Charismatic, confident Atlanta-bred rapper
Lil Baby quickly rose to fame after he launched his career in 2017. Following a series of mixtapes, his popularity exploded in 2018, the year he released his first proper album,
Harder Than Ever (which included the
Drake-featuring hit "Yes Indeed"), and
Drip Harder (a collaborative mixtape with
Gunna), both of which entered the Top Ten of the Billboard 200. He topped the chart in 2020 with second studio album
My Turn and again the next year with
The Voice of the Heroes, a collaborative studio effort with
Lil Durk.
Lil Baby was born Dominique Jones in Atlanta in 1994. He grew up hanging with friends like
Young Thug,
Coach K, and Pee, leaning more toward a life of petty crime and street hustling while his friends went on to thrive in the music industry. In 2015, at age 19,
Lil Baby went to prison for two years for a probation violation. Upon his release in 2017, he jump-started his rap career with a mixtape called
Perfect Timing, released in April of that year. The mixtape featured cameos from friends like
Lil Yachty,
Young Thug, and
Gunna, and strong production from
808 Mafia,
Brickz, and many others, highlighted by
Lil Baby's woozy flows. The mixtape immediately brought the young rapper fame, in part due to his affiliations with friends in the Quality Control family of artists as well as the 4 Pockets Full clique.
As his mixtape attracted more listeners,
Lil Baby worked constantly on new music, releasing singles like "My Dawg" and the
Young Thug collaboration "Pink Slip" in the summer of 2017. Other releases that year included
Harder Than Hard,
2 the Hard Way (with
Marlo), and
Too Hard.
Lil Baby's debut studio album,
Harder Than Ever, appeared in May 2018. Featuring guest appearances from
Drake,
Offset,
Lil Uzi Vert, and others, the release entered the Billboard 200 album chart at number three. The rapper's success continued with
Drip Harder, a collaborative mixtape with
Gunna that was released that October and reached number four on the Billboard 200. Yet another mixtape,
Street Gossip, appeared in November 2018. 2019 saw
Lil Baby starring in the film How High 2 and releasing a handful of singles including the
Future collaboration "Out the Mud."
Preceded by "Woah" and "Sum 2 Prove," his second studio album,
My Turn, arrived in February 2020 and went straight to number one. Later that year,
Lil Baby issued a pair of singles, "On Me" and "Errbody." That June, he released "The Bigger Picture," a protest song responding to police violence and systemic racism. The song entered the Billboard singles chart at number three and was nominated for two Grammys: Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance.
Lil Baby also performed the song live at the Grammy ceremonies that year. In March 2021,
Lil Baby appeared as a featured artist on
Drake's single "Wants and Needs." The song debuted in the number two position on the Hot 100, making it
Lil Baby's highest-charting track up until that point. In June of that year,
Lil Baby teamed up with
Lil Durk for collaborative album
The Voice of the Heroes. The project featured guest appearances from
Rod Wave,
Meek Mill,
Young Thug, and
Travis Scott and debuted at number one. In early 2022, he paired with
Nicki Minaj for the singles "Do We Have a Problem?" and "Bussin." ~ Fred Thomas