Lil Baby came into the spotlight in 2016, launching a mixtape featuring already-famous rappers, but what was his first song?
Lil Baby’s first song was technically a mixtape, called ‘Perfect Timing’. This tape featured twelve tracks in total, the first of which was named ‘Days Off’. This mixtape dropped in 2016, following Lil Baby’s release from incarceration in Georgia, USA. However, Lil Baby’s first single was released in 2017 and was called ‘My Dawg’.
Read on to learn more about Lil Baby, and how he got into the world of music.
Not Your Everyday Artist
Lil Baby, born Dominique Armani Jones, was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1994. Unfortunately, he had a very problematic upbringing, coming from a broken family and constantly landing himself in trouble. His father left the family in 1997, and Lil Baby ultimately dropped out of schooling in the tenth grade.
He gravitated towards a life of petty crime, ending up ultimately circulating with the wrong crowd. He would be arrested in 2012 for possession with intent to sell, and later on violate the terms of his probation. This led to a two-year incarceration at just eighteen years of age. While he was in prison, some of his friends would go on to find success in the music industry, potentially inspiring Lil Baby to change his ways.
In an interview in 2017, Lil Baby opened up about his personal life, stating that his mother had difficulties raising three children in an Atlanta ghetto. He expanded on his early criminal lifestyle, explaining he would commit burglary and get into fights.
When he was released from prison, Lil Baby started focusing heavily on music, turning to his friends to learn the ways of the industry. The rapper known as Gunna partnered with Lil Baby, helping him carve out his path in the hip-hop kingdom. Lil Baby actually went on to explain how Gunna gave him “a lot of insights on how to rap”, and that they’d met through a “deceased homie”.
Gunna essentially mentored Lil Baby until the release of his debut studio album, Harder Than Ever, in 2018. Gunna, being a solid, older influence in Lil Baby’s life, contributed massively to his relatively young success.
Success In The Business
As of 2020, Lil Baby was celebrating massive success in the music industry. He’s released two studio albums, a string of singles, and a number of mixtapes. Aside from those accolades, he’s also featured on a long list of songs released by other, prominent artists. Across all platforms, it was reported Lil Baby’s music had amassed more than 11 billion streams from 2019 to 2020. Further to this, Lil Baby also celebrated five consecutive number one songs, a BET Award and a Grammy nomination.
His claim to fame as a young success story is extremely clear, but Lil Baby always seemed to have his head where it needed to be. While other artists may be endlessly frivolous with their wealth and gains, Lil Baby leaned more towards sensibility, as this Tweet from April 2020 suggests.
As of 2020, Lil Baby’s net worth was around four million dollars, a substantial earning for such a young person at the time. This is even more impressive when considering that just a few years prior, he was locked up. These facts mark Lil Baby’s story as not just incredible, but also deeply inspirational.