''Harder Than Ever'' is the debut studio album by American rapper
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 ...
. It was released on May 18, 2018 by 4 Pockets Full, Wolfpack Music Group,
Quality Control Music
Quality Control Music (also known as Quality Control or QC) is an American hip hop record label founded by Kevin "Coach K" Lee (Chief operating officer, COO) and Pierre "P" Thomas (Chief executive officer, CEO) in March 2013. Its productions were ...
,
Motown
Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...
and
Capitol Records
Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...
.
The album features
guest appearance
In show business, a guest appearance is the participation of an outsider performer (such as a musician or actor) in an event such as a music record or concert, show, etc., when the performer does not belong to the regular band, cast, or other p ...
s from
Starlito
Jermaine Eric Shute (born December 15, 1984), better known by his stage name Starlito (formerly All $tar Cashville Prince) is an American rapper and businessman. He gained his first national look for the 2005 song "Grey Goose", which featured ...
,
Drake
Drake may refer to:
Animals
* A male duck
People and fictional characters
* Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name
* Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
* ...
,
Moneybagg Yo
DeMario DeWayne White Jr. (born September 22, 1991), known professionally as Moneybagg Yo, is an American rapper. He is signed to fellow Memphis rapper Yo Gotti's record label, Collective Music Group (CMG), in a joint venture deal with Interscope ...
,
Gunna,
Young Thug
Jeffery Lamar Williams (born August 16, 1991), known professionally as Young Thug, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He is considered to be an influential figure of his generation, with his music impacting the modern sound of hip ...
,
Offset
Offset or Off-Set may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* "Off-Set", a song by T.I. and Young Thug from the '' Furious 7: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack''
* ''Offset'' (EP), a 2018 EP by singer Kim Chung-ha
* ''Offset'' (film), a 200 ...
,
Lil Uzi Vert
Symere Bysil Woods ( ; born July 31, 1995), known professionally as Lil Uzi Vert, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. They are characterized by their face tattoo, facial tattoos, facial piercings, eccentric hairstyles and androgynous ...
, and Hoodrich Pablo Juan. It also features production from
Southside Southside or South Side may refer to:
Places
Australia
* Southside, Queensland, a semi-rural locality in the Gympie Region
Canada
* South Side, Newfoundland and Labrador, a community in the St. George's Bay area on the southwest coast of New ...
,
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 ...
,
Tay Keith
Tay may refer to:
People and languages
* Tay (name), including lists of people with the given name, surname and nickname
* Tay people, an ethnic group of Vietnam
** Tày language
*Atayal language, an Austronesian language spoken in Taiwan (ISO 639 ...
,
Quay Global
Christopher Rosser, better known by his stage name Quay Global, is an American record producer. He is best known for his works with rapper Lil Baby. His works can be identified by the producer tag "Cook that shit up, Quay!".
Early life
Rosser ...
and
Turbo
In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to pro ...
, among others.
Singles
The album's
lead single
A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date.
Release s ...
, "
Southside Southside or South Side may refer to:
Places
Australia
* Southside, Queensland, a semi-rural locality in the Gympie Region
Canada
* South Side, Newfoundland and Labrador, a community in the St. George's Bay area on the southwest coast of New ...
", was released for
digital download on May 8, 2018, along with the music video. The song was produced by
Southside Southside or South Side may refer to:
Places
Australia
* Southside, Queensland, a semi-rural locality in the Gympie Region
Canada
* South Side, Newfoundland and Labrador, a community in the St. George's Bay area on the southwest coast of New ...
. The music video was directed by Edgar Esteves.
The album's second single, "
Yes Indeed" with
Drake
Drake may refer to:
Animals
* A male duck
People and fictional characters
* Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name
* Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
* ...
, was released on May 15, 2018. The song 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 ...
.
Critical reception
''Harder Than Ever'' was met with generally positive reviews. At Album of the Year, the album received an
average
In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...
score of 70 out of 100, based on two reviews.
Evan Rytlewski at ''
Pitchfork
A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves.
The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...
'' gave the album mixed a review giving it 6.6 out of 10. Although he ended describing Lil Baby's debut, "Technically impressive: polished, efficient, but also kind of nondescript". He also stated that "Baby’s rapping isn’t any flashier than his fashion sense. He rhymes in a tuneful, half-sung stream of thought, sort of like a more nuanced Rich Homie Quan. On a purely technical level, he’s impressive."
Commercial performance
''Harder Than Ever'' debuted at number three on the US
''Billboard'' 200 chart, earning 71,000
album-equivalent unit
The album-equivalent unit, or album equivalent, is a measurement unit in music industry to define the consumption of music that equals the purchase of one album copy. This consumption includes streaming and song downloads in addition to traditi ...
s (including 6,000 copies in pure album sales) in its first week.
This became Lil Baby's first US top ten debut on the chart.
In its second week, the album dropped to number seven on the chart, earning an additional 45,000 units. In its third week, the album dropped to number nine on the chart, moving 37,000 more units. In its fourth week, the album remained at number nine, earning 34,000 units, bringing its four-week total to 184,000 album-equivalent units. As of December 2018, the album has earned 717,000 album-equivalent units in the US. On February 28, 2020, the album was certified
platinum
Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver".
Platinu ...
by the
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
(RIAA) for combined sales and album-equivalent units of over a million units in the United States.
Track listing
Notes
* signifies an uncredited co-
producer
Producer or producers may refer to:
Occupations
*Producer (agriculture), a farm operator
*A stakeholder of economic production
*Film producer, supervises the making of films
**Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...
Personnel
Technical
* Quay Global – recording
*
Turbo
In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to pro ...
– recording
* Tony Wilson – additional editing
* Mattazik Muzik – recording
* Michael "MikFly" Dottin – mixing
*
Noah "40" Shebib
Noah ''Nukh''; am, ኖህ, ''Noḥ''; ar, نُوح '; grc, Νῶε ''Nôe'' () is the tenth and last of the pre-Flood patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5– ...
– mixing
* Colin Leonard – mastering
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Decade-end charts
Certifications
References
{{Authority control
2018 debut albums
Lil Baby albums
Quality Control Music albums
Motown albums
Capitol Records albums
Albums produced by Southside (record producer)
Albums produced by London on da Track
Albums produced by Tay Keith