Some of the most important decisions in life come down to taking a leap of faith. At least, that’s what I’m telling myself as I jump onto the back of a jetski to meet Lil Baby.
“This is super illegal, but it’s the only way I can get you to the boat,” the jetski driver tells me as he pulls up next to the Miami Marriott Biscayne Bay Hotel. Water vehicles are not authorized to pick up or drop off people at this dock, but without hesitation, I leap onto the back of his tiny vessel, Kids of Immigrants Nike SNDRS clenched to my chest for dear life. We speed off to find the Atlanta rap superstar.
After barreling through the lagoon in wet socks for about 10 minutes, I arrive at the photo shoot location. A bright yellow helicopter is parked on a gray platform in the middle of the ocean, wedged between two smaller boats, and Lil Baby stands stoically on the platform’s edge, dressed head-to-toe in an all-black leather Chrome Hearts fit.
This is now his home turf. The rapper, born Dominique Armani Jones, has lived in Miami for a little over a year now, and he sees the city as a perfect place to architect his next chapter. He recently celebrated his 30th birthday, and when I ask how it feels to be out of his 20s, he tells me, “I try to live 10 years ahead.” From inside one of the smaller boats, he explains, “The stuff I’m practicing now is the stuff that I’m going to be doing in my forties. Like changing my surroundings. Slowing down, not going as fast as I used to go. If I can get me a great 10-year run, by the time I’m 40, hopefully I won’t have to be on stage and all that type of stuff.”
Lil Baby took his leap of faith eight years ago, when Quality Control founder Kevin “Coach K” Lee finally convinced him to take rapping seriously after he was released from prison. Baby enjoyed a white-hot start to his career, releasing a series of successful mixtapes before his debut studio album, Harder Than Ever, which put him on the mainstream map.
That set him up for a major year in 2018, when in an eight-week span he dropped two acclaimed mixtapes: Drip Harder with Gunna and Street Gossip. Demand grew. Two years later, he earned his first No.1 album with My Turn, and Complex crowned him the Best Rapper Alive in 2020.
As expectations soared, Lil Baby endured rockier waters. 2022’s It’s Only Me was received less favorably by critics and fans, and a federal RICO indictment sidelined his close friend and mentor Young Thug.
Lil Baby entered a dark period mentally. “I didn’t even want to put It’s Only Me out at the time, because I wasn’t ready,” he reveals as the small boat we’re on begins to move. “I wasn’t in [the right] headspace. Those were songs I was just making, but it was nothing that I really loved, and nothing I even really liked.” The label won that argument, and despite the middling response, It’s Only Me still became Baby’s third consecutive platinum-certified album.
Now, after changing his environment and shifting his mindset, Baby feels ready to take his next leap of faith with his fourth studio album, WHAM (short for “Who Hard As Me” and one of his nicknames). He started working on the album in September 2023 in Atlanta and Miami after finishing his It’s Only Us Tour. With ample music recorded, Baby plans to drop another full album with “more of a grown sound,” the self-titled Dominique, at the end of February.
Lil Baby has clearly matured, and it’s evident in his openness to change. That’s the essence of a leap of faith: self-belief. As the small, packed boat speeds back to shore, Baby listens intently and responds to every question I ask—on online criticism, Young Thug’s first post-trial feature on “Dum, Dumb, and Dumber,” and the possibility of a Baby, Thug, and Future collab project—while stealing glimpses back out into the horizon, as if he’s already thinking about where he plans to jump to next.
Our conversation, lightly edited and condensed for clarity, is below.
Happy belated birthday. How does it feel to turn 30?
Thirty feels different. It’s a new chapter for me.
Did you think you’d be where you are now back when you were entering your twenties?
No, but yes. I always imagined that by the time I was 25-going-on-30 that I’d be established. I’d have a house, I’d have my business together. I never would’ve thought I could be a rapper, especially to this level, but I knew by the time I was 30 I’d have my shit together.
Where do you hope to be when you’re entering your forties?
I try to live 10 years ahead. So the stuff I’m practicing now is the stuff that I’m going to be doing in my forties. Like changing my surroundings. Slowing down, not going as fast as I used to go. If I can get myself a great 10-year run, hopefully by the time I’m 40, I won’t have to be on stage and all that type of stuff.
How has your headspace been lately?
Mentally, over the last couple months, I’m now getting into a great headspace again. I feel like over the last two or three years, I went through a lot. I went through major changes being a person. So I don’t think I was in the best mental state.
At the end of “Streets Colder,” you say, “I was goin’ through some stuff and didn’t want to rap, almost said, ‘Fuck it.”’ What was going on?
Just some personal shit. Really the main thing, though, is me going through a transformation from who I was to who I’m becoming. Or from what I was to what I am now. It kind of put me in a little slump because everything was different for me: the way I lived, the things I could do, the things I could say, the places I can go. All that kind of changed for me instantly. So when all that changed, it felt like I had to start over again with everything.
How’d you get through that rough patch?
I just kept fighting. I fought towards the day when I was past what I was going through. Every day I wake up, I already know I’m going to get through this. I just got to stay focused, keep grinding, and change certain things.
How has your music-making process changed from My Turn to It’s Only Me to WHAM?
My music process has changed a billion percent, because when I was making those [older] songs, I might’ve just left the hood with 20 or 30 guys. All of us go to the studio, and I got them over here talking about this and that. It’s a whole different energy inside the studio. It was actually helpful. It gives you a little more energy. That’s what I’m used to. That’s the environment that I know.
Then when it came to It’s Only Me, that was when I was transitioning [mentally]. I didn’t even want to put It’s Only Me out at the time, because I wasn’t ready. I wasn’t in that headspace. Those were songs I was just making, but it was nothing that I really loved and nothing I even really liked.
So it was at a point where, if it was up to me, I would’ve never dropped [Its Only Me], but I had a back and forth with my label and shit, and they really needed me to drop or wanted me to drop, whatever the situation was. So I just dropped, but I wasn’t in the right headspace to drop at all. I hated those songs. To this day, a couple of those songs I like, but I don’t even go to them songs, because you know how some music could take you to a time and place, and you don’t even want to go to that place anymore? I’m on a whole different process. I live in a whole other state now. I’m back and forth to other places. My surroundings changed. I got a crew of geeks with me now.
What songs do you still like off It’s Only Me? I revisit “Russian Roulette” often.
That’s one of the songs I love.
It felt like you were wearing your heart on your sleeve on that track.
I’m still trying to get to the day where I can really be vulnerable on a song and get in my feelings. I still haven’t tapped into that completely yet.
What about “Emotionally Scarred”?
That’s like five percent of it. This shit gets deep. I don’t even really know how to put it into words yet—the shit I really go through and the stuff I really feel.
Have you ever tried recording alone?
I only record alone, even when I was going to the studio with 30 or 40 people. We’d be in there chilling and stuff, and I’d wait until everybody goes to sleep or fade out, then I’d rap. A lot of people who hang with me every day have never seen me rap.
When did you start working on WHAM?
I started working on this music in September of 2023. I had just got off tour and I told myself, “I’m about to lock in and take it there.” I recorded half [of the album] in Miami, [and the other] half in Atlanta.
What was your goal going into this album?
Well, I’m dropping two projects back to back: WHAM, then I’m coming with Dominique, my self-titled album. WHAM is more like my young nigga street shit. Then I show the transition I’m taking in Dominique, the more emotional and more vulnerable side I never really gave my fans. So what I hope to accomplish out of this WHAM album that just came out is, I kind of feel like people be having me fucked up. So in this album, it’s kind of like, “Hey stop playing with me.”
What should people know about the next project, Dominique?
Just more heartfelt and more direct with talking about certain subjects. I just was damn near warming up again [on WHAM], and Dominique is more strategic. Dominique is more of a grown sound. Lil Baby is something I created. But I kind of grew out of that stage. WHAM is [a persona] I created, and Dominique is [a persona] I created. WHAM is in the middle of Lil Baby and Dominique. So Dominique going to be like the more 30-year-old me.
Why did you want to go with the self-titled album immediately after WHAM?
I initially was going [to drop] the self-titled album [first], but I had to backtrack because even though I’ve grown and I had a dramatic change, I ain’t really bring the fans along with me. So they don’t really know what I went through or what I’m going through. So to just go from Lil Baby to Dominique, I feel like that would’ve been too big of a jump for them. So I had to come back and tighten it up a little bit and ease their way into it. It’s two different albums, but something like a double album.
Why didn’t you want to make this a double disc, instead of two different albums?
I just don’t like double discs. I just feel like it’d be too many songs at one time. I don’t really know nobody’s double disc [album] that I really loved.
Is that also why you added only four songs to the deluxe?
Yeah, I really wanted to drop those [songs] already, but I wanted to drop a deluxe, too. So I just took four or five songs off, and added them. I didn’t want to go over 20 songs, though. I feel like that’d be too much for an album, when you have over 20 songs.
Do you feel like listening habits have changed and people aren’t willing to listen to longer albums anymore?
I definitely feel like that. I think the attention span of the younger generation is not as long because everything is so short-lived. It’s like TikTok, YouTube, everything be kind of short now. So I feel like the attention span for music be different nowadays. I just don’t want to make songs too long, but I still see [comments like], “Damn, these songs should be longer.” So it’s just different crowds. Some people love it, some people don’t like it.
On “Runnin This Shit” from the deluxe, you say, “I don’t care what he did, he a rat still / And I said what I said, dont @ me.” What inspired that lyric?
That’s just how I rap. I hate that they try to make narratives out of shit I say. I say what I want to say. If I was speaking on certain people and shit, I would say that.
How do you think you experimented with your sound and flows on this project?
I definitely experimented with my sounds and flows because, at first, I never thought to even try to change my flow or change my sound. This time, I actually put thought into it. I actually went back this time and redid stuff and tightened stuff up—versus in the past, whatever I recorded, that’s how I left it. I just mixed it and that was the end. Now I’m taking more time and going back and changing little words and saying shit in a different pitch or a different tone. Putting more time into the artistry of it, rather than just rapping now.
How do you respond to people’s comments about you never switching your flows?
For the most part, I don’t see a lot of stuff. But the stuff that I do see, I’m a person who, if somebody is telling me something, I’m going to listen. I can see if it’s right, it’s right. If it’s wrong, I disagree, but I’ll definitely look at it from another point of view. I don’t got a problem with that. I like to see certain stuff, because certain stuff will open your mind up to go harder, or people might see shit I don’t see or hear shit I don’t hear, so I don’t take offense to it. I don’t really get too deep into the negative commentary, or even the positive commentary. You don’t even see me bragging.
What did you think of Kai Cenat’s review of the project?
I saw little clips of it. But people like Kai Cenat, I feel like they’re younger. They won’t really understand how I’m coming. You have to be a little older to really get it.
So what do you think is the right age demographic for this album?
That’s something that’s changed anyway, because I never used to think that there was any age demographic [that was] good to rate music unless you’re a music person. If it was a music person, then I’d probably be more interested. But the streamers and people who do reviews, that’s just their personal opinion. They know nothing about music for real.
So you’re an artist who still respects the opinion of a music pundit or a journalist?
For sure. I respect everybody’s opinion. That’s a part of the new generation, though. They didn’t even have [streamers] when I first started dropping. You might have one or two people who do reviews, but now it’s like [people want to] go viral. I see people post that they hate a song, but they still playing the song. You’re saying you don’t like it and you’re making a whole ordeal about it, but the song is playing in the background. So it’s really more to go viral or to get a reaction. People would do anything to get a reaction.
I’m one of the main people [where] you can say my name and it’s going to get some kind of reaction. I’ve never paid attention to that shit, but now I just see it more. But I never paid attention to it, whether it was a great review or not. And not just saying for me, I’m saying for anybody. I never go and watch somebody else’s review of an album. I’m going to listen to the album and form my own opinion.
What do you think is the most exciting verse that you recorded on the project?
The most exciting verse I had to record was on “Dum, Dumb, and Dumber” with me, Future, and [Young] Thug, because of the energy that was in the room at the time. Thug had just come home, and everybody was in the room. It was just a whole different energy. I don’t feel like that’s my best verse, but just the most exciting to me.
Walk me through the night when you, Thug, and Future recorded “Dum, Dumb, and Dumber.”
It might’ve been our second or third day in the studio since Young Thug had been home. Everybody was in the studio. We got food, we got chefs coming and bringing us everything. Malls coming to us, we got them bringing us clothes. It is like that old feeling again, like when I first came home. On my first day when I got out, I think Thug was in London, and in three days they came back from London. As soon as they came back, I went to the studio with them. I wasn’t rapping or nothing, but I got that same feeling, that same energy. Everybody was at the studio. And now it’s the same thing for Thug. I’m one of the ones happy to see him. Glad he came home. Everybody gave him gifts, everybody uplifting him, trying to put everything he went through behind him. So it was just great energy. It was like love again.
Was that the first song you recorded with Thug after he got released?
Nah, it wasn’t the first song. We actually recorded a couple more songs before that.
How does it feel now that Thug is finally free?
It feels amazing. That was a big part of what I was going through in these past two years, too. Even though it happened to Thug, I feel like it could have happened to me. So seeing that shit every day and seeing how they’re trying to do you and how they’re trying to use the craft to build [a case against us] and take us [from] trying to help niggas from our neighborhood or people that we grew up with, how they trying to turn it and use it against us… That shit is really mind-boggling. That shit will fuck your mind up.
Does it change your approach to rapping?
A thousand percent. I can’t even really rap the same. I have to watch the way I express myself. I was watching the trial every day. I’m really seeing how they doing people. I’m seeing stuff that I know doesn’t mean certain things, and they are turning it into something else. That shit fucked with me heavy.
So he gets released on Halloween. How quickly after that did y’all get back into the studio together?
I let him get his space and do what he needed to do. But we probably locked in the studio about 10 days after that. But I already was locked in the studio with Future.
Was there any rust when he got back in the studio?
Nah, he is a musical genius. That’s what he does in his sleep. And what’s so crazy is, he wasn’t even rapping about being in jail or the trial or what he had to go through. It was like he automatically put a lot of that shit behind him and got right back into his artistry. It’s really amazing how he can go through stuff like that and still keep his spirits up and still be the same. He ain’t miss a beat.
Did you and Thug make any more music outside of that?
Definitely. We’ve been in the studio together [every day] almost since he came home. So we got tons of songs. Just that one on WHAM, though. I could have done more. I ain’t want to OD it anyway. I’m the first person to have a Young Thug verse since he’s been out. So I didn’t want to just overdo him anyway.
I wasn’t even going to put this song on [the album] because we’re working on something else. We were just making shit, there wasn’t even any intention for it to go on my album, but that motherfucker was so hard and my verse is first. I’m like, “Man, I’m putting this on the album,” and Thug and Future were like “go ahead.”
So is there a potential for a Young Thug and Lil Baby collab project anytime in the near future?
Most definitely. Me and Future were also going to drop a project, but it was Thug’s idea. The whole time while he’s locked up, I’m talking to him and trying to talk about the trial. He’s like, “You need to get with Pluto and drop the tape with Pluto.” I’m trying to talk about the trial. He ain’t even tripping. He’s like, “Bro, go to Miami. You need to lock in with Pluto, y’all need to drop an album. Do that for me.”
Is there any timetable on when the collab tape with you and Future will drop?
There probably won’t be a me and Future tape anymore because Thug is back. So whatever it would be, it’ll be all three of us. [And that’s] super exciting, because to me, those are two of the main people that I would say I look up to in the rap game. So to be able to spar with them, I feel like that’s sharpened me up a whole lot.
Two years ago, you told Speedy that you think you’ve mastered only “20 percent” of the craft of rapping. What percent are you at now?
Maybe it’s at 40 percent. It’s still low, because even in the past two years, I wasn’t rapping and shit for the whole two years. To me, I’ve [only] been rapping well for the last six months. It took me a year not doing anything. Then it took me six months of staying down to break through what I was going through. And then the next six months I was starting to feel myself.
What do you think is the biggest misconception about you?
People get everything about me wrong because I don’t never say anything. It could be this narrative, it could be that narrative. I’m going to let people go with what they want to. I don’t really try to straighten anything up. So the biggest misconception is that I’m not the person they think I am. And you probably won’t ever know that unless you see me. But then again, that’s why I’m doing these types of interviews, because usually I pass on some stuff. I don’t want to be vulnerable, I don’t want to open up. But that’s where a change comes in, here I’m like, “OK Baby, you’re an artist. In order for your artistry to go where you want it to go, you got to let the fans in on what you have going on. You got to show ’em a little more.” Because I’m a hit-hard, move silent n*gga.
When did you realize that?
I just started realizing that within the past year.
Do you think these past two years have been the biggest times of growth for you?
Definitely. Transition-wise, these last two or three years have been the biggest part of my life. I don’t even do anything the same as I used to do three or four years ago.
Complex named you the 10th best rapper in Atlanta rap history. How do you feel about that?
That’s super major. And I do see the work that I do. I can understand where that comes from, and I definitely appreciate it, but I don’t even consider myself that in a way. A n*gga is just trying to go as hard as they can go. Stats and all that shit don’t really phase me. I want the money.
How would you describe the state of Atlanta rap right now?
Atlanta was in a rocky space with all the separation and Thug gone, but now I feel like it’s that time to bring that real Atlanta feeling back.
What’s the energy like in Atlanta now compared to five years ago?
Five years ago, the air in Atlanta was way different. I don’t think it’ll ever be the same. It’s completely different now from 2020 to 2025. It’s a whole different ball game in Atlanta.
I saw that you connected with Playboi Carti via text. He represents the other side of Atlanta rap that’s very different from yours. What are your thoughts on his style of music?
[Playboi] Carti is my man. I’ve known Carti for a long time. I always knew him, but we just never really did music [together] because most of the people who I’ve known for awhile, it don’t be weird making music [together], but I don’t be pressed if they don’t be pressed. It is one of those things where it could happen whenever we want it to happen. So it usually just don’t be happening a lot, versus him calling me like, “Bro, I need you [for a song],” or I’m calling him like, “Bro, I need you [for a song].” It just be more organic. It’s inevitable for us to be in the same place. We always be in the same place. It just happens that we aren’t in the studio together [all the time]. But then when we do be in the studio together, it just flows like water.
How often are you two in the studio together?
Plenty of times, he’s from Atlanta so he’s right there.
Is there a chance he’s on Dominique?
Me and him would probably be on some turnt shit. We too turnt [together] for him to be on Dominique.
Do you think you might end up on I Am Music?
I feel like I’m already on I Am Music, just being from Atlanta. Everybody plays a part in it. Just everybody’s albums, you know what I’m saying? We all feed off each other in certain ways.
How did you and Central Cee connect for “Band4Band”?
I met Central Cee with Drake at St. Barts on a boat. I didn’t even know he rapped. He was just a cool nigga and we chopped it up. Once I figured out who he was, we just locked in. And one time he was in Miami, and I was in Miami. He just pulled up, [but] we weren’t even really on no “we’re going to make a song” type shit. He just came around to fuck with me. That’s more what it’s like with me. When you pull up on me, or if I pull up on an artist, I’m just going to fuck with you. We make a song, then cool. If we don’t, I’m not like, “Damn, we didn’t get the song again.” I’m not coming for that. He just came for the vibe, the energy.
At this point in your life and career, what does success look like for you?
Success to me is working and being in a good mental space and feeling happy in life. Everybody’s going to have problems no matter what, so I’m not saying [I won’t have any] problems, but as long as I’m in that working space and I don’t have a dark cloud over my head, I feel like that’s success to me. I’m free, I’m breathing, I’m alive. That’s success to me at this age. I’m 30 years old. I’m an owner. I’m established. That’s success to me.
Do you care about first-week sales and numbers?
Hell no. Even when I had the most [first-week sales], I didn’t even post it. Everybody else could post. I won’t even post how much I did in the first week or anything. I never did that from when I did 3,000 to 200,000 [units]. I just keep going no matter what.
How do you hope WHAM is received?
I hope the people really listen to it and understand, and it’s not even really a hope. I kind of know what it’s going to be like. They’ll get a chance to listen and really get into it and just be like, “OK, Baby back in the music again.” I had checked out for a minute.
View news Source: https://www.complex.com/music/a/jordan-rose/altitude-adjustment-lil-baby-cover-story