''It's Only Me'' is the third studio album by American rapper
Lil Baby. It was released on October 14, 2022 through
Quality Control Music,
Motown
Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...
, Wolfpack, and 4 Pockets Full. The album features guest appearances from
Nardo Wick,
Young Thug
Jeffery Lamar Williams II (born August 16, 1991), known professionally as Young Thug, is an American rapper. Known for his eccentric vocal style and fashion, he is considered an influential figure in modern hip hop music, hip hop and trap music ...
,
Fridayy,
Future
The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently ex ...
,
Rylo Rodriguez,
Jeremih
Jeremy Phillip Felton (born July 17, 1987), known professionally as Jeremih ( ), is an American Contemporary R&B, R&B singer. He embarked on a musical career after meeting record producer Mick Schultz in 2008, and signed a recording contract wi ...
,
EST Gee, and
Pooh Shiesty. It was supported by two singles: "
In a Minute" and "
Heyy".
Promotion and release
On April 8, 2022, Lil Baby released the lead single of the album "In a Minute". The rapper first teased the album in August 2022 on his social media. On September 2, 2022, he announced the title and release date of the album. The day also saw the release of the non-album single "
Detox". The cover art depicts different stages of Lil Baby's life as an allusion to
Mount Rushmore
The Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a National Memorial (United States), national memorial centered on a colossal sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore (, or Six Grandfathers) in the Black Hills near Keystone, South Dak ...
. The visual serves as a response to protests over his inclusion on Mount Rushmore-murals which included him over other Atlanta rappers. On October 10, 2022, he released the second single of the album, "Heyy", and revealed the tracklist.
Critical reception
''It's Only Me'' received generally mixed to positive reviews from critics. At
Metacritic
Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, which assigns a
normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an
average
In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...
score of 66, based on nine reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
In a positive review, ''
Clash'' wrote, "This album undoubtedly sees Lil Baby solidify his spot and reaffirm the greatness he’s presented the past few years," adding, "It captures the trials of his journey so far whilst celebrating his current success and the gross potential to do even more."
Alphonse Pierre of ''
Pitchfork
A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials.
The term is also applie ...
'' was more mixed, writing, "Lil Baby is at his best when he's using
istricks to switch between moods, but there's just one on ''It's Only Me'', and it’s indifference: not in the too-cool-to-care kind of way, but in the way when words have no weight behind them."
In a review for
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
, it was claimed that, "Baby approaching nearly every track with repetitive flows and lyrics that feel disconnected and static. Ultimately It's Only Me sticks to the formula that's taken Lil Baby to the top, but somehow fails to communicate the personality and creative fire that was hard to miss on earlier albums."
Similarly, ''
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...
s Niall Smith declared that, "If the trimmings were removed from ‘It’s Only Me’, it might rival his previous releases – instead it’s a few notches shy of greatness."
In a more positive review for ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason.
The magazine was first known fo ...
'', Jayson Buford stated that, "Most of the time, Baby is in prime form here — technical enough to earn his hip-hop cred, and stylistic enough to keep the uncommon kids from feeling like he’s common. When he’s at his best, it’s best to let him gobble you whole."
Commercial performance
''It's Only Me'' debuted atop the US
''Billboard'' 200 dated October 29, 2022, earning 216,000
album-equivalent unit
The album-equivalent unit, or album equivalent, often shortened to just unit, is a sales metric in the music industry that defines the number of streaming media, songs streamed and music download, songs downloaded equal to one Record sales, tradi ...
s (including 6,500 pure album sales) in its first week of availability in the United States. The album earned a total of 288.97 million official streams for its tracks, the third-highest figure for one-week streams for an album in 2022. It is Lil Baby's third US number-one album.
Track listing
Notes
* "Stop Playin" interpolates "Flashing", performed by
Smerz
*
''Pop Out'', sometimes is labeled as by Lil Baby and Nardo Wick, but usually labeled as featuring.
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
References
{{Lil Baby
2022 albums
Lil Baby albums