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

[Sir Richard Spirit]

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.

I don’t remember the timeline exactly but I think it started be consensus hivemind that he had the same flow on every song and he started getting backlash for that before the gay stuff happened

Low key feel like Lil Baby, who I consider as being in his draft class, had fell off too…though not as bad…those group of guys might not have been the stars we thought they were

Da Baby had the gay comment and then he let Tory come out on stage. He couldn’t beat Roc Nation and the gay crowd.

Them two things back to back was just to much. Plus he was trash.

 

[Piff Perkins]

Da Baby had the gay comment and then he let Tory come out on stage. He couldn’t beat Roc Nation and the gay crowd.

Them two things back to back was just to much. Plus he was trash.

Roc Nation bogey man now. What does that have to do with him making trash music instead of hits? This era of rap and r&b is very simple: if you have hits you're going to do well, if you don't have hits you're not going to do well. It's not 2012 anymore, back when some artists were building loyal fanbases. All people care about is the hits and the momentum. Take that shyt away and you end up like Da Baby.

Hell Lil Baby doesn't have any scandals and he's been cold as fukk for over a year now. It's probably over for him too.

 

[Tetris v2.0]

He was never going to last but the gay rant hurt his momentum

He lost the rest of the festivals that summer and Dua Lipa took him off the song they had which was his biggest mainstream hit

His music wasnt good enough to survive that

 

[FrankieLymon757]

Bro needed to learn humility...his ego had became a monstrosity

 

[GilSho]

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.

Lol facts. Everyone keeps pointing out the dumb gay comments when turning off his black female fanbase is what killed his career. The Danileigh is when they started to turn on him and the Meg stuff was the final nail in the coffin.

 

[CrimsonTider]

I'm hearing the tape decent too


Dude was on top of the world just 5 years ago that's crazy. I feel like he blew up to fast and never actually had a solid fanbase

5 years ago is a long time in music

 

[itsyoung!!]

This. Saying he fell off for disrespecting the gays is an easy narrative, but he was done before that. Unless you’re a woman or a pop star bashing the gays isn’t going to kill your career. A male rapper might lose out on some crossover features and mainstream awards, but the average rap fan doesn’t care about gay people enough to stop supporting you.

This makes no sense

How can you say he was falling off prior to that when he was headlining one of the largest festivals in the world when that incident happened

 

[JealousOnesEn_V]

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.

How was that the timeline when Rockstar came out mid 2020?

 

[thaKEAF]

Saw zero mention of this tape until now

It’s been a wrap

 

[Playaz Eyez]

I don’t remember the timeline exactly but I think it started be consensus hivemind that he had the same flow on every song and he started getting backlash for that before the gay stuff happened

Low key feel like Lil Baby, who I consider as being in his draft class, had fell off too…though not as bad…those group of guys might not have been the stars we thought they were

People definitely elevated Lil Baby to heights he never should been. He’s as generic as they come, but people like his come up and his personality. He got crowned “the next Lil Wayne” but without the massive work ethic to beat people over the head with.

Also, people were talking about how repetitive DaBaby was production wise and flow wise way before his gay remarks.

 

[Wild self]

Da Baby's fall off is so weird because he can actually still rap at the level that he came in the game at. He had multiple crash out moments and no one cared.

But the minute he said that shyt about gay dudes , everyone unanimously decided he was wack and wanted nothing to do with him. It's almost like his fan base was all LGBT or something.

Funny, how he made mad songs about killing other black men, and his career thrived (for a while).

 

[CrimsonTider]

People definitely elevated Lil Baby to heights he never should been. He’s as generic as they come, but people like his come up and his personality. He got crowned “the next Lil Wayne” but without the massive work ethic to beat people over the head with.

Also, people were talking about how repetitive DaBaby was production wise and flow wise way before his gay remarks.

Lil baby produces tho. I don’t get the hate

 

[banner34]

One of the biggest fall offs in hiphop

 

[CrimsonTider]

One of the biggest fall offs in hiphop

Nah

 

[Fukwatutalkinwatisaylaw]

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...

Brought me back to my XXL Source reading days with this one...nice write up..interested on how him and Mozzys story correlates