Coronavirus Sucks.  Quarantine sucks.  Everything about 2020 seems to suck.  While we were all cooped up inside, DaBaby came to the rescue with a surprise album, Blame It On Baby.  Smack dab in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, DaBaby struck when the iron was hot and hit us with his third album in only 13 months . Rocking a facemask on the cover art, the fast-moving rapper drops 13 new tracks hot off the press combining street anthems, comedy, satire, aggressive rhymes, and charismatic flows. Let’s jump into a few of the highlights.

The same way he burst onto the hip-hop scene, DaBaby comes out swinging on the intro track, “Can’t Stop”. Feeling himself, DaBaby flexes and brags, “Bitches call me a cutie, I'm groovy. My daughter took care of forever off music (Muah).”  This song is packed with back to back rapid-fire verses held together with a slickly repetitive hook.  Early fans of DaBaby will like how he started this project – true to his original sound.

Next up is the second track titled “Pick Up” (featuring Quavo).  First off, DJ Kid absolutely kills this song.  It is by far my favorite piece of production on the album.  Once that slow dreamy trap beat hit, I knew DaBaby was gonna kill it.  He emerges and simply drips and oozes swagger on this beat, throwing sown a few similes at us like, “Bread on your head, bitch, I'm Jiffy. Fuck around, drop a movie on niggas like 50”.  While I appreciate him for tossing these little nuggets in there, it’s really his effortless flow that drives the song home.  With an equal level of swagger, Quavo slid right in and offered up a verse of his signature adlib-infected flow.  These days, the features tend to carry the success of many songs, but in this instance, DaBaby held his own on the whole thing and gave us Quavo as nothing more than an added bonus.

The track “Nasty” starts off like typical X-rated joint for the hoodrats.  It has a sinful vibe and is reminiscent of one of those lustful flings from your past.  But things take an unexpected twist when Ashanti makes an appearance on the hook assisted by Megan Thee Stallion.  DaBaby and I were both born in 1991 so we grew up on the same era of hip hop in the late 1990s and early 2000s.  I remember when Ashanti was dropping duets with the likes of Fat Joe and Ja Rule.  Rising in the ranks of hip-hop royalty, DaBaby finally lands an Ashanti feature of his own, bringing a classic 90s feel to the song.  Even better, he also enlists Megan Thee Stallion for a verse, who is also on her own path to superstardom to eventually go down in hip hop history amongst names such as Trina and Lil Kim. To his pleasure (or displeasure, depending how you look at it), Ashanti even teases DaBaby on the outro, “He mesmerized, tattooed in his mind, he won't forget.  DaBaby tryna have a threesome with 'Shanti and Megan, ayy”.

Snugly packed into 33 minutes and 14 seconds, DaBaby delivers for all intensive purposes a solid project.  A couple of other notable mentions are “Rockstar” (featuring Roddy Rich), “Champion”, and the outro track titled “Amazing Grace”.  I can’t say I’m anything less than impressed with this album.  The Charlotte rapper delivers the same quality and displays the same hunger he did when he came out with Suge  a little over a year ago.  For a rapper to be this consistent and this hardworking; dropping his third album in his 13-month young career, I’m eager to see where he goes from here.  If you enjoyed the first two albums, give this one a listen.  You’re in for a treat.

PS – Check out the music video for “Jump” (featuring YoungBoy NeverBrokeAgain) below. I find it hilariously prophetic how DaBaby sanitizes a reporter with Windex during the intro, weeks before President Trump’s clash with the media over his comments about disinfectants.

As always, rock on my friends!     Hunnypot Approved!     Overall Rating:  9.0 out of 10

Artist:  DaBaby,  LP: Blame It On Baby,   Release Date: April 17th, 2020,   Label: South Coast Music Group