"Baby" is a song released by American record label Quality Control, performed by American rappers

Lil Baby Dominique Armani Jones (born December 3, 1994), known professionally as Lil Baby, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He rose to mainstream fame in 2017 following the release of his mixtape ''Perfect Timing''. *Alt URL* * His deb ...

and

DaBaby Jonathan Lyndale Kirk (born December 22, 1991), known professionally as DaBaby (formerly known as Baby Jesus), is an American rapper. After releasing several mixtapes between 2014 and 2018, he rose to mainstream prominence with his debut alb ...

. The song was released through Quality Control Music, Motown, and

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

(UMG). It was produced by

Wheezy Wesley Tyler Glass (born October 26, 1992), known professionally as Wheezy, is an American record producer and songwriter. He has worked with artists such as Lil Uzi Vert, Young Thug, Lil Baby, Future, King Von, 21 Savage, Gunna (rapper), Gunna ...

and released on July 17, 2019 as a single off of QC's second studio album, '' Control the Streets, Volume 2'' (2019). The song received acclaim from critics, with particular praise for DaBaby's verse. The song's official video features Lil Baby and DaBaby portraying characters from the movie ''Scarface''.

Lyrics

In the song, Lil Baby references fellow

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

rapper,

Bankroll Fresh Trentavious Zamon White (August 2, 1987 – March 4, 2016), better known by his stage name Bankroll Fresh or Yung Fresh, was an American rapper from Atlanta, Georgia. Fresh is best known for his 2015 single "Walked In". He starred in the independ ...

, who was murdered in 2016. He claims that though he has become a millionaire he still spends time in the "

projects A project is any undertaking, carried out individually or collaboratively and possibly involving research or design, that is carefully planned to achieve a particular goal. An alternative view sees a project managerially as a sequence of even ...

". He raps his

rags-to-riches Rags to riches refers to any situation in which a person rises from poverty to wealth, and in some cases from absolute obscurity to heights of fame, fortune and celebrity—sometimes instantly. This is a common archetype in literature and popul ...

come-up from a third-person perspective with an "infectious hook". The word "baby" is said a total of 37 times throughout the 2 and a half-minute track.

Critical reception

"Baby" received acclaim from music critics. ''

HipHopDX ''HipHopDX'' is an online magazine of hip hop music criticism and news. The website's current president and publisher is Sharath Cherian and the Head Of Content is Jerry L. Barrow. ''HipHopDX'' is the flagship publication of Cheri Media Group. ...

'' called the collaboration "a match made in heaven", and in their album review, commended Wheezy's production as "magical stepping stones for Lil Baby to lay his verse as he boasts about still hanging out in the projects and DaBaby smashes on the beat equally, while both maintain their own unique way of rhyming". Robert Blair of ''HotNewHipHop'' ranked DaBaby's verse on the song as his fifth best of 2019, noting how Lil Baby "handles the more melodic facets of the track" while DaBaby "comes through with a gripping verse that makes audacious claims of ''Baby gettin'' ''jiggy, on stage with the Glizzy/Baby CEO, he shake the game like he Diddy". ''SPIN'' magazine's Israel Daramola described the track as "a quaint record that delivers on its promise of showcasing all the two Babys have to offer us", while Christoper R. Weingarten, in review of the song's parent album, recommended it as a go-to-track, from "two of the most important rappers of 2019" and labelled it as "something that may portend rap's near future".

Music video

The music video was released on August 13, 2019, three days before the release of the album. It shows Lil Baby & DaBaby in scenes from the movie '' Scarface''. As February 2021 the video has over 100 million views.

Commercial performance

The song debuted at number 42 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and eventually rose to number 21 off of the release of the album and the music video.

Live performances

Lil Baby and DaBaby performed the song at the 2019 BET Hip-Hop Awards, where DaBaby also won the award for Best New Artist.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{authority control 2019 singles 2019 songs DaBaby songs Lil Baby songs Song recordings produced by Wheezy (record producer) Songs written by Wheezy (record producer) Songs written by Lil Baby Songs written by DaBaby Motown singles Universal Music Group singles