Look back on one of Lil Baby’s earliest freestyles from 2017
Lil Baby’s career has progressed at an incredible pace. The Atlanta rapper is still young, yet he is one of the most sought-after young rappers in the US. With a knack for putting rhymes together and the power of Coach K’s Quality Control behind him, the rapper has recently been unstoppable.
Still he had an interesting come up. Percy Thomas of Quality Control knew Lil Baby as a youngster and, during an interview, spoke about seeing him evolve, stating, “I already had a relationship with Lil Baby before he even went to prison. Baby has been around me since he was maybe, like, 15. My best friend sort of helped raise Baby. Baby been around. He was around before Migos. He just wasn’t an artist.”
Before fame, when he was just putting out videos, few knew that he was actually in around many of Atlanta’s biggest stars and even in the studio with none other than Young Thug. Thomas revealed this during his interview, disclosing, “Well, I mean, Baby used to be in the studio with [The Migos & Young Thug] all the time, so I’m pretty sure that he was observing and watching. They definitely got different styles to me, and they are great artists in their own lane, and that created their own flow and their own style.”
Still, it was the 2017 single ‘My Dawg’ from his mixtape Harder Than Hard that blew Coack K away, and it was what signalled to him that Lil Baby was destined to be a star. Speaking about ‘My Dawg’, the label head explained, “He had found his pocket. He finally found his swag. We put out a couple of projects from him, but it’s like that moment, ‘Oh, shit, he has arrived’. And you can hear all the confidence.”
Lil Baby is an incredibly talented emcee, but Coach K and Percy Thomas revealed that before fame, he put in work and that Quality Control runs hip-hop because other labels aren’t properly developing their signees. Speaking about Lil Baby’s success, Coach K told GQ, “That came with dedication, and that came with him surrounding himself with a great team. And also, I pride myself in what we do over here in Quality Control with artist development. “
He continued, “I feel like a lot of record companies, nobody’s creating superstars. Everybody just catching these one-hit wonders or TikTok moments or whatever. Nobody’s creating real superstars because everybody got away from artist development.”
Many would consider rappers like Ice Spice and Lil Pump to be short-term MCs with little to no longevity in the music they release. However, it is safe to say that, so far, there hasn’t been one rhymner from Quality Control who has been a one-hit wonder. Unfortunately, some have faced legal issues, but, for the most part, the label has produced greatness.
Lil Baby’s ‘Nick To A Brick’ freestyle has been on the internet for some time. However, the track came about in 2017 before his breakout single ‘My Dawg’ hit the radio.