The album Lil Baby hates: “I wasn’t in the right headspace”
Lil Baby is one of the past decade’s most prominent and influential rappers. Each of his last three solo albums, not including his joint album with Lil Durk, topped the Billboard 200 chart. However, the Atlanta rapper isn’t a fan of all his projects. He’s gone as far as saying he hates one of them.
The artist, signed to Quality Control Music, has come a long way. With that growth has come a change in how he makes music, but not always for the better. During his early days, having his crew in the studio with him would give him the fuel he needed to record quality material.
“My music process has changed a billion per cent, because when I was making those [older] songs, I might’ve just left the hood with 20 or 30 guys,” he told Complex. “All of us go to the studio, and I got them over here talking about this and that. It’s a whole different energy inside the studio. It was actually helpful. It gives you a little more energy. That’s what I’m used to. That’s the environment that I know.”
However, things worsened with his third studio album, It’s Only Me. At the time, Baby wasn’t in a good space and was recording music just for the sake of it. Unlike much of his other music, he has no emotional attachment to the songs. He wouldn’t have released the project if it weren’t for his label.
“Then when it came to It’s Only Me, that was when I was transitioning [mentally],” he explained. “I didn’t even want to put It’s Only Me out at the time, because I wasn’t ready. I wasn’t in that headspace. Those were songs I was just making, but it was nothing that I really loved and nothing I even really liked.
“So it was at a point where, if it was up to me, I would’ve never dropped [Its Only Me], but I had a back and forth with my label and shit, and they really needed me to drop or wanted me to drop, whatever the situation was. So I just dropped, but I wasn’t in the right headspace to drop at all.”
It’s Only Me was released in October 2022 and topped the charts with 216,000 units in its first week. The album features Future, Young Thug, Nardo Wick, Pooh Shiesty, EST Gee, and Jeremih. Despite the project’s success three years ago, Baby dislikes most tracks, prompting him to return to his old working method.
“I hated those songs,” he stated. “To this day, a couple of those songs I like, but I don’t even go to them songs, because you know how some music could take you to a time and place, and you don’t even want to go to that place anymore? I’m on a whole different process. I live in a whole other state now. I’m back and forth to other places. My surroundings changed. I got a crew of geeks with me now.”