Lil Baby picks his five favourite rappers: “My top five”
South West Atalanta, or SWAT as it is known by the locals, rapper Lil Baby has experienced a swift ride to musical fame. Hopping on the mumble rap train, the man formerly known as Dominique Armani Jones has gone on to produce hit tracks such as ‘Yes, indeed’, in collaboration with Drake, ‘Band 4 Band’, borrowing some bars from Central Cee and ‘Freestyle’.
Like most rappers, Baby comes with a sprinkling of controversy. The Too Hard rapper has been arrested for possession of a controlled substance when attending Paris Fashion Week in 2019, and for concealing a weapon in Las Vegas earlier this year. He was also embroiled in the Young Stoner Life RICO lawsuit, which indicted Young Thug with 56 charges, with his ‘Drip too hard’ collaborator, Gunna. Gunna had apparently taken a plea deal, which caused Baby to call him a “rat” on stage.
In a tell all interview with DJ Vlad in 2023, which would go on to spawn the viral clip of Baby saying “How you know that?”, details of his upbringing would be revealed which foreshadowed some of the controversy he would experience in his adult life. It wasn’t an easy upbringing for Baby, raised solely by his mother with 2 other siblings, he would find himself in juvey at the age of 12 on the charge of burglary.
Hot 97 FM were able to dive deeper into what makes Baby tick by probing him on his favourite rappers. Making sure to keep it simple by not getting dragged into another GOAT debate. “I love music, so I kind of listen to everybody. Kevin Gates, Drake, Yo Gotti” The reporter would add in Andre 3000, who they had already discussed, allowing Baby to say one final name, “Future”.
With regard to those he reveres, Baby has managed to work with all of them, producing tracks such as ‘Wish me well’, ‘Wants and needs’, ‘Put a date on it’, ‘Summer party’ and ‘Out the mud’.
Having only co-featured on a track with Andre 3000, the SWAT rapper is still keen to get him on one of his own albums. In an interview with Dripped TV, he revealed that 3 Stacks was the one rapper that he would like to go back and forth with. “He could have been on the album [It’s Only Me] for sure. He was like ‘Send him the song’…But I ain’t feel like I have the one for him. I really wanna get in there with him versus sending him a song.”
When asked if he was an Outkast fan when he was growing up, Baby responded with, “Nah, not really. I’m like too young for that. I’m a fan of Andre 300, I’m saying like when I got older and I went through the backstory and stuff, but growing up, I knew their big songs. I wasn’t like I had to get their album or nothing. I just love Andre 3000.”
Lil Baby’s five favourite rappers:
- Kevin Gates
- Drake
- Yo Gotti
- Andre 3000
- Future