Da Baby - How TF Is This A Mixtape debuts at #154, sells 9k first week

Turk

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Dababy fell off for multiple reasons, and I'll list them.

1. Prior to the concert incident, people were already starting to say his music was becoming stale and repetitive. I remember he would preview music, and folks on the internet, particularly Twitter, would clown it by saying things like "he raps over Mario beats," "he always uses the same flow," etc. Trouble was brewing back then, and that was late 2019-2020

2. He ostracized his fanbase. Black women were Dababy's most vocal supporters. They would thirst over him all day online. Black women loved his voice, physical features, tough guy image, the relationship he had with his Black baby mama, and how he appeared to treat her, but that all changed once Dababy had a string of incidents with women. He was sued for allegedly slapping a black woman at one of his concerts. He left his Black baby mama for Danileigh, and then they had a whole load of drama that was heavily publicized. After collaborating with Meg the Stallion on multiple occasions, he chose to side with Tory Lanez after the shooting incident and started saying certain things about Meg. Black women didn't fukk with any of that shyt, and their opinion of him flipped drastically.

3. The concert incident. It was highly unnecessary and stupid. Someone like Boosie can make comments like that without hurting his pockets because his core fanbase is hood adjacent nikkas who likely share his sentiments about the LGBT community, but Dababy at that time was in a completely different boat. Idk what his core fanbase was or is now, but at that time, he was very mainstream, and those types of comments aren't going to fly, especially when you're doing crossover songs with pop artists like Camila Cabello.

In summary, a lot of people felt like Dababy's music became stale and repetitive; he ostracized Black women, who were his most vocal supporters, and he attacked the LGBT community while being a mainstream artist. A combination of all these things led to his downfall.
 

cyndaquil

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Baby had been rapping for like 4 years when he blew up. The Walmart incident is obviously what really brought him national attention, but he was bubbling before that...

I would say early on in his rap career he was indistinguishable from other Charlotte rappers. Then there was this shakeup with his management and label team, some people defected, and he switched his name from Baby Jesus to DaBaby. The name change also coincided with a change in content, as his earliest work, he presented himself as a smooth talking ladies man who got fly, got money and hoes...

When he started calling himself "DaBaby" his subject matter and his public persona turned into more talk about gunplay and being a gangsta. The money and hoe's shyt was still there too but you never heard this killer, gun shyt in his earliest shyt. So this was around the time of him wearing the diaper to SXSW, early to mid-2017 I believe...

That run to SXSW gave him a local boost and put him on the radar of talent scouts and shyt because of the people who be at SXSW. The end of '17 he dropped "Back On My Baby Jesus shyt" and that's really the tape that put him as A-lister in Charlotte's scene...

Combine the attention he got from '17 SXSW, + the Back On My Baby Jesus shyt drop, he was buzzing in '18. I don't think he ever becomes quite as big as he became, without the Walmart shyt------>but some relevant names in industry circles were aware of who he was as 2018 was unfolding, South Coast (his manager's label) was shopping for opportunities for him and the label. So I think all things fair, he'd have had his moment coming soon regardless. His 15 minutes would've been shorter, his height of popularity was probably 2½ years from Nov/Dec 2018 to May/June 2021...

If the Walmart incident never happens his 15 minutes is probably less than that, he's probably a one or two hit wonder in 2019 or '20, rather than a 4 or 5 hit wonder, or a guy with a 2 year run as one of the hottest rappers...

Long story short, you're right. He went from relative nobody for like his first two years rapping, to an ascending local star gaining national attention for the next two years, to like a mega star in the span of like 3 months following the Walmart shooting...

Unless his artistry evolved, which it hasn't here years later, he was never gonna be around as a big name for long. He hastened his decline in popularity bit this board was in real time talking about his decline before the gay comments, so people were clearly aware. He was never artistic enough to have longevity as a superstar, still isn't...

He'll go down as a legend in his city and his state for opening the door wider for Charlotte and Carolina hip hop, there are people who came of age during his run here who swear by him, people who ate well off his popularity. So he'll be a local legend for that, forever...

It's over for him as a relevant rapper though and if he wants to continue his career, which it sure seems he wants to, he'll need to develop as an artist more. But this nikka is like 33 now with a decade in, and like 6 years as a known commodity with the same flow and style. His days as a relevant rapper are done but he'll have a small cult following that'll always revere his 2-year run when he really was everywhere...

As for me, I've spoken on this before, I'm pretty sure I was the first person to really speak on fam in depth on here. I wasn't aware of him until "Light Show", so this is late 2016/early 2017. I had a homeboy who is a club promoter, still doing it, who was in the Charlotte and Greensboro scenes back then. That's how I heard of him. So we'll say early '17, right before SXSW. I thought he was dope; my promoter friend has since expanded his reach with clubs in rural NC, Florida, and Mississippi...

The SXSW shyt happened and the split within South Coast and his crew and like other local people I wanted to know his backstory. I formerly lived in Charlotte and was an active criminal there, and really at this time I was towards the end of my own run so any cats who claimed themselves as street guys got background checked...

The word on fam was always, no one knew where he was from in Charlotte, and he and his brothers were semi-known weed dealers out in the burbs in Concord, and Cabarrus. He never dissed anyone or any hood and people who came into contact with him said he was cool peoples, Arnold Taylor (SC owner/his manager) had a good reputation and swore by his talent, do he was in good standing...

I was aware of him in 2017, 2018, I'd say I'm still a fan of his earliest work. Threw some of his old shyt on a few weeks ago!

When the Walmart shyt happened and he publicly kept dissing the deceased teenager, and he had some war of words with other Charlotte rappers that really predated that incident, cats weren't buying the (gangsta image) hype locally, but his mainstream, industry hype skyrocketed him way beyond Charlotte. And he always came back and showed Charlotte love...

I've got a similar connection, on some 6 degrees of separation shyt, to Mozzy's early career...

Shout out to Baby for putting a light on Charlotte and Carolina hip hop, but this new drop is more of the same redundant shyt. It's over...
Long ass hell but quite thorough dissertation here
 

tremonthustler1

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Dababy fell off for multiple reasons, and I'll list them.

1. Prior to the concert incident, people were already starting to say his music was becoming stale and repetitive. I remember he would preview music, and folks on the internet, particularly Twitter, would clown it by saying things like "he raps over Mario beats," "he always uses the same flow," etc. Trouble was brewing back then, and that was late 2019-2020

2. He ostracized his fanbase. Black women were Dababy's most vocal supporters. They would thirst over him all day online. Black women loved his voice, physical features, tough guy image, the relationship he had with his Black baby mama, and how he appeared to treat her, but that all changed once Dababy had a string of incidents with women. He was sued for allegedly slapping a black woman at one of his concerts. He left his Black baby mama for Danileigh, and then they had a whole load of drama that was heavily publicized. After collaborating with Meg the Stallion on multiple occasions, he chose to side with Tory Lanez after the shooting incident and started saying certain things about Meg. Black women didn't fukk with any of that shyt, and their opinion of him flipped drastically.

3. The concert incident. It was highly unnecessary and stupid. Someone like Boosie can make comments like that without hurting his pockets because his core fanbase is hood adjacent nikkas who likely share his sentiments about the LGBT community, but Dababy at that time was in a completely different boat. Idk what his core fanbase was or is now, but at that time, he was very mainstream, and those types of comments aren't going to fly, especially when you're doing crossover songs with pop artists like Camila Cabello.

In summary, a lot of people felt like Dababy's music became stale and repetitive; he ostracized Black women, who were his most vocal supporters, and he attacked the LGBT community while being a mainstream artist. A combination of all these things led to his downfall.

He needed to lay off those JetsOnMade beats.

I didn't love this tape (the tape for me sucked after track 5), but the first 5 songs were really good and he needed to go in that direction earlier to counteract all the goofy shyt he was doing. Ludacris figured that out and it allowed him to get way more respect (that and he destroyed TI)
 

murksiderock

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Dababy fell off for multiple reasons, and I'll list them.

1. Prior to the concert incident, people were already starting to say his music was becoming stale and repetitive. I remember he would preview music, and folks on the internet, particularly Twitter, would clown it by saying things like "he raps over Mario beats," "he always uses the same flow," etc. Trouble was brewing back then, and that was late 2019-2020

2. He ostracized his fanbase. Black women were Dababy's most vocal supporters. They would thirst over him all day online. Black women loved his voice, physical features, tough guy image, the relationship he had with his Black baby mama, and how he appeared to treat her, but that all changed once Dababy had a string of incidents with women. He was sued for allegedly slapping a black woman at one of his concerts. He left his Black baby mama for Danileigh, and then they had a whole load of drama that was heavily publicized. After collaborating with Meg the Stallion on multiple occasions, he chose to side with Tory Lanez after the shooting incident and started saying certain things about Meg. Black women didn't fukk with any of that shyt, and their opinion of him flipped drastically.

3. The concert incident. It was highly unnecessary and stupid. Someone like Boosie can make comments like that without hurting his pockets because his core fanbase is hood adjacent nikkas who likely share his sentiments about the LGBT community, but Dababy at that time was in a completely different boat. Idk what his core fanbase was or is now, but at that time, he was very mainstream, and those types of comments aren't going to fly, especially when you're doing crossover songs with pop artists like Camila Cabello.

In summary, a lot of people felt like Dababy's music became stale and repetitive; he ostracized Black women, who were his most vocal supporters, and he attacked the LGBT community while being a mainstream artist. A combination of all these things led to his downfall.
On a local level, this goes back to when I said I was first hearing about him...

So when cats are having the "who is homie" conversations, again for myself this is going over 7 years ago. It was pretty acknowledged that he beat on women. Some chick he was with, his baby mama too, and I know I've mentioned that on here in years past...

But you know how it is, especially in a culture like hip hop and with a lot of street and street adjacent cats. It wasn't really held against him, you know cats didn't even really speak on it as a negative: "him and his chick be fighting", "he slapped up some chick", shyt like that could be for whatever reason, we not judging nikkas hard-core about that...

I'd also heard he ran a fade with a brother at some party or function, and they said he could throw em. So it wasn't like, "oh the nikka just beat on women", at some point cats saw him run it with a man and he ain't win but he ain't lose, and he's not a big guy, they said he did his thing...

I can tell you for a fact there are people locally who will tell you they'd heard stories of him "fighting" his exes prior to him really blowing up. But at that local Charlotte level, that shyt don't matter. A few years later and he's a mega star, to your point, you're not in Charlotte anymore. You're not simply endorsed by Charlotte promoters anymore. That type shyt, the belittling gays (though that's always how he's spoken), the violence towards women, you ain't in Charlotte anymore, that shyt can't fly and it did accelerate his fall from grace...

But as I think most of us has said in here, his decline had already begun a little while before that!
 

Sauce Dab

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Yeah I remember, that let me know that he would do anything for fame. I don't think he had a solid fan base though, it didn't seem like it was a gradual progression. He went from local kinda marginal rapper to superstar in the matter of months it seemed like, with the viral walmart shyt and suge. From my understanding he wasn't some huge rapper in NC. I'm open to being wrong though as I'm not from NC.
Yeah he had a big fan base but not a solid one. Something I’ve noticed about music is you have to dig deep and make “deeper” music if you want to grow an actual solid fan base.

Da baby had alot of fans at his peak but his music was always goofy and gimmicky and you can only be relevant so long doing that
Did that really do it? Sure it got him kicked off festivals and forced him back to the club scene but...IMO if he still made hit records he'd be fine. The problem is that he makes bad music and people moved on.

I remember when you couldn't peep a ghetto pawg or black chick's IG without seeing her post a DaBaby song. When that changed he was finished and it had nothing to do with gay people IMO.
That LGBT thing definitely didn’t help but it didn’t hurt as much as people say it did. His fan base was never that solid. He was really popular but he didn’t have die-hards so it was only a matter of time before people stopped caring
 
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