The true story behind the DaBaby song ‘Masterpiece’: “A rapper killed a rapper”
In 2021, North Carolina emcee DaBaby released a music video and single for an exciting new single, ‘Masterpiece’. The track was fresh and compelling, but it was inspired by a tragic story that DaBaby told in detail.
The song told the story of a 2018 shooting outside a Walmart in North Carolina, which the rapper was allegedly involved in. The altercation saw one man fatally shot. However, following his arrest, DaBaby insisted he never pulled the trigger.
Although DaBaby wasn’t charged with the murder of any individual, he was later convicted of misdemeanour carrying a concealed weapon. He was sentenced but was only given a suspended 30-day jail sentence and 12 months of unsupervised probation. DaBaby’s murder charge was dismissed as, according to the District Court, “a key civilian witness was unavailable.”
As such, “Without that witness, the State could not proceed, and as a result, dismissed the charge.”
Shortly after the shooting DaBaby took to Instagram and told his followers, “The footage has come out, and it shows y’all how I was in there with my one-year-old daughter, my five-year-old son and my baby momma on some family sh*t and the n*gger walked upon, tried me and whipped out on my whole family.”
Following his unsupervised probation, DaBaby recorded ‘Masterpiece’. On the track, he ambiguously details how the events unfolded on that sad day, rapping, “I don’t know what went down at that Walmart / I don’t know what happened on that freeway / Okay, there go DaBaby, he back now / Run it back, hey, bitch, turn that on replay.”
He continues, “Damn, a rapper killed a rapper / Big player, it don’t matter what happened before / What really matters happen after.” The victim who got shot was 19-year-old Jalyn Craig, and following the verdict, his parents told Fox Charlotte, “We feel like we didn’t get any justice!”
Although DaBaby initially beat the case, in 2022, CCTV footage emerged, causing fans to cast aspersions on the lyricist’s claims the shooting was an act of self-defence. The evidence obtained by Rolling Stone magazine showed that DaBaby appeared to be the aggressor and contradicted key aspects of his version of events
DaBaby is a controversial artist, and the rapper has faced a number of controversies over the years, including an incident where the police reportedly found a loaded and concealed handgun in his possession. He was also charged with felony battery for an alleged attack on the owner of a rental property in 2022.