Sada Baby, Baby Goth, Lil Baby – exploring the babyfaced gangster and society’s lurch towards infantilism
Mark your calendars, update your
Google docs, check it off in your Notes app: 2019 is the year that rap has reached Peak Baby. Over the past few years, hip-hop has seen an influx of artists with the word “baby” in their names. This year’s biggest babies are DaBaby – whose album, Baby on Baby has the track Goin Baby – and Lil Baby, who raps “wah wah wah, bitch I’m the Baby” on his Drake-featuring breakout hit Yes Indeed. Then there is Sada Baby, SahBabii, Baby Soulja, Baby Keem, Baby E and BBG Baby Joe. Female babies include BbyMutha, Baby Goth, Yung Baby Tate and Bali Baby. And don’t forget the “Cash me outside” meme turned quite good rapper Bhad Bhabie and the Putin-bothering
Russian star Big Baby Tape.
We officially reached peak baby on 17 July this year, when Lil Baby and DaBaby released a track called – you guessed it – Baby, on which they rap: “Baby hang with four or five killers / Baby got children / Baby probably still drug dealin’”. Can someone report this nursery to Ofsted?