The Atlanta legend who told Lil Baby to start rapping: “I appreciate everything he said”
Lil Baby is one of the most popular rappers at the moment. He has been a star since he released his first mixtape, Perfect Timing with Quality Control, in 2017 and has released three full-length projects since then.
Along with releasing successful solo albums, the rapper has also appeared on singles with everyone from Future to DaBaby, Drake, and Kanye West. With a knack for putting rhymes together and the power of Coach K’s Quality Control behind him, the rapper has recently been unstoppable. However, before then, the emcee didn’t even want to rap, but another Atlanta native convinced him to.
Although it is strange to imagine because he has been absent in music for so long, it was, in fact, Young Thug who brought Lil Baby into the picture and suggested that he start taking rap music seriously.
During a 2020 appearance on T.I.’s ExpediTIously podcast, Young Thug spoke about telling Lil Baby to take his rapping more seriously. Opening up about how their friendship began, the YSL frontman explained, I used to read that young n*gga’s captions on his pictures and call him like, ‘bruh, you know you can rap.’ He in jail like, ‘bruh, I’mma goddamn get out, I’mma goddamn get me some money, get me a bag and do what I need to do. Just to groom him to you really could get paid from doing it, like, no cap.”
Young Thug’s recollection of events had already been confirmed and explained by Lil Baby during an appearance on The Breakfast Club, where he detailed how, after jail, he wasn’t focused, but Young Thug was and helped him make business moves, stating, “My mind wasn’t where Thug’s mind [was] at because I hadn’t been through what I’ve been through now.”
He added, “Now I appreciate everything he said, and I understand everything he said. It still put something in my head, but I still couldn’t see it.” Following Lil Baby’s decision to enter the music industry, Young Thug has collaborated with him on numerous occasions, including his song ‘My Jeans’ which also featured Gunna, ‘Bad Bad Bad,’ a song from Young Thug’s album and “We Should,” a track from Lil Baby’s project My Turn.
Although Young Thug and Lil Baby have a friendship, the YSL founder hasn’t been in contact with his prodigy child since the beginning of his legal problems, which have only worsened. The judge initially presiding over his RICO case was recused earlier this year, and the case has been littered with issues, with his lawyer even seeking a mistrial verdict.