{"id":973531,"date":"2019-11-14T13:16:46","date_gmt":"2019-11-14T20:16:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=901697"},"modified":"2019-11-14T13:16:46","modified_gmt":"2019-11-14T20:16:46","slug":"the-baby-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/music-news\/the-baby-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"The Baby of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you listen to the second bar of the second verse on the third song from DaBaby<\/a>\u2019s second album of 2019, he asks what should be a simple question: \u201cAye, when you gon\u2019 switch the flow?\u201d He says it in a mocking tone, impersonating the thousands of people who have pondered that singular question for an entire calendar year. One bar later, he wryly answers. \u201cI thought you\u2019d never ask.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

When asked once again in person, DaBaby makes it clear he does not like the question, even if he\u2019s heard it before. As he walks through <\/span>Rolling Stone<\/span><\/i>\u2019s office, two cameramen and his artist Stunna 4 Vegas dutifully follow like his personal guard (DaBaby also has an actual bodyguard, who is likely the largest man alive, but he peels off from the crew to look for a snack). DaBaby seems exhausted \u2014 the trappings of his newfound fame, the promotion cycle for his project <\/span>Kirk<\/span><\/i>, and the energy it takes to consistently be the most charismatic person in s room could all be taking a toll  \u2014 but it\u2019s mostly \u201cthe flow\u201d question that\u2019s getting to him. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou gotta tell me what flow you talking about,\u201d DaBaby says.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

DaBaby won\u2019t acknowledge it easily, but what has become his calling card is a staccato, precise, and brutal rapping style, a syllable-crushing force delivered with such forward momentum it often gives the illusion that he starts rapping before the beat begins. The most famous example of this is \u201cSuge,\u201d DaBaby\u2019s biggest and most thrilling hit, in which it takes DaBaby only nine seconds to let out a \u201chaaah\u201d followed by \u201cPack in the mail, it\u2019s gone \/ She like how I smell, cologne \/ I just signed a deal, I\u2019m on.\u201d Between and behind those moments are an \u201cUh,\u201d followed by three \u201cYeahs,\u201d all of which add to the sense that no rapper has ever been as excited about fragrances and\/or getting on than DaBaby. That\u2019s the flow everyone\u2019s talking about. After some prodding and a few examples, he finally relents.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you got a sound that don\u2019t sound like nobody else and it\u2019s brand new, you\u2019ve got to feed it to \u2018em,\u201d he says. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to force it on \u2018em.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

DaBaby\u2019s entire stylistic presence is predicated on his good-natured intensity; it\u2019s an about-face from the druggy, filtered anhedonia that\u2019s defined much of the biggest hip-hop tracks in recent memory. His approach has, in less than a year, become a full-time streaming stimulus package \u2014 if you want an easy hit in 2019, it\u2019s a good idea to start by calling DaBaby. That\u2019s been leveraged by Chance The Rapper, Post Malone, Lizzo, Lil Nas X, and Megan Thee Stallion. On the week after <\/span>Kirk<\/span><\/i>\u2019s release, 12 of the top 25 songs on <\/span>Rolling Stone<\/span><\/i>\u2019s Top 100 Songs were either DaBaby songs, or featured a verse<\/a> from him on a remix. <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The success is somewhat surprising. In addition to the speed of his rise, North Carolina, DaBaby\u2019s home, is a geographical outlier in rap, best known for exporting Petey Pablo and J. Cole. Despite the bombast of his public persona, Jonathan Lyndale Kirk carries himself with a calm, distinctly Southern demeanor. DaBaby is adamant he wasn\u2019t misbehaved as a child growing up in Charlotte, despite many a meme \u2014 including a photo of a small and angry Tom from <\/a><\/span>Tom & Jerry<\/span><\/i> with a huge head that sort of looks like DaBaby \u2014 claiming the opposite. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I wasn\u2019t a bad kid,\u201d he says. \u201cI was always intelligent, and strong-minded, and outgoing, like I am now.\u201d His mother worked for a finance company and his father served in the military, stationed in Afghanistan. <\/span><\/p>\n

For two years, he went to The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, a predominantly white school. He admits to sticking out like \u201ca sore thumb,\u201d but now says that time in his life was a turning point. \u201cIt had me in a different environment,\u201d DaBaby shares. \u201cIt was something I had to adapt to. At first, I\u2019m like, \u2018What the fuck am I doing here?\u2019 I did what I did for two years, and then I went back to the city. I came back a grown man.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

DaBaby\u2019s post-collegiate path to stardom was glacial by 2019 standards. He began rapping under the moniker Baby Jesus five years ago. From the outset, the viral tendencies were there \u2014 in 2017, he infamously wore a diaper to SXSW \u2014 but the honed-in musical persona was not. In retrospect, DaBaby\u2019s charisma was always clear, whether he was goofily <\/span>dabbing alongside Carolina Panthers\u2019 fans<\/span><\/a> in 2015 or just <\/span>playing video games on his couch<\/span><\/a> while freestyling over \u201cGucci Gang\u201d in 2018. His on-record voice then, though, sounds muted and reserved next to the music he\u2019s released in 2019. <\/span><\/p>\n

What began to separate DaBaby from his past public self was a soft rebrand. He dropped the Baby Jesus moniker when it became \u201ca distraction.\u201d Then the scale, consistency, and narrative quality of his video production started to outpace his peers. Whether DaBaby played a cowboy in the Reel Goats-directed video for \u201cWalker Texas Ranger,\u201d or a horny con man in the video for \u201cMini Van,\u201d his humorous and larger-than-life persona began to eclipse anything that came before it. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI paid for every video I ever shot,\u201d DaBaby boasts. \u201c$100,000 budget, $70,000, $60,000, I\u2019ve probably spent like half a million dollars on videos this year, by myself, just me. I ain\u2019t willing to settle for less. With the type of artist that I\u2019m capable of being, the creativity I\u2019ve got, it\u2019s just no way. You can\u2019t cheat it. You can\u2019t cheat the game. You can\u2019t cheat the grind. You get out what you put in at the end of the day. If you\u2019re capable of being this caliber of an artist, do I want to settle for doing shit like this just to keep some money in my pocket and spend it on bullshit or something?\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Caroline Diaz, Senior Director of A&R at Interscope<\/a>, describes DaBaby\u2019s work ethic more bluntly. \u201cSometimes these artists get signed and they get so caught up with the rah-rah like, oh they signed, they on social media, they see what the other artists is doing and you kind of get distracted when an artist signs that means there\u2019s more work to do,\u201d she says. \u201cArtists like DaBaby, he don\u2019t stop working. He don\u2019t sleep.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

To some, DaBaby is better known more his off-mic conflicts \u2014 news reports of him killing a man in self-defense at Walmart, or knocking out rival rappers on camera. It\u2019s not something he wants to continue. \u201cI don\u2019t really like fighting, man,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ve done probably been in more fights since I\u2019ve been rapping in these five years. I\u2019m 27, I\u2019ve probably been in more fights as a rapper than I was the first 22 years in my life.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a sense that whenever DaBaby gets on a track that nothing but overwhelming dominance will sate his hunger. Nowhere is this more apparent than his first collaboration with J. Cole, \u201cUnder The Sun.\u201d<\/a> For 45-seconds, DaBaby abandons all of his usual tricks. There are no ad-libs. His voice is loud, but seems a few decibels below its normal range. The pace is noticeably faster and less percussive. The flow he\u2019s known for is, briefly, abandoned. <\/span><\/p>\n

Instead, DaBaby decides to unleash a verbal torrent. His verse goes on for so long that the beat ends and he continues his onslaught. Across the intro to his verse, DaBaby manages to rhyme \u201cintelligent, tell \u2018em shit, letterman, and let \u2018em in,\u201d all while employing a double-time flow. He simultaneously sounds playful and urgent, masterful and off-the-cuff. \u201cIt\u2019s J. Cole. I\u2019m in college for two years, too. I went to college, fall 2010. That\u2019s when J. Cole popped,\u201d DaBaby explains. \u201cIf you was in <\/span>college<\/span><\/i>, you were really listening to that nigga. College bitches, that\u2019s all they was listening to was J. Cole.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think that I recorded that the same day that I shot the \u2018Suge\u2019 video, because we were shooting that video scene,\u201d he continues. \u201cI recorded it that same day with an engineer. It wasn\u2019t the best engineer there, either. I probably would have went crazier. Buddy was slowing me down. He knew. He\u2019s like, \u2018Oh my God.\u2019 I\u2019m like, \u2018Come on, bro. Punch me back in, brother, let\u2019s go.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

More than most artists newly on the precipice of becoming a household name, DaBaby tends to talk in a 360-degree scope about his career. After a five year stretch that saw him change his moniker, lose a Roc Nation deal, and fight for his life, DaBaby wants to be clear that he\u2019s still only flexed some of his muscles. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou going to hear shit like \u2018Intro,\u2019<\/a> where I rap like I\u2019ve never rapped before. You going to hear shit like me rapping on the J. Cole song,\u201d he explains of latest barrage of new music. His second album of 2019, <\/span>Kirk<\/span><\/i>, arrived in late September and provided variations on the themes that <\/span>Baby on Baby<\/span><\/i>, his certified breakout, turned into a calling card. \u201cCertain songs, I don\u2019t even use ad-libs. I can do whatever at the end of the day. Whatever the music or production takes me, that\u2019s where I\u2019m going to go.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

While he is willing to step outside the pocket on occasion, <\/span>Kirk<\/span><\/i> is still an album meant to solidify and speak to DaBaby\u2019s base. But \u201cIntro,\u201d the first song (obviously) on the album, is a stylistic detour, and a potential glimmer of the Carolina rapper\u2019s more nuanced future. Produced by DJ Kid, the song swerves between devastation and inspiration, heartbreaking loss and hope. For nearly three minutes, DaBaby discusses finding out his song \u201cSuge\u201d went Number One on <\/span>Billboard\u2019s<\/span><\/i> Mainstream R&B\/Hip-Hop charts moments after getting a call that his father passed away. DaBaby\u2019s speeds up, dips, and contorts into an angry growl as he raps, \u201cThey found him dead a couple days before I started tour \/ Same day I flew back to the city from Miami \/ I was out there with the family \/ Just lookin\u2019 at my daughter \/ Thinkin\u2019 to myself like, \u201cDamn, my baby look just like my daddy.\u201d It\u2019s the most personal he\u2019s ever been on record; after kicking in the door to superstardom, it feels as if DaBaby\u2019s ready to introduce himself.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s probably exactly what I needed, because I ain\u2019t spoken, when it happened,\u201d Dababy says of his decision to be so open about his father\u2019s passing. \u201cI been on tour ever since. I\u2019ve been getting sent songs, and putting verses on them, and they hitting them charts. I\u2019ve been getting platinum plaques. I\u2019ve just been going\u2026 A song like that can convey certain emotions.\u201d He pauses. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThen, I put shit in the song and put it out there.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

via:: Rolling Stone<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you listen to the second bar of the second verse on the third song from DaBaby\u2019s second album of 2019, he asks what should be a simple question: \u201cAye, when you gon\u2019 switch the flow?\u201d He says it in a mocking tone, impersonating the thousands of people who have pondered that singular question for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-973531","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-13 16:30:16","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KFMU Solar Powered Radio","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/973531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=973531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/973531\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=973531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=973531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=973531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}