So when Baby raps, “I can’t lie like I don’t rap about killing and dope, but I’m telling my youngins to vote/I did what I did ’cause I didn’t have no choice or no hope,” it’s as if he’s hedging his bet, in fear that many will render this moment inauthentic.
Unfortunately, this often means that the popular perception of Baby’s arc is usually confined to being another trap rapper, instead of the nuanced and dexterous lyricist he’s shown signs of his entire career. As a storyteller, Baby’s main talent has always been his avoidance of obfuscation in favor of a direct address. That reality colors his narrative, whether it be the glee of newly-acquired opulence and the hope it provides (“Drip Too Hard,” “Pure Cocaine”), or the emotional low points of being a famous rapper who is tired of being tired (“Emotionally Scarred,” “Close Friends”). By Baby’s own admission, if Young Thug hadn’t paid him to rap, he’d likely still be in the streets. For three years, the Quality Control rapper carved out a viewpoint that was workman-like in nature. In form but not style, Baby is part of a lineage of Atlanta solo stars (T.I., Future, Ludacris) who become a time capsule for everything the city is, lacks, and can be. But of all the feelings Lil Baby exorcises on the track, it’s trepidation and fear that colors “The Bigger Picture.” In verse, he’s both angry and confused - “I find it crazy the police will shoot you and know that you dead but still tell you to freeze” - trying to make sense of what millions of Americans are struggling to come to grips with. According to Lil Baby’s Instagram and his representatives, proceeds from “The Bigger Picture” will go to The National Association of Black Journalists, Breonna Taylor’s attorney, The Bail Project, and Black Lives Matter.įor over four minutes and three verses, Baby raps like a torrent, sprinting across the beat as he tries to come to grips with the weeks-long protests calling for justice after the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless others. Produced by Section 8 and Noah, the song begins with morose keys, a soundbite pulled from the news detailing the Minneapolis protest, and chants from those who took to the streets. “The Bigger Picture,” the rapper’s latest single, exists somewhere between open rage and pleading urgency. Peering at the listener behind a “No Justice, No Peace” face mask and wearing a Black Lives Matter t-shirt, the Atlanta rapper reintroduced himself to a world that, as of late, he’s already begun to conquer. “You got the feeling that Lil Baby is loved across this city.On Friday morning, Lil Baby caught many by surprise.
I kept hearing people say, ‘He’s a real one,’ ” she says. “It meant a lot for people to see him there. “It was a surreal feeling of being somewhere that felt like heavy, hallowed ground,” says Catriona Ni Aolain, Rolling Stone’s director of creative content. When Baby showed up in his all-white Rolls-Royce, he was reticent, but he ended up taking photos and even making a cameo in an amateur rap video. The spot has become a locus of grief and rage. It’s when people realized, ‘This guy has something to say.’ ”įor the cover image, photographer Diwang Valdez shot Lil Baby at locations across Atlanta, including on the street outside the Wendy’s in Peoplestown where Brooks was killed. “ ‘The Bigger Picture’ is when everybody caught on to the fact that he has a consciousness people weren’t sure of before. Cole had been trying to sum up the moment, but Lil Baby really hit it,” says Holmes.
Holmes was early to recognize Lil Baby’s potential and places him in a lineage of iconoclastic Atlanta rappers that started with Outkast and includes T.I., Young Jeezy, and Future. And it was at a point where I felt I needed to say something.” “I just rap about my life,” he tells Holmes. The track gets its power from real-life experience: Baby started out as a local drug dealer, experienced horrific police violence, and spent roughly two years in prison before turning to music in 2017. The song, which has been streamed more than 100 million times, has become a defining commentary on the Black Lives Matter movement, and catapulted Baby to a new level of fame. “But it also felt like the right time to visit Lil Baby.” The Atlanta rapper’s latest song, “ The Bigger Picture,” describes in urgent, personal rhymes the fear, pain, and “wicked” system of police brutality that led to this moment. “It was an intense time to be there,” says Holmes. When Charles Holmes traveled to Atlanta on June 27th t o interview Lil Baby for the August magazine cover story, the city was still raging over the police killing of Rayshard Brooks outside a local Wendy’s and reeling from a new escalation in coronavirus cases, with a record 10,284 reported across Georgia that week.
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