Lil Baby


Dominique Armani Jones, known professionally as Lil Baby, is an American rapper, singer and songwriter from Atlanta, Georgia. He rose to mainstream fame in 2017 following the release of his mixtape Perfect Timing and is one of the most prominent figures in the trap music scene.
Lil Baby's debut studio album Harder Than Ever was certified RIAA Platinum and included the song "Yes Indeed" with Drake which peaked at 6 on the Billboard Hot 100. He went on to release two more mixtapes in 2018, Drip Harder and Street Gossip, the former containing his most popular song "Drip Too Hard" which peaked at 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, and the latter peaking at number two on the US Billboard 200. Lil Baby's second album, My Turn, peaked at number one on the Billboard 200. In June 2020, he released the single "The Bigger Picture", which peaked at number 3 on the Hot 100 and became the highest charting song of his career.

Early life

Dominique Jones was born in Atlanta, Georgia. He was two years old when his father left the family, leaving his single mother to raise him and his two sisters. While he was not struggling academically, Jones would repeatedly get in trouble, resulting in him dropping out of high school in the ninth grade.
In early 2012, he was charged for possession with intent to sell among other charges. His original lawyer urged him to take a 2-year plea deal, but Jones refused, and acquired a new lawyer. This new lawyer placed Jones in a special program that would only hold him for a year. While in this program, he got into an altercation with a white prisoner over racial comments. After, Jones' sentencing was replaced with the original 2-year deal. Later in 2013, he had a charge of possession of marijuana, less than an ounce. In 2014, he was arrested again and charged with possession of marijuana with intent to sell among other things. After being incarcerated for two years, he began his rap career with 4PF and Quality Control Music.

Career

2016–2018: Career beginnings and ''Harder Than Ever''

Shortly after his release from prison, Jones released his mixtape Perfect Timing, with features from Young Thug, Lil Yachty, and others. He released his second mixtape entitled Harder Than Hard on July 18, 2017. On October 9, 2017, Jones released a collaboration mixtape with close friend and fellow Atlanta rapper Marlo, 2 The Hard Way. This mixtape did not create as big an impact as two former tapes, but still garnered some attention. Jones finally started to break through to the masses with his December 2017 mixtape Too Hard, led by his hit single "Freestyle", which was released as a music video on November 5 to promote the upcoming mixtape. Through the success of the single, Jones attracted much attention towards his mixtape. When the mixtape finally dropped it featured the single "All of a Sudden" with featuring rapper and friend Moneybagg Yo. This mixtape was defining for much of Jones’ current career.
In May 2018, Baby released his debut studio album, Harder Than Ever, which debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200 chart. The album was supported by the singles, "Southside" and "Yes Indeed", the latter peaked at number six on the US Billboard Hot 100.

2018–2019: ''Drip Harder'' and ''Street Gossip''

After he had released Harder Than Ever, he released his collaborative mixtape Drip Harder with fellow rapper and close friend, Gunna on October 5, 2018. The mixtape was very well received and also featured high-profile and only features on: "Off White VLONE" featuring Lil Durk and Nav, "My Jeans" featuring Young Thug, and "Never Recover" with Drake. The mixtape had several hits and bumped Baby's popularity up. The lead single, "Drip Too Hard", by both Baby and Gunna, was certified RIAA Platinum. and MC Platinum It became Lil Baby's most popular single, peaking at number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and being nominated for Best Rap/Sung Performance at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards. The mixtape was released under the labels Quality Control, YSL Records and Motown/Capitol.
In September 2018, Baby appeared on the Adult Swim television series FishCenter Live. In November 2018, he released his mixtape Street Gossip. and in December 2018, Baby collaborated with Yung Gravy on the latter's single, "Alley Oop".
He starred in How High 2, the sequel to the 2001 stoner film How High, which premiered on April 20, 2019, on MTV. On June 21, 2019, Baby and rapper Future released a single titled "Out the Mud", which was thought to be an album single originally, until Baby denied. On July 17, 2019, Lil Baby appeared alongside DaBaby on the single "Baby", released on Quality Control's second studio album, Control the Streets, Volume 2. The song received acclaim from music critics and peaked at number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100.
On November 8, 2019, Baby released his single "Woah" as the lead single for his second studio album My Turn. The song peaked at number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100. He also released "Toast Up", on the same day, with Spark the Beat winners Ali Tomineek and Shad on The Beat, with the former also appearing on Netflix's Rhythm + Flow. On November 15, 2019, Baby released a song from the film Queen & Slim, titled "Catch the Sun", which was also on Baby's second studio album My Turn, serving as a promotional single.

2020: ''My Turn'' and "The Bigger Picture"

On January 10, 2020, Baby released the second single, "Sum 2 Prove", for his album, and it reached number 16 on the Hot 100. The album, My Turn, was released on February 28, 2020 and debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200. It features guest appearances from Gunna, 42 Dugg, Future, Lil Uzi Vert, Lil Wayne, Moneybagg Yo, Young Thug and Rylo Rodriguez. After the commercial success of Baby's album My Turn, 12 songs off of the album reached the Billboard Hot 100 chart, which gave him a career total of 47 songs on the chart, putting him at a tie with Prince and Paul McCartney. Following the release of the album's deluxe version on May 1, My Turn returned to the top spot on the Billboard 200. On June 12, 2020, Lil Baby released the single "The Bigger Picture", amid the George Floyd protests. The song was of a different caliber from his usual releases as it was a song "full of message" that addressed a broad issue related to the George Floyd and Black Lives Matter Protests of 2020, and resonated with many people, African American and Caucasian. The song also debuted at number three on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Lil Baby's highest-charting song.
Lil Baby has released and featured on various collaborations throughout 2020, including on YoungBoy Never Broke Again's "One Shot", from the mixtape Road to Fast 9 for the film, Fast 9. His song "We Paid" featuring 42 Dugg from the My Turn deluxe also peaked in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. In July 2020, Lil Baby was featured on Pop Smoke's "For the Night", from his posthumous debut album, Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon. The track reached number 6 on the Hot 100.

Personal life

Sometime in 2016 Jones started dating Jayda Cheaves, and on February 18, 2019, they had a child together.

Shooting in Birmingham

During Lil Baby's concert in Birmingham, on March 8, 2020, gun fire popped off the side of the stage, which had Baby and much of the audience running for safety. A Twitter video surfaced that showed the incident, where two men entered the stage and appeared to be looking for a way out. Almost immediately after their entering, gun shots were heard. Reportedly, one was taken to the hospital after the shooting. According to a police officer, the victim's injuries are life-threatening. No suspect was arrested.

Discography