drip Harder (a collaborative mixtape with Gunna), both of which entered the Top Ten of the Billboard 200. He hit number one in 2020 with his second studio album, My Turn, and again the next year with The Voice of the Heroes, a collaborative studio effort with Lil Durk. Lil Baby made a habit of dominating the charts, debuting in the top spot once more in 2022 with his third studio album, It's Only Me. Singles such as "Go Hard" and "Crazy" followed in 2023, with more leading up to the 2024 album WHAM (Who Hard as Me).

Lil Baby was born Dominique Jones in Atlanta in 1994. He grew up hanging with friends like Young Thug, Coach K, and Pee, leaning more toward a life of petty crime and street hustling while his friends went on to thrive in the music industry. In 2015, at age 19, Lil Baby went to prison for two years for a probation violation. Upon his release in 2017, he jump-started his rap career with a mixtape called Perfect Timing, released in April of that year. The mixtape featured cameos from friends like Lil Yachty, Young Thug, and Gunna, and strong production from 808 Mafia, Brickz, and many others, highlighted by Lil Baby's woozy flows. The mixtape immediately brought the young rapper fame, in part due to his affiliations with friends in the Quality Control family of artists as well as the 4 Pockets Full clique.

As his mixtape attracted more listeners, Lil Baby worked constantly on new music, releasing singles like "My Dawg" and the Young Thug collaboration "Pink Slip" in the summer of 2017. Other releases that year included Harder Than Hard, 2 the Hard Way (with Marlo), and Too Hard. Lil Baby's debut studio album, Harder Than Ever, appeared in May 2018. Featuring guest appearances from Drake, Offset, Lil Uzi Vert, and others, the release entered the Billboard 200 album chart at number three. The rapper's success continued with Drip Harder, a collaborative mixtape with Gunna that was released that October and reached number four on the Billboard 200. Yet another mixtape, Street Gossip, appeared in November 2018. The following year, Lil Baby starred in the film How High 2 and released a handful of singles including the Future collaboration "Out the Mud."

Preceded by "Woah" and "Sum 2 Prove," his second studio album, My Turn, arrived in February 2020 and went straight to number one. Later that year, Lil Baby issued a pair of singles, "On Me" and "Errbody." That June, he released "The Bigger Picture," a protest song responding to police violence and systemic racism. The track entered the Billboard singles chart at number three and was nominated for two Grammys: Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance. Lil Baby also performed the song live at the Grammy ceremonies that year. In March 2021, he appeared as a featured artist on Drake's single "Wants and Needs." The song debuted in the number two position on the Hot 100, making it Lil Baby's highest-charting track up to that point. In June of that year, he teamed up with Lil Durk for the collaborative album The Voice of the Heroes. The project featured guest appearances from Rod Wave, Meek Mill, Young Thug, and Travis Scott and debuted at number one.

In early 2022, Lil Baby paired with Nicki Minaj for the singles "Do We Have a Problem?" and "Bussin." He returned with new material of his own in October 2022 with his third effort, It's Only Me, which included appearances from Nardo Wick, Young Thug, EST Gee, and several others, and debuted at number one on the Billboard charts. Lil Baby kicked off 2023 with the booming stand-alone cut "Go Hard." This was followed by a guest appearance on DJ Khaled's "Supposed to Be Loved" and the solo singles "Merch Madness," "350," and "Crazy." The 2024 single "Band4Band," with Central Cee, reached the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100. Following other tracks like "Roll da Dice" (with 4batz) and "5AM," Lil Baby released "Insecurities," the first single from WHAM (Who Hard as Me). ~ Fred Thomas