How long can you last into each song before pressing skip?
After reviewing Da Baby's Kirk last year, I was certain I would never have to cover another Da Baby album again, but one slow music week, and here I am.
Rather than try and scrape together a review out of 10 quarantine filler tracks, this article will attempt to do something of purpose by gauging how tolerable or intolerable each track is.
How it works: The structure will follow that of a track-by-track review, but instead of reviews and scores, each track will receive a timestamp and an explanation.
The timestamps represent the moment when the song became intolerable. Each timestamp will be explained, and if no timestamp occurs, an actual track review will take its place.
At the end of every track the timestamps will be added up, and the total time Blame It On Baby Deluxe was tolerable will serve as its "score". Songs with no timestamp will have its full runtime counted.
BILLBOARD BABY
0:10 : Da Baby didn't even start rapping yet. It took 10 seconds for me to stop the music and look to the sky.
His pre-rap talking was enough for me to know this song/deluxe will not be a fun experience.
"I said I really ain't wanna do the deluxe thing, man, but you know, I'm ready to put out some, some new-new, show these niggas what I do-do."
PRACTICE
Maybe it was the laid back drums hinting at a hard drop later on, or maybe it was Da Baby rapping about something somewhat interesting, but this track kept my attention throughout.
No matter your opinion on Da Baby's music, it's indisputable that he is one of the hottest artists in the world, so hearing him rap lines like "the industry can't take the hood out of me" and "number one song on Billboard, he still got a Glock with him" points toward an engaging subject only he and a few other rappers could authentically touch on.
PEEPHOLE
1:30 : Between the hook, his first verse, and the creative J. Cole "Neighbors" interpolation, Da Baby almost had me locked in for back-to-back tracks.
Then he started verse two.
The verse sums up my biggest gripe with Da Baby; it's lazy.
After a descriptive first verse in which he pulled off clever lines like "I had the AC on, every winter, young nigga had the burner in his coat", Da Baby follows it up with a punch-in, freestyled verse filled with a bunch of nothing like "we be eatin' healthy on the low, she made a salad".
Then, after giving the listener one meaningless bar after another, he ends the verse with police brutality commentary.
BLIND (feat. Young Thug)
0:30 : I give credit where credit is due, and Da Baby deserves credit for his hooks.
"I just got the key, they let me in, no ID, doors openin' up for me and now I see, I've been blind for a while now," is as good as a hook can be in explaining the newfound opportunities of going from selling drugs to being one of the hottest rappers in the world.
But just as I give credit where it's due, I give critique where it's due.
In terms of subject matter, Da Baby has little left in the tank.
This is the fourth track on the deluxe, and it's the fourth time where ranking high on the charts was one of his main rapping points. Just look at the name of the first song.
With such little left to rap about, lines like "tomatoes, mustard, mayonnaise, nigga better catch up, catch up, catch up, catch up" are bound to slip in and make listening intolerable.
NO DRIBBLE (feat. Stunna 4 Vegas)
A Da Baby collab album with another rapper would probably be the best project of his career, strictly due to the limited opportunities for Da Baby's weaknesses to show.
When Da Baby is contained to one verse or one verse and a hook, his performance quality seems to be consistently higher than his solo performances.
His one verse on "No Dribble" isn't wowing like his one verse on Dreamville's "Under the Sun", but it is tolerable. Again, he struggles with content, as he resorts to repetition four times to get him through the verse, but even without much to say, the verse is engaging because it's Da Baby having fun with little responsibility.
The verse probably wouldn't be received as well if I knew another empty verse was coming later from him.
GO
Insert Mike Lowrey "Now that's how you supposed to drive! From now on, that's how you drive," video. That's how you rap Da Baby! From now on, that's how you rap!
Da Baby switches his flow several times, addresses and confirms the DaniLeigh rumors, and drops gems like "Put the alphabet on him, put the AR on him, put the F&N on him" and "Not tryna re-sign but they tryna re-sign me (Go), I hope you not offended, shit, but I'm not really interested, you don't like taking chances, but you reaping all the benefits".
The one verse and no hook structure of the song suggest this performance probably isn't replicable, but it was a nice showing of what could be from Da Baby.
TROUBLE
0:45 : I tried to ignore the singing hook and the fact that this song is a hypothetical, but four lines into the verse, I can't put myself through the rest.
Hypotheticals are a good creative outlet if there's nothing to talk about, which is Da Baby's exact predicament, but this hypothetical just isn't good from Da Baby.
For example, compare this song to the similar hypothetical Kendrick Lamar uses on Lil Wayne's "Mona Lisa". The delivery and descriptions are miles apart, and it's those aspects that make the listener want to replay "Mona Lisa" and skip "TROUBLE".
CALL IT EVEN
Shoutout Quay Global for making this song tolerable. The track isn't even a minute-and-a-half, and it sounds like a demo, further proving my point that Da Baby is running on E in the content department.
The short production and runtime make it tolerable.
TLC (feat. Gunna)
Revisit the "NO DRIBBLE" section of the article.
GO FIRST (Stunna 4 Vegas & Rich Dunk)
0:20 : Oh, it's one of those songs where every rapper goes back-and-forth and plays off the other rapper's last bar?
Yeah, no. Cut the deluxe...deadass.
Score: 14 minutes and 42 seconds of tolerable music
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