Lil Baby dropped a double single and visuals to cap off his 26th birthday. All over his social media, we saw his party to celebrate, which allowed the hard-working rap star to bask in the luxury he has gained. While there are elements to the singles that share a bit of flexing from Baby, there is, as with much of his music, an undertone of pain and strife that connects listeners to the core of his artistry. Even at his highest moments of success, Lil Baby sings the blues.
On the first of the two singles, “On Me,” early on Baby spews the lyrics, “Know some people hate that I’m on top / I bulletproof the car.” Baby’s paranoia has stuck with him from the streets where he was raised, to a turn for the better at the absolute peak of the rap game. His tone has remained consistent from the come-up to his success with his signature vulnerable yet self-assured timbre.
On this new single, he croons about the need for relief from a woman from the constant swirling of regret and fear in his mind. To transition into the hook, Baby sings, “I’m a human / I’m not pеrfect, I know sometimes I bе wrong / I’m like, ‘Come and put that pussy on me.” Call him Baby Lee Hooker or Baby B King as he vocally warbles his thoughts and needs unabashedly over Evrgrn and Section 8 beats. They are his version of the blues legends rambling guitar strums.
The real standout of the singles, however, is the second, “Errbody,” which changes up the energy and pace. The urgency Baby exudes seems to parallel an overwhelming lifestyle that somehow he thrives in. The whole song sounds like a vented expression of sequential events and thoughts that take over Baby’s mind and brings you directly inside his psyche.
The song builds momentum as Baby lists an array of various accomplishments and responsibilities he holds dear. However, throughout the three verses, there are little fluttering moments of grounded reflection of the troublesome circumstance that he came from and those he cares for are still going through.
In the second verse, Baby raps, “My brother in prison in Polo / I jumped in the game and went loco.” In such a simple line, you get a real insight into the energy that creates such a captivating soundscape. While in the back of his mind, Baby worries of a brother trapped in the criminal justice system, he has hopped into the whirlwind of life as an elite rap star that simultaneously numbs his hurt through pace, yet will provide him the means to support those still confined to the world he’s only physically escaped.
These two singles are an extension of the already chart-topping 2020 album My Turn, which has cemented Baby as one of rap’s top voices. The blues seem to stay lodged into his personal and musical soul regardless of the new world he has built. Here and moving forward, it appears that because of this bond to the sonic agony, he will always connect with the world.