Lil Baby Essentials

Within a year of starting to rap, Lil Baby had released six mixtapes and a full-length album, including the smash Drake collab “Yes Indeed” in 2018. Compared to his Atlanta peers, Baby’s persona was muted. He shrugged off fashion shows, didn’t have tattoos and kept his boasts mild: “I never call myself a G.O.A.T./I leave that love to the people,” he raps on 2020’s “Emotionally Scarred”. But the lyricism was there, as were the low-key intensity and no-frills ethic that have become his hallmark. He has since scored a slinky yet motormouthed hit in 2020’s “Low Down” and been named Artist of the Year at the Apple Music Awards. Baby quickly leapfrogged those high-water marks with a chart-topping 2021 team-up with Chicago’s Lil Durk—see the percolating, self-reflective earworm “How It Feels”—and a 2023 feature with Future and DJ Khaled, plus assorted solo triumphs. Whether on his own or with others, he punctuates his drawled air of confidence with flashes of scrappy urgency like someone who no longer needs to prove himself.