dababy – The Concordian

DaBaby has canonized himself in the game faster than he starts rapping on any song off of KIRK

“Straight off the rip, you know I don’t wait for no drop,” raps DaBaby on “OFF THE RIP.” It’s a running joke that he never waits more than a few seconds into the track to go in, and during a white-hot 2019, DaBaby has canonized himself in the game faster than he starts rapping on any song off of KIRK.

After his tape Baby On Baby birthed the hit Suge earlier this year, DaBaby’s phone has been ringing off the hook for a feature. Derided by some for making the same song over and over again, DaBaby’s eagerness combined with his undeniable rap ability and the fact that this album has at least three different song formulas means that the Charlotte MC is only on his way up.

On KIRK, DaBaby reminisces about his father who recently passed. Not all of DaBaby’s lines or flows hit as hard as they could, but if you’re bored by any particular moment, you can count on him switching it up before you have time to think about it. Complete with appearances from Migos (sounds like Migos feat. DaBaby), co-baby rapper Lil Baby, and an Acid-Rap loosie of a Chance The Preacher feature, among others. While the songs run together at times, it is clearly more diverse and polished than Baby On Baby, and is a show of momentum that promises DaBaby will take much longer to fade than he did to come up.

7.5/10

Trial Track: BOP

Star Bar: And I still got a lotta shit on my mind that I can’t undecide/

Got me ready to slide, feelin’ like Doughboy when his brother died – DaBaby on INTRO

Charlotte, NC native and recent Interscope signee DaBaby dropped an album that sounds like he’s late for something and doesn’t have time to record, but his haste gives the project life. His urgency in spitting and singing catchy hooks builds purely infectious energy. Beats are fun, jittery and simple. Baby’s charisma shines while showing that he has no time to build a pattern and break it. Every song structure is so fleeting that it’s hard to get bored track-to-track, even though each one is almost tonally identical. While the freshness is satisfying, it doesn’t give any single cut a chance to shine. Songs featuring Offset and Rich the Kid, among others, dot the tracklist of this solid introduction to DaBaby’s frenetic world.

6/10

Trial Track: Tupac

Star Bar: “I’m like the 2Pac of the new shit / A hundred thousand hoes and they like the way I do shit” -DaBaby on “Tupac”