{"id":76070,"date":"2020-04-22T06:20:39","date_gmt":"2020-04-22T11:20:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fordhamram.com\/?p=76070"},"modified":"2020-04-21T22:45:30","modified_gmt":"2020-04-22T03:45:30","slug":"dababys-new-album-was-born-too-early","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fordhamram.com\/76070\/culture\/dababys-new-album-was-born-too-early\/","title":{"rendered":"DaBaby\u2019s New Album Was Born Too Early"},"content":{"rendered":"

There haven\u2019t been many meteoric rises like the one DaBaby experienced last year. The Charlotte rapper, who released his debut mixtape \u201cNonFiction\u201d in 2015, took the music industry by storm in 2019, dropping his debut album \u201cBaby on Baby\u201d in March and following it up with his first No. 1 album, \u201cKIRK,\u201d in September.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Not only did these projects earn DaBaby Grammy nominations for Best Rap Song and Best Performance, as well as a spot in XXL\u2019s 2019 Freshman Class, his 2019 success was also huge on TikTok. \u201cToes\u201d and \u201cVibez\u201d from \u201cKIRK\u201d and \u201cSuge\u201d off \u201cBaby on Baby\u201d became TikTok hits, giving DaBaby seemingly immortal status in the industry.<\/span><\/p>\n

This rapid success wasn\u2019t unwarranted. DaBaby, born Johnathan Lyndale Kirk, represents the classic style of rap with his fast-paced bars and larger-than-life persona. Taking inspiration from early \u201990s rappers like Busta Rhymes and injecting afro-futurism into hip-hop, DaBaby is in a lane of his own. Thus, he and his sound have been held to a high standard.<\/span><\/p>\n

Being hip-hop\u2019s \u201cit -boy\u201d has its perks but also has some disadvantages. DaBaby has been no stranger to criticism. Many have complained \u201call his songs sound the same,\u201d which to be quite honest, is not off base. DaBaby himself has even recognized this, telling Rolling Stone, \u201cWhen you got a sound that don\u2019t sound like nobody else and it\u2019s brand new, you\u2019ve got to feed it to \u2019em.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While DaBaby may have found his signature sound, characterized by a brash, rapid flow and rubbery basslines, some fans have asked him to build on his existing formula and create something outside the boundaries of \u201cBaby on Baby\u201d and \u201cKIRK.\u201d When he announced he would be releasing a new project just days before its release last Friday, the question loomed of whether or not DaBaby would take fans up on their request for a new sound, and if so, how good the result would be.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For those who want more of the fun, high energy vibe of DaBaby\u2019s previous releases, \u201cBLAME IT ON BABY\u201d delivers. But for those, like me, who were looking forward to seeing another side of DaBaby, the album disappoints. Its 13 tracks, tied together with heavy drums and lightning-fast rhymes, do little more than remind us DaBaby knows his lane and plans to stay in it.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Unlike \u201cKIRK,\u201d which offered a more sentimental and authentic side of DaBaby, \u201cBLAME IT ON BABY\u201d lacks originality. DaBaby doesn\u2019t reveal anything about him we didn\u2019t already know and repeats the familiar tropes that cemented his status as a star last year. And although its features fill in some of the album\u2019s missing pieces, they too are predictable, as they come from DaBaby\u2019s famous friends that are expected as guests on every new rap album.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCan\u2019t Stop,\u201d the album\u2019s intro, serves its purpose. Its airy production and bounce get you hyped for the rest of the record. By the third track, \u201cLightskin S—\u201d featuring Future and \u201cjetsonmade,\u201d DaBaby\u2019s braggadocio and signature flow start to feel redundant. His winning formula only can work for so long before listeners get tired of his nimble rhymes flexing his wealth and sexual exploits. Each song starts to bleed into the next, sometimes leaving you unaware a new track has even started.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Even the songs designed to display DaBaby\u2019s versatility falter and seem a bit forced. At one point on the title track \u201cBlame It On Baby,\u201d he calls out the critics he attempts to prove wrong: \u201cThey be like \u2018Why you switched the beat\u200b?\u2019 Because my flow neat \/ \u2018I thought he couldn’t switch the flow, how the hell he switchin\u2019 the beat up?\u2019\u201d While the switch-ups are a welcome change from the monotony of his signature flow, in typical DaBaby fashion, the track\u2019s four abrupt beat switches are over-the-top.<\/span><\/p>\n

DaBaby also tries out singing on a few tracks. \u201cSad S—\u201d is completely unlike anything he has ever put out, with its close to the four-minute length and pitch switches. The record is too much of a performance to be sad, making it one of the biggest flops on the project. \u201cChampion\u201d offers much of the same, with its weak production not carrying DaBaby\u2019s test run at melodic singing.<\/span><\/p>\n

A highly-anticipated collab with Ashanti and Megan Thee Stallion on \u201cNasty\u201d feels like a missed opportunity, as the former mostly sings \u201cbaby, baby, baby\u201d and DaBaby seems completely uninspired when he raps “I take both her legs and I put \u2019em behind her head like she\u2019s a pretzel.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One song that does stand out on the project is \u201cRockstar\u201d featuring Roddy Ricch, one of this year\u2019s most promising artists. Ricch carries the track with a heart-piercing melody. The guitar-centric production is also a much-appreciated switch from the rest of the project\u2019s DaBaby type beats.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

With \u201cBLAME IT ON BABY\u201d being the third DaBaby album in the past 13 months, it feels rushed. You can\u2019t blame DaBaby for being so fired up after his massive breakthrough last year, but at this point, he would benefit from taking a bit more time to perfect an album that matches his potential and compliments his unique skill set. From the album\u2019s thematic trailer to DaBaby donning an N95 mask on the album cover, it seemed as if the project would be a shoo-in for our quarantine playlists, yet we\u2019re left blaming it on Baby for having to look elsewhere for some quarantine hits.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There haven\u2019t been many meteoric rises like the one DaBaby experienced last year. The Charlotte rapper, who released his debut mixtape \u201cNonFiction\u201d in 2015, took the music industry by storm in 2019, dropping his debut album \u201cBaby on Baby\u201d in March and following it up with his first No. 1 album, \u201cKIRK,\u201d in September.\u00a0 Not…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":76010,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[145,6291,7769,6379,6381,7195,2910],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fordhamram.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76070"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fordhamram.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fordhamram.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fordhamram.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fordhamram.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76070"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/fordhamram.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76070\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76143,"href":"https:\/\/fordhamram.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76070\/revisions\/76143"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fordhamram.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fordhamram.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fordhamram.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fordhamram.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}