Untrapped: The Story of Lil Baby (2022) - full transcript

I dreamed about this shit as a kid.

I could zone out for hours
and just be in a fairyland.

I'm-a be a real millionaire.

Like...

boss, like, take care of everybody,
the leader.

That's what I was aiming for.

I ain't know how.

Man, ain't no telling what I would've did.

But I was gonna get there.

No matter what.

It's crazy 'cause we seen...
we seen the growth.



It's not like you came up wanting to rap.

If you wasn't rapping,
what would you be doing?

One foot in the street

and one foot trying to learn music.

Rapping is something that's new for you,

and now you in this industry.

You got all these meetings.

You got to show up.
You got to do these interviews.

I don't think people realize
how much work you've put in, right?

When you're on such a run...

In the last two years, we're putting out

hit after hit.

Here with the song "Yes Indeed," Lil Baby!

You come from a certain environment...



and now you a mega rap star.

An artist with the number one
album in the world.

Those numbers are impressive, man.

Do those numbers
kind of trip you out, though?

And the BET Award goes to

Lil Baby.

Do you know why that is?
Do you know why you blew up quickly?

- Do you think about it?
- Do you feel like

going forward,
you still gonna always feel like

you got something to prove?

Your breakthrough
come from your sacrifice.

Baby's coming down. Speed cameras.

Them dreams I had...

it was like something
that could actually be real.

Papa? Papa, you here?

- Papa?
- Papa?

Papa, where you at, Papa?

Dada?

- Dada? Dada?
- Dada? Dada?

Papa?

I'm not leaving you.

I'm not leaving you.

I'm not leaving you. I'm not leaving you.

I'm not leaving you.

I'm not leaving you. I'm not leaving you.

Open. Say "open."

Say "open."

Say "open."

"Thank you."

- It's cold out there.
- Cold. I know it.

Gonna have to put on
like two layers of clothes.

Two layers of...?!

Are you serious?

Let's go get layered up.

Did you just say
I got to put two pants on,

two shirts, two jackets?

- Yep.
- What?!

Family more important to me than anything.

I don't never see me leaving my kids.

Like, I don't want to be no holiday dad

and I just talk to you.

Put your jacket on.

My dad kind of stayed out of town.

He was like, uh, I see him
every now and then,

couple times a year.

I can't really say to this day
the situation him and my mama had,

so I don't just have that
father-son relationship that I would want.

Or I feel like that I should've had.

You're too big to fit in this.

My son ask me stuff like that, like,

"You used to do this with your daddy?"

And my answer's like, "No."

I really want him
to understand that, like,

everybody don't be having that growing up.

I ain't have it.

Turn the wheel.

- Huh?
- Turn the wheel.

He a hell of a five-year-old.

Hey, pull up.
We'll try it all day tomorrow.

So, in the morning,
you'll get it faster and faster?

Come on. Yep.

I want it faster, faster,
faster, faster, faster.

You want it to be a little bit faster?

No, I want it to be fast fast.

He tell me that,
"I want to do everything you do."

Hit the brake, hit the brake,
hit the brake.

He like, "I want to do what you do."

And that means the most to me. Like...

I take that shit serious.

I thought I was gone, boy.

Thought I was gone!

I got so long to go with him

that I got to be on my shit, you feel me?

I could fuck up and he could be like me.

All right, Dominique!

- Look at me go!
- You having a merry Christmas?

You having a merry Christmas?

I'm having a good merry Christmas.

Ooh, you go, boy. Uh-oh.

- Merry Christmas.
- You go, boy. Merry Christmas.

What's your name?

- Dominique Armani Jones.
- Dominique Armani Jones?

His teacher once told me, she said,

"Dominique hasn't been
in my class in 60 days.

"I gave a test. He show up.

He the only one passed this."

And that was economics.

Very smart.

Genius, basically.

Do you have any siblings?

- Deja. You know her, don't you?
- I sure do.

Oh, you know how old Deja is.

Oh, Deja's 11!

All right, that's a blessing.

Oh...

But me eight, oh, Lord.

- You eight?
- I mean...

- Oh, my goodness.
- Michelle is... I mean...

- Nine.
- Michelle is nine.

- Oh, okay.
- Excuse me.

You ain't in my conversation.

- And how old are you?
- Let's pull the curtains down.

- Dominique?
- Hello.

And I'm seven years old!

- And I am a...
- Put that, uh, thing back, honey.

Muscle man!

Me, him and his sisters
have always been close.

It's always been the four of us.

Well, I was really just
struggling with them

and just being a single parent.

What are your parents' names?

Well, I really don't, you know...

Oh, Lord, don't tell me no...

have any.

- Because, you know...
- Put that down.

Times tough.
My mother broke up with my father.

When he left me, he left them.

That's basically how it went.

Oh, Dominique,

don't cry.

Don't cry, Dominique.

Growing up,

I ain't have the picket fence
and the silver spoon.

My mama was a single parent.

A lot of times, she couldn't afford
to pay our rent, so we got evicted.

So we just got to, like,
try to make ends meet.

My name is Maurice Hobson.

I am a political historian,
a civil rights historian

and Atlanta scholar.

Black people are not monolithic.

There are all kinds of Black folk
who have all different ideas and values,

but the one thing that Black people,

and particularly Black people
in the American South,

all share is that oppression
has been overwhelming.

Locally, it was
the city of Atlanta's big day.

On September 18, 1990,

Atlanta, Georgia, is chosen
to host the 1996 Olympic Games.

Atlanta.

Once Atlanta wins the bid,

the city has to be franchised
for world consumption.

They have to do an infrastructure shift.

Leading up to this,
the city administration

creates a militarized police force
called the Red Dog police

to clean the city up
for the Olympic Games.

And it is a war that attacks
Black people and brown people.

Federal funding for housing
was cut by 75%,

and we see ordinances that are passed

that disfranchised
and displaced poor people.

They could call for
the demolition of the housing project

and relocation of the residents elsewhere.

Why should they tear it down
just for three weeks for the Olympics?

Put all these people out of housing
just for the Olympics?

Walls that are built on the side

of the interstate so that
the poverty could not be seen,

because it was important
for Atlanta to be seen

in a particular kind of way in the world.

While Atlanta does play a role in being

a place where Black people
have been successful,

it also has been a place that has...

been somewhat damaging
to it-its poor people.

And one of the major communities
that sees this is the West End.

Oh, Dominique, put your coat on.

If you're born in this city
and you're born poor

or if you live in one of the neighborhoods
that has been destitute

or been starved out,

it's been difficult for you
to move forward.

What Atlanta is
overwhelmingly known for is,

if a child is born in poverty
in this city,

most likely they'll remain
in poverty their whole life.

Go!

I'm it, y'all.

Everybody, clap your hands!

If I wasn't stressing money,

I'd probably be in college,
had got a great job type of shit.

But it's like money the root of all evil.

That's what deterred me.

All the dudes who I hung with,

they way older than me.

At the time, I'm 15,

maybe they 23, 24, so I'm really a baby.

Hey, hold up!

Y'all ain't gonna cheat me. Hell nah!

- How y'all been playing?
- Hey, not so loud.

How y'all been playing?
How y'all been playing?

I really ain't have
nobody to hang with but them.

Like, them was the only niggas around.

Dudes who was my age,
all them went to jail

or dead or some other shit.

I just started being Lil Baby, like,
"You the little baby out the crew."

What the fuck you talking about?!

We ain't down with
a motherfucking rat, nigga!

He started even looking up to
the drug dealers because it's the streets.

"I could be making some money."

I think that was his process.

They ain't on no bullshit.

They like grown men
handling they business,

so it's like I had to get on
what they was on.

I started hanging around them.
I started wanting to hustle.

They was hustlers.

They took me in.

Y'all see what's going on.
Shit, y'all see...

This-this the hood.

Niggas done made it out of poverty

- round this motherfucker.
- Yeah.

Straight up, though.

Straight up.

Y'all got my mic good right here
and get what I say.

Baby used to come spend
the night over here, too, man.

Like we say, we-we all kind of,
like, hustled out of here,

spent the night, you know what I'm saying,
grew up here.

A lot of stuff went down right here,
all type of things.

Feel what I'm saying, man?

But it's basically
where everything started.

I mean, trying to get out of poverty

always hard when you don't know
the best way.

This was our best way,
you know what I'm saying,

of being an entrepreneur was,
you know what I'm saying,

try to get us some money.

When Baby hopped out when he was 15, 16,

it's like, he had to pay bills, basically.

He ain't... he-he really ain't
have the chance

to kind of, like, be a kid almost.

He was just like...
He had to provide for his family.

That's... basically, that's all
we was trying to do, provide.

Without money,
who is a person without money?

In this society right now,
how long would it take a person

who going to work to accumulate
10,000 in profit money?

How long would it take you to make 10,000?

Lil Baby might be walking around
with 10,000 on him,

going to school, eighth, ninth grade.

That's what I'm telling you.
It got that serious.

I always knew him, though.

I always knew him from, like,
probably like ten, 11 years old.

We went to different schools,
but we... I used to... we used to, like,

skip school and go to each other's schools
and shit, you know what I'm saying?

And it was like, well, we just started
hanging like, "This my brother."

He was always the guy
that everybody loved.

Always, from a kid to now.

He was always verified
'cause he always kept good business.

He always did everything the right way.

He a real hustler.

He always was a money getter.

So with or without rap,
he was gonna get some money.

Like, he was fucking up
millions of dollars

before he made one song.

He was fucking up millions of dollars.

I never wanted to be a rapper.

I was already young
and turnt in the streets.

I just knew I had it all figured out.

I felt like I already made it.

I had money, girls, cars.

I was at the top of the top.

I was having a blast.

But shit was starting to get crazy.

We had a lot of fucking serious moments.

He ain't used to like to talk to me 'cause

I'm-a talk to his ass
for two hours on the phone,

and I'm-a tell him what he do wrong like,
"Nigga, you doing dickhead shit.

You stupid."

But he never listened to nobody.

He was gonna get some money,
no matter what.

I always was mad at him like,
"Nigga, listen.

"Nothing come out of what you doing
but prison or death.

"Nothing else.

It's no such thing as you made it
with the way you doing it."

You ever heard of the saying
"make you or break you"?

Like, it's either gonna
make you or break you.

And meaning, like, make you,
make you into something

or break you down.

You have to be strong
to just sit in this motherfucker.

Just sit here.

And niggas yelling.

He banging on the door.
He running around. He...

It's a whole nother world.

In prison, you spend a lot of time alone.

You have a whole lot of time
to think about

what's going on around you.

America has a system in place.

It doesn't matter whether
or not they were deprived as a youth.

It doesn't matter whether or not
they had no background

that enabled them to become socialized

into the fabric of society.

It doesn't matter whether or not
they're the victims of society.

And the system's been around
for a long, long time.

And it's designed for us to fail.

They must be taken off the street.

I ain't want to be there, period,

but I had to be there,
but I won't let my mind be there.

And my body a lot of places
that my mind never go.

I force myself to do that.

For good and for bad.

And I learned that the most in prison.

All right, appreciate it, bruh.

I'm Pierre Thomas.

Everybody call me P.

I'm the CEO of Quality Control Music.

I'm from the Southwest side of Atlanta.

Baby was already like family.

We already knew each other.

We been around each other
since he was like 15.

I know Baby from walking in trap houses,

and...

he was in there...

with things I can't speak about.

It's like a jungle
out there in them streets.

When I was coming up, you know,
when you come out your door,

the person that you see with a nice car
is a, is a drug dealer.

When you poor,
people can't even afford to, like,

go travel and go see the world
or whatever,

so your neighborhood...
That's really your world.

And if the only people you see
that have money or nice things

is the drug dealers, then that's...

It's just natural that that's
what you gonna look up to.

I been there.

I done that.

I survived that.

Everybody around me like,

"Yo, bro, you want to see
your kids grow up.

You want to grow old."

So I was trying to get
in the music business

as a way to just try
to get out of the streets,

you know what I'm saying,
get away from that life.

I started the label
along with my partner Coach K.

Coach K.

I'm cofounder of Quality Control Music.

I managed Gucci Mane.

Before that, Jeezy.

Me and P got together.

When we started this company,
we was dreaming really big.

Our first act was the Migos.

Soon as we signed them, we went right in.

What's up, man? It Quavo's time, man.

During that time, man,
we was really creating history.

How many number one singles
y'all got now? As QC?

I mean, Quality Control is culture.

That's kind of the philosophy, man.

It's like, originality

and there's a story attached to that.

Kind of have, like,
a-a little secret sauce

or kind of like a program.

Find talent,
the diamond in the rough talent,

and develop it to become
some of the biggest artists.

If I just see the potential in them,

then we can develop it.

It's the smallest things
that catches us, you know.

It's like we can see a star
before it shines.

Baby was always around.

He used to hang at the studio every day.

He just wasn't no artist.

Oh, you can keep going.

I know that shit ain't gonna never go in.

When you get out, just come up here,

you know what I'm saying?

That nigga can't hit it from the front.

Put your money down, dawg.

- I bet a hundred.
- Whatever.

"Just pop up on us

when you get out."

That's what he did.

Hey!

He was young, but he moved like a O.G.

He caught my eye.

He's like, "You'll just see
a nigga just do one move",

"and it's like,
'Okay, you're a superstar.'

You just... you know."

Lil Baby's naturally different.

In all his Instagram posts, he used to...

All his captions and shit used to be fire.

I'm like, "Damn, this hard.
Who said this?"

I done called him before like,
"Hey, who the hell said this?

Wh-Where-where that caption come from?"

He like, "I just thought of it."

He could just write a song

with just fucking 60 captions,
just all captions.

That's a song.

I was like, "Man, Baby,
you need to rap, bro."

He was like, "Man, you crazy.
I'm a street nigga, man."

I don't... um, I don't do
none of that shit."

I said, "For real, man." I said, "Bruh."

I said, "You respected around the city."

"Most of the rappers, you know,

"the street guys is really
who they look up to.

"I don't know why you won't do it.

"Most of these guys telling your story.

You know, your story real."

He just laughed.

Just think if he rapped and

it didn't work.

Now your street credibility's fucked-up.

He was so respected as a dope boy,

as a street cat,
he didn't want to tarnish that.

It's hard to tell somebody

to stop making money, right-now money.

You know, you still got to pay bills.

You still got family.

I ain't want to see him just

get caught back up
and go back to prison, you know?

I used to pay this nigga
to goddamn stay out of the streets.

"Nigga, you can have my money.
Just relax."

I really will sacrifice anything
because I see that it can happen.

"What you finna make today?
20,000? Okay, here.

"20,000. You don't even owe me.

Hey, go home."
I used to tell him to go home.

"You don't even got to go
to the studio," like.

I'm like, "Okay, you don't got to rap.
Here, bruh, go home."

Get the fuck out of the block, bro.
Go chill with your son, nigga."

He could've said,
"Give me a million dollars,"

I would've gave it to him
to stay out the street.

It's a cycle.

You go to jail, you get out,
but you keep hustling

because you don't know nothing else.

You are recording.

- The red light's on.
- Yeah.

When they call that shit a trap,
that shit really a trap.

All right, on your mark!

Your mind trapped,
your brain trapped, your body trapped.

You in a trap.

Get set!

Not knowing it's a whole
nother world only two streets over.

Go!

You don't know. I ain't know.

- Come on, Dominique!
- Come on, Dominique! -

I couldn't go back to prison.

I had to at least try.

When I first tried rapping,
I didn't know what I was doing.

I was self-conscious.

Then I started playing around
in the studio

with my buddy Marlo.

Marlo was also in the streets,
and he was trying to rap, too,

so it gave me a better sense of direction.

Marlo.

Come on.

♪ See my dawg brain laying on the street ♪

Play, play the whole verse over.

♪ That shit scarred me ♪

♪ See my dawg's brain
laying on the street ♪

♪ That shit scarred me ♪
Come on.

♪ See my dawg brain laying ♪

♪ See my dawg's brain
laying on the street ♪

♪ That shit scarred me ♪

I made my first song with Marlo.

Keep that.

Play it. Let me know how it sounds.

It was kind of hard,
so that's why I kept rapping.

Marlo was a big influence on me rapping.

♪ And kept them real niggas around me ♪

♪ I remember sitting
right there on the block ♪

♪ And I remember
nights I couldn't get right ♪

♪ I remember shit wasn't adding up ♪

♪ I remember having my pistol tucked ♪

♪ When 12 ride by... ♪

Instantly, I started brainstorming.

Marlo was running with Baby.

Him and Baby was cool.

If this his partner
and he trying to rap, too,

then I could just push them together.

So I just told Marlo, I was like,
"Yo, I'll sign you, too."

You know, this shit working for me,

and I'm sort of figuring it out,
so let me, let me empower them.

Let me show them how to get in this game.

Once Baby decided he wanted to rap,

it was like the perfect storm for P,

'cause P was like, "Oh,
I'm ready to put everything into you."

Like, I know Baby.

We done been through
some things before music,

so it was personal to me.

A very full flight today.

We do appreciate your cooperation.

Your flight to LaGuardia, New York.
Once again...

I'm in this grind with y'all.

I got to do what I got to do
to get this dude.

You know, I'm trying to break this dude.

This ain't no one-hit-wonder shit.
These niggas gon' keep coming.

First floor.

What up, B? Nice to meet you.

I know you 'bout to be the next big thing,
so I got to...

I said, I'm hands-on with this.

I said, I'm-I'm on the ground with this.

I'm personally touching this.

Lil Baby, do you see this email?

You don't even understand how big this is.

Morning, everybody!

It's DJ Envy, Angela Yee,
Charlamagne tha God.

We are The Breakfast Club.

We got some special guests
in the building!

My name is, uh, Lenard McKelvey,

professionally known as
Charlamagne tha God.

Charlamagne tha God interview, take one.

Soft stick, mark.

The Breakfast Club is just
a nationally syndicated radio show

that comes on in over a hundred markets.

Think we got like 4.5 million
listeners a week or something like that.

Or daily. I don't know.

I just... it's a, it's a,
it's a pretty big deal.

- Jay-Z. Yes.
- Jay-Z, ladies and gentlemen.

Gucci Mane.

- Snoop Dogg!
- What it do?

What's happening, Breakfast Club?

Artists come on Breakfast Club,

immediately their followers
grow on social media,

immediately their streams go up.

People that may not have known
who these individuals were before,

now they gravitate towards them
a little bit more.

A lot of cases, you know,
Breakfast Club is

their first, like,
"mainstream" look, so to speak.

Refreshing wintry vapor

and a ceramic wick for a flavorful...

Two, four.

Come on, man, let me go to sleep.

Get you some rest.
Yeah, I'll get you some rest.

I've been at it.

Baby is closed in.

Like, he's not all on social media.

He don't do a lot of interviews.

Shit, we had to pull...
We have to be pull his...

"Come on," you know, to do interviews

because he-he's just
kind of a private guy.

Ready when you guys are.

- What's up? I'm P.
- And I'm Lil Baby.

Watch me tomorrow morning
on The Breakfast Club

only on Revolt TV.

One more time, just a lot louder, please.

- What's up?
- Absolutely.

Lil Baby, what's happening?

A street nigga transitioning.

You know what I mean?

A brother from the hood,
for real, for real,

who's just making the transition.

He started rapping a year ago.

- Yeah. -CHARLAMAGNE: Why you
didn't want to rap, Lil Baby?

I wasn't really into rap,
you know what I'm saying?

How hard is the transition
from the streets to the, to the,

- to the music industry?
- Super hard.

A lot of stuff I got to do, like,
I don't really care to do, but...

- You got to do it for free.
- Know what I'm saying? I got to do it.

And you do this Breakfast Club interview.

What's the motivation, then?

When you sit him down
in front of a microphone

and you got cameras rolling...

That be the hard part for me.

Like, we got to drive six hours for a show

and I pick up 2,500
on the back end or something.

Somebody might be happy to get on the road
and drive ten hours for 2,500,

but me, I'm like, "Man, I ain't...
I don't want to go."

Appreciate you, bro.

There was a few times in the beginning

it was really difficult.

He was like, "I ain't with this."

I used to be sending Baby out
on promo runs

and, um, you know, just all the stuff

that a-a developing artist got to go do.

He used to be calling me back like,

"Boy, I ain't making no money.
It's three people in the crowd."

Where my
Lil Baby fans at in this motherfucker?

We finna turn this motherfucker up, bro.

Lil Baby in your city right now!

What you say?

♪ I can't be toting no handguns ♪

- ♪ Unless that bitch come with a 30 ♪
- What?

♪ I can't be fucking these dog hoes ♪

♪ Unless that bitch come with a buddy... ♪

I used to be like, "You got to go do this."

"Don't think about money right now.

"Just think about putting yourself
in front of a crowd of people."

"Your breakthrough
come from your sacrifice."

For Baby, the sacrifice was

giving up fast money that you getting
every day in the streets...

for a rap career...

that it ain't guaranteed
you gonna make it.

We make sure we doing that.

That way, when you bringing him out...
Like, if I'm, uh...

if I'm, uh, in the crowd,
I-I'm learning with you.

I say "Lil," y'all say "Baby."

Lil. "Baby." Lil. "Baby."

You know, and then by the time
it's time to bring him out,

- it's already a vibe.
- It's already a vibe.

Some of the stuff I'm-a... I'm-a mute it,
'cause I'm-a let you go over the crowd.

Like, yo.

I got to learn how to talk to the crowd.
I don't talk to the crowd.

- Yeah, that's-that's his problem.
- Like, I don't talk to the crowd.

- Like, he really don't.
- I don't say shit.

And even like, like I told you,
some of the shows

- that is there, he walk off.
- I swear to God I don't say shit.

I get... I walk straight off.

Now, he might be like,
"Thank y'all for coming," and walk off.

Yeah, like, why don't you stay
and talk to them?

They the crowd right there.
Y'all gon' get hype.

- I'm-a talk my shit.
- Go on, talk it.

We gon' run through it.

- So... -You can't be scared,
'cause I'm scared already.

Both of us can't be scared.

When I first walked on the stage,
you can see it in the video.

I froze up. I was like, "Oh, shit."

He was given that opportunity
and took a chance.

♪ Yeah ♪

♪ Yeah, yeah ♪

I remember one night

and he sent me a song.

And I opened it up and I listened to it,

and I was like, "Oh, shit."

He's got the one now."

You ready, Baby?
Put your headphones on, man,

so you can hear what's going on.

Man, we on the radio.
It's about to go down.

- What song is this?
- Gonna be "My Dawg."

- "My Dawg"?
- Yeah, "My Dawg."

♪ Niggas having pressure 'bout a bitch ♪

♪ I got all my cases dismissed ♪

♪ I don't go back and forth
on the Internet ♪

♪ Real niggas don't get into that ♪

♪ I'm trying to get
in her mouth, for real ♪

♪ I'm trying to get in her mouth ♪

♪ Me and my dawgs, me and my dawgs ♪

♪ We trying to run in your house ♪

♪ We want them bricks, we want the money ♪

♪ You can keep all of the pounds ♪

♪ I can't be fucking
these little bitty bitches ♪

♪ 'Cause they be running they mouth ♪

♪ I'm really running H-Town ♪

♪ Franck Muller watch for my wrist ♪

♪ Nother 30,000 in my fit ♪

♪ Codeine all in my piss... ♪

When I made that song,
I knew it was the one.

I was telling people like,
"This gonna be the one. This the song."

It was like he had found his swag,

and you could hear it all in that record.

- ♪ That's my dawg, for sure ♪
- ♪ My dawg ♪

- ♪ That's my dawg ♪
- ♪ My dawg ♪

- ♪ That's my dawg, for sure ♪
- ♪ My dawg ♪

- ♪ That's my dawg ♪
- ♪ My dawg ♪

- ♪ Me and my dawg ♪
- ♪ Me and my dawg ♪

- ♪ We gave 'em two in a row ♪
- ♪ Two in a row ♪

- ♪ Me and my dawg ♪
- ♪ Me and my dawg ♪

- ♪ We gave 'em two in a row ♪
- ♪ Two in a row... ♪

It was a anthem.

If every person can sing it, rap it,
and they feel like that's them,

those are the type of records that go.

♪ Niggas having pressure 'bout a bitch ♪

♪ I got all my cases dismissed ♪

♪ I don't go back and forth
on the Internet ♪

♪ Real niggas don't get into that ♪

♪ I'm trying to get
in her mouth, for real ♪

♪ I'm trying to get in her mouth ♪

♪ Yeah, me and my dawgs, me and my dawgs ♪

♪ We trying to run in your house. ♪

All right, cool.

When Baby was first emerging on the scene

was when I was first becoming
a journalist.

And my boss was like,

"Yo, QC's coming through

"and they're bringing
this artist Lil Baby.

I want you to come down and just say hi."

I spent a couple hours with him.

I guess, put it, like, right in between...

Lil Baby was not media trained.

He was still very, very raw.

Uh, if we could get a little more blue...

But what I will say is that
sometimes the best artists

create stuff that you don't understand.

And Lil Baby was creating art
that I didn't understand.

It was so hyper-local to him
and everything that he was going through.

♪ Shout-out my label, that's me ♪

♪ I'm in this bitch with TB ♪

♪ I'm in this bitch with 4-Trey ♪

♪ I just poured up me an eight ♪

♪ Real nigga all in my face ♪

♪ 500 racks in my safe... ♪

In those first, uh, videos
like "Freestyle" and "My Dawg,"

he's creating this persona
that is distilling

everything that people know
about him in Atlanta:

that's he's-he's
this prolific drug dealer,

that he's this amazing gambler,

that he's respected in the streets.

♪ They ain't my niggas no more ♪

♪ Hold it down for the four,
in the nine with the woes ♪

♪ Marlo my dawg, that's for sure... ♪

And it introduced me to a world that

I knew existed, but the way
he was telling those stories,

I was, I was blown away.

♪ Hardly ever in the city ♪

♪ They just know I'm getting bigger ♪

♪ They just know a nigga busy ♪

♪ I been running up them digits, yeah. ♪

- Yeah, that hard. Yeah.
- Yeah. -

If you look at those mixtapes

that he was doing sequentially,

Baby was not that great of a rapper
on that first mixtape.

And within two to three mixtapes,

he's one of the best rappers in his city,

and soon after that, he's one of

the best rappers in the country.

And that only happens
if you wake up every single day

and you're like, "I'm going to the studio,
and I'm just gonna rap."

He just put in way more raps
than everybody else around him.

♪ When you're rich like this,
you don't check the forecast ♪

♪ Every day, it's gonna rain, yeah ♪

♪ Made a brick through a brick,
I ain't whip up shit ♪

♪ This pure cocaine, yeah ♪

♪ From the streets,
but I got a little sense ♪

♪ But I had to go coupe,
no brain, coupe, no brain ♪

♪ I ain't worried 'bout you,
I'm-a do what I do ♪

♪ And I do my thing, do my thing ♪

♪ Bought her brand-new shoes,
told her... ♪

When you're looking at,
like, the evolution of Baby,

I look at something like "Pure Cocaine."

The rapping that he's doing on that
is so elastic.

He's fighting with the beat.

He's zooming in and out of pockets.

It's amazing.

Listen to, um, "Close Friends."

That's a ballad. That's an R&B ballad.

You could give that song
to any R&B artist.

Would've been a hit.

- ♪ We started off as close friends ♪
- ♪ Close friends ♪

♪ Somehow you turned into my girlfriend ♪

♪ My girlfriend ♪

♪ We used to tell each other everything ♪

♪ Everything ♪

♪ I even went and bought her
diamond rings ♪

♪ Matching earrings... ♪

I'm the type of person,

I always love expecting the unexpected.

The way he was putting out mixtapes
and putting out verses,

I meant that from the way
he was getting better so fast.

Like, y-you could hear it
on "Drip Too Hard."

Yeah, where y'all DJ?

The flow,

the voice, the cadence, the lyrics,

but it was just something happening.

Every time you heard a Lil Baby project,
every time you heard a Lil Baby verse,

I'm like, "Hold up."

"Lil Baby can rap.

"Like, nah, Lil Baby snapping.

Like, he's spitting spitting."

Put your fucking hands up!

♪ You can get the biggest
Chanel bag in the store ♪

♪ If you want it, I gave 'em the drip ♪

♪ They sucked it up, I got 'em on it ♪

♪ I bought a new Patek,
I had the watch, so I two-toned 'em ♪

♪ Taking these drugs,
I'm gon' be up until the morning ♪

♪ That ain't your car,
you just a leaser, you don't own it ♪

♪ If I'm in the club, I got that fire
when I'm performing ♪

♪ The back end just came in
in all hundreds ♪

♪ Vibes galore, cute shit,
they all on us ♪

♪ I'm from Atlanta,
where young niggas run shit ♪

♪ I know they hating on me,
but I don't read comments ♪

♪ Whenever I tell her to come,
she coming ♪

♪ Whenever it's smoke, we ain't running ♪

♪ Drip too hard, don't stand too close ♪

♪ You gon' fuck around
and drown off this wave ♪

♪ Doing all these shows,
I've been on the road... ♪

I think, with Gunna,
when those two came together,

that was one of the first real moments
where I think everybody

collectively was like,
"Lil Baby is the center of Atlanta now."

♪ Every other night,
another movie get made ♪

♪ Every other night,
another dollar getting made ♪

♪ Every other night
started with a good day ♪

♪ I feel like a child,
I got boogers in the face ♪

♪ Diamonds dancing in the dial
like this shit is a parade... ♪

We showed brotherly love.

Like, we showed, like,

how two niggas can
come together and get it.

Like, we showing, like,

our younger generation,
like, we can do it.

♪ Drip too hard, charge it to the card ♪

♪ Designer to the ground,
I can barely spell the name ♪

♪ Drip too hard, caution on the floor ♪

♪ You gon' fuck around and drown ♪

♪ Trying to ride a nigga wave ♪

♪ Drip too hard, don't stand too close ♪

♪ You gon' fuck around
and drown off this wave ♪

♪ Doing all these shows,
I've been on the road ♪

♪ I don't care where I go,
long as I get paid. ♪

London, make some noise

for Baby and Gunna one time!

History in the making.

History in the making.

Like, we young Black kings.

Me and my motherfucking brother,
we doing festivals and shit.

You know this shit. Know what I'm saying?

This shit like a dream come true,
you know what I'm saying?

Niggas ain't doing this shit.

♪ Do this all the time,
this ain't no surprise ♪

♪ Every other night,
another movie get made. ♪

Growing up in the hood,

you never imagine being able
to really see the world.

How have you found the U.K. and Europe?

At first, I ain't want to come.

I ain't want to come.

I tell Coach, like,
"I ain't going over there."

- Why?
- Once I-I... you know, just...

I never been before,
so, you know, I'm kind of like...

I ain't really that fond
of trying new things.

Did you ever think
you'd be this successful?

To the point we're playing your songs

nonstop in the U.K.

I always thought we would be big,
but I didn't even know what big was.

We get to London,

then I took him to the hood
so he can understand, like,

all hoods are the same;
they just look different.

Or the language barrier might be
a little different.

We went to Amsterdam, same thing.

We went to Paris, same thing.

As we were moving around,
he started seeing it like,

"Oh, man. It's kind of like

the same situation that's
going on back in the hood."

I'm like, "It is, man."

"It's just, you know,
people might look a little different,

"and their language might be
a little bit different,

but it's the same thing."

And I said, "Your story and your music",

it cuts through to all these people."

Everybody, put your hands up!

Put your lights up like this,

and I want the lights off.

Put your lights up if you're ready
to go crazy right now.

Let me hear you say, "Baby!"

Baby! Baby!

Baby! Baby! Baby! Baby!

Baby! Baby!

Ladies and gentlemen,

all the way from ATL, I give you Lil Baby!

It's easy to-to hear all the great things

that people say about you.

They'll tell you you're the man one day,
and the next day, opinions change.

You just got to just keep working.

You can't really acknowledge,
uh, how well it's going.

You're gonna have to get better, right?

That's... that's just how the shit works.

You have to get better, right?

I think, as far as, you know,
the legacy of music goes...

Forget hip-hop.
Let's just talk about music, right?

'Cause really that's how
we all want to be remembered.

Hip-hop and rap is great,
but it's just a genre, you know?

There's plenty of other artists
that have done

the exact same things,
if not more, in other genres.

If you're really about this shit,

then you want to be remembered
in the legacy of music.

It's a pivotal moment for him.

It's just time to keep pushing forward.

♪ Yeah ♪

- ♪ When I see you ♪
- ♪ Yeah ♪

♪ How these niggas follow the leader,
I'm in the lead, though? ♪

♪ You could've been quiet and silent,
what you agree for? ♪

♪ You 'posed to be having your money,
but now you need me ♪

♪ I ain't ever turn my back
on a real one ♪

♪ Sipping all this purple,
I'm hoping it make me feel better ♪

♪ I don't want a problem with bitches,
so I don't deal with them ♪

♪ He did got away for the moment,
but we gon' still get 'em ♪

♪ They ain't ever taking it from me
'cause I'm a real nigga. ♪

My name's Ethiopia Habtemariam.

I am the chairman and CEO
of Motown Records.

You know, inside of
the music industry or whatever,

you still have people
who didn't really understand Baby.

- Lil Baby!
- Another completely

unspectacular voice on this record
has to be Lil Baby,

whose continued popularity
just boggles my mind,

as he's maybe one of the most nondescript
rappers out there right now.

They didn't understand
what he was saying in records.

You know, you deal with that a lot
sometimes with Southern hip-hop artists.

Lil Baby?

I have no idea what he's saying.

I have none.

Some people are elitist,
some people are, like, real hip-hop heads,

or some gatekeepers just don't see it yet.

They don't see it
until there's a big album.

It was towards the end of 2019.

He was on the road,

working all the time
and creating new music.

We set up these listening sessions

to preview the music that was on My Turn.

Thank you for taking time
out y'all day to come here today.

Baby 'bout to drop his album.

Been working on this album
for over a year now.

How y'all doing?
I appreciate y'all for coming out.

He gon' play some records for y'all,

hopefully one of the biggest albums
of the year.

You know he always gon' deliver
on his end with the hits.

We just need the support
from the partners to... amplify it.

♪ Cook that shit up, Quay ♪

People just got really excited.

He had some shit on there,
and everybody knew it.

That's a statement.

"It's my turn now."

here to celebrate his new album.

It's called My Turn.

This guy drops a album
that everybody's just,

unanimously across the board, like,

"That's... that was, that was it."

I fucking knew it.

"Back when you was saying
you couldn't sing

"and how I do this shit,

nigga, you knew."

Patiently waited his turn, and, pow,

showed them what he knew.

Another level.

You could do 200 first week.

You got to care about numbers
a little bit.

Everywhere I went,
it felt like a Lil Baby world.

And it was because of My Turn.

Baby came in with his own thing,

which is just, like,
picking the hardest beats,

finding the craziest pockets,
melodies, anthems.

We got the number one artist

in the fucking world
in the building right now.

What's up, DJ?

Now you'll hear someone's song
and you'll be like,

"Ah, that sounds like Baby."

My Turn just went double platinum!

He becomes the only artist
in 2020 to do so.

Only one. Only one.

My Turn from Lil Baby

was the highest selling album
of all of 2020

in the entire music business.

Over, what, 12 billion global streams.

I don't even know what that means.

- How many zeros is that?
- A lot.

He just continued to evolve.

This guy's the truth, you know?
Like, his work ethic is-is up.

♪ I'm the one from the bottom who sold ♪

♪ All my partners them pounds,
used to drive in a Buick. ♪

I wish he had really got to see
the effects of his music.

Stay at home.

That is the order tonight
from four state governors,

as the coronavirus pandemic spreads.

We were supposed to go on tour

in all the festivals
and all the clubs and just...

I almost feel for him in a sense

because I wish the world
was open, um, for him to...

to experience what that should've been.

It's like...

the hardest year maybe in human history
that we've ever been through.

Forget music, just as a,
as a, as a people.

Like, the hardest time to ever
connect with people, relate to people.

It was clearly the biggest
rap project of the year,

and what a tough time to deliver that.

Being in quarantine
made me think about what really matters.

I had the biggest album in the world,

but something still felt empty.

It made me look inwards.

It made me realize all the awards,
all the numbers,

it don't mean anything.

Demonstrators gathering in Minneapolis

to protest the death of a Black man.

Video shows one officer kneeling
on Floyd's neck for several minutes,

even after he pleaded
that he couldn't breathe.

What began as a crowd of...

This ain't something that's new to me.

It wasn't my first time seeing it.

I done seen the worst of the worst.

Reportedly fired tear gas...

I done been in real physical
altercations with police.

I been to prison.

You know, they do you any kind of way.

No justice, no peace!

No justice, no peace!

Being Black is not a crime!

Same story every time!

Being Black is not a crime!

Don't shoot! Hands up!
Don't shoot! Hands up!

Don't shoot!

Hands up! Don't shoot!
Hands up! Don't shoot!

Hands up! Don't shoot!

No justice, no peace!
No justice, no peace!

No justice, no peace!

Being Black is not a crime!

I think I got the same role
as every other Black person.

Stick together, stand up
for what we believe in.

And you got to voice it and speak it.

I try to make sure
I put real life in my music.

We are tired.

We are tired of being beaten by policemen.

We're tired of seeing our people
locked up in jail over and over again.

We've been going through
the same shit decade after decade.

Dramatic videotape
obtained by Channel Five...

Obviously, we feel the, uh, evidence
warranted a conviction.

The violence erupted after
the acquittal of four white policemen

in the beating trial
of Black motorist Rodney King.

No justice, no peace!

I'm just the new generation
to experience it.

The grand jury would not...

Grand jury declined to bring charges

against a white police officer
in the death of an unarmed Black man.

Surveillance video of
Ahmaud Arbery just before he was shot...

The man told the officer,
"I can't breathe."

No one has been held accountable.

This is injustice.

With my music,

I want to show people
what's going on in our world.

And what's continuing to go on.

I can't breathe!

I can't breathe!

♪ Trade my four-by-four for a G 63 ♪

♪ Ain't no more free Lil Steve ♪

♪ I gave 'em chance
and chance and chance again ♪

♪ I even done told them please ♪

♪ I find it crazy
the police'll shoot you ♪

♪ And know that you dead
but still tell you to freeze ♪

♪ Fucked-up, I seen what I seen,
I guess that mean ♪

♪ Hold him down
if he say he can't breathe ♪

♪ It's too many mothers that's grieving,
they killing us for no reason ♪

♪ Been going on for too long to get even,
throw us in cages like dogs and hyenas ♪

♪ I went to court
and they sent me to prison ♪

♪ My mama was crushed
when they said I can't leave ♪

♪ First I was drunk,
then I sobered up quick ♪

♪ When I heard all that time
that they gave to Taleeb ♪

♪ He got a life sentence plus... ♪

Like throwing an ice-cold
glass of water on somebody.

You didn't expect that, like, "Oh, shit."

So now you got to wake up to Lil Baby,
but also you got to really pay attention

to what Lil Baby's saying
because it's him saying it.

♪ Every colored person ain't dumb ♪

♪ And all whites not racist ♪

♪ I be judging by the mind and heart ♪

♪ I ain't really into faces ♪

"Bigger Picture" is one of
those time stamp records, man.

Like, you gonna hear that record,

and you gonna remember
the pandemic of 2020.

You gonna remember how Black Lives Matter
was flooding the street.

♪ Every video I see on my conscience ♪

♪ I got power,
now I got to say something ♪

♪ Corrupted police been
the problem where I'm from ♪

♪ But I'd be lying
if I said it was all of them ♪

♪ I ain't do this for the trend,
I don't follow them ♪

♪ Altercations with the law,
had a lot of them ♪

♪ People speaking for the people,
I'm proud of them ♪

♪ Stick together,
we can get it up out of them... ♪

I don't think you get that record

without those five projects
coming out prior,

'cause his pen was sharp,
you know what I mean?

Like, his pen was sharp.

He was just, like, just focused.

His energy was different.
You could just tell.

He was just looking at the world.

He was like, "I'm-a write about that."

"I done, I done did all the street stuff.

I'm-a write about that."

Wow.

Sign of a true artist, man.

I can't breathe!

I can't breathe!

I can't breathe!

Still gonna be tied
to that kind of movement

for the rest of my life.

This ain't gonna be the last George Floyd.

It already happened so many times since.

When it comes to these big moments,

a lot of times, artists like Baby...
Where he's from, what he's rapping about...

Get shut out.

There are these things like Rolling Stone

and The New York Times and Billboard

and all of these traditionally white
publications, where,

hey, working there,
it's so hard to convince people, like,

"No, this is the most important
artist right now."

But when you do see
a Black artist cut through,

that means something.

I just went in there like
a blank slate of being like,

"I just want to know
what Lil Baby's like."

I had no idea what the story
would be at that point.

Coach picks me up, I go to QC,
and when Baby gets there,

one of the hardest interviews
I've ever done.

I'll remember that day forever because
I had a really, really good conversation

with a very, very interesting artist.

And I captured this moment
where it's just, like, two Black men,

similar in age
but different in every other way,

trying to talk about one of the most

chaotic, brutal, devastating moments
in American history.

This is a look now at the scene

where Rayshard Brooks
was fatally shot Friday night.

The death of Rayshard Brooks
was still very, very recent.

And when I'm riding through Atlanta
with Lil Baby,

you're realizing Lil Baby's
childhood neighborhood

is five minutes away.

When I went to the Wendy's,
it was, it was a raw emotion.

I was just like, "This is eerie."

And Lil Baby said something
to the effect of, like,

"Yo, somebody's died
everywhere we've gone today."

There was a distance that he had.

Because Rayshard Brooks
is not the first Black man that

Lil Baby has heard of being killed.

Uh, not the tenth,

it's probably not the hundredth
or the thousandth.

This is his life.

And I think that's why
I wanted to profile Lil Baby,

not just because of the success
that he was having as a rapper,

but because, when he comes out
with "The Bigger Picture,"

of course it cuts through.

He comes from a disadvantaged background.

He's a former drug dealer.

He's somebody that a racist system
would be very, very quick to profile.

He's the perfect person
to talk about that moment

because he's lived it.

And I don't think "The Bigger Picture"
is a protest song.

I just think it's a song

that's about Lil Baby,
and Lil Baby quite easily

could've been any of the people
that were murdered that summer.

Mm-hmm?

You know that man who died, George Floyd?

The one who couldn't breathe?

Right, the one who the police killed?

Mm-hmm.

His daughter, she's turning six years old

and she's having a birthday party.

I'm gonna pay for her birthday party.

So you and Loyal, we just gonna
show our face and then come back.

All right.

All right, I'll be home in a minute.

♪ Just the way you are ♪

♪ And when you smile... ♪

I feel like I have a responsibility

to keep fighting

and make sure the world is a better place

for the generation I'm gonna leave on.

What's up, now?

What's going on?

How you living?

For Lil Baby, music got him out.

Doing all right, though?

Hell yeah, I'm all right, man.
I can't complain at all.

Man, I'm just happy to be around,
be able to do what a nigga doing.

Man, I can't complain.

The sad part is, like,
there's a million Lil Babys in America,

wishing they could escape a system
that doesn't want them to escape.

Each one. Count it.

Ten, 20, 30, 40, 50,

60...

70, 80,

90, 100.

- 100,000.
- Well, that's 100.

That's 100,000,
then this 100,000, how much it is?

- 200,000.
- 200,000.

- Mental math.
- Mental math.

Not everybody explodes.

Not everybody can.

You can see in, like,
Lil Baby's early music,

there's Marlo.

Run it back from the top. We're rolling.

- Let's get it, man!
- We're rolling. We're rolling.

- We're rolling.
- Let's get this now.

Look in the camera. Talk to the camera.

- ♪ Bitch, wait, fuck a mixtape ♪
- Let's get it.

♪ I got plenty cake... ♪

One of the first projects

that Lil Baby came out with,
Marlo was on it.

♪ She done sucked me up
for them brand-new J's ♪

- ♪ Trap nigga, six phones... ♪
- MAN: Lil Baby.

Give me a good one. Give me a good one.

But rap money is a very slow road.

For Marlo, it didn't happen as fast.

And I think that,

unfortunately, Marlo ended up becoming...

a cautionary tale.

Yet another shooting in Atlanta

late last night, as the city
is working to investigate

a wave of violent crime
since the beginning of 2020.

When Baby made it rapping,

he was able to get out of the trap.

Marlo was right there with him,

but his career just didn't
take off the same way.

He was still in the street.

The incident occurred on I-285

at approximately 11:30 p.m.
Saturday evening.

He usually always pick up the phone for me

on the first ring.

I called it like three times,
and he ain't answer it.

I just started trying
to make some phone calls,

and they told me
there was a car on the highway

shot up.

And it looked like it was his car.

And they think he was in it.

Several reports have emerged

that the victim was
rising Atlanta rapper Lil Marlo.

He was 30 years old.

I think he was
pronounced dead on the scene.

We was just standing on the bridge
just speechless.

That... that was a tough one.

♪ All I needed was a chance ♪

♪ Show the world who I am ♪

♪ Watch me run me up them bands. ♪

Marlo.

You just see your man
slumped on the expressway,

you kind of feel some type of way.

But...

if you know the situation
and you know what's going on

and you know in the back of your head,
you know they still come with it,

that's a, that's a part of the streets.

Some people get killed.

I know that that come with
being in the street already.

It ain't like Marlo got killed
and I was like,

"Damn, boy, you could
really get killed out here."

I know this.

This ain't nothing I don't know.

Marlo a real case of, like,

the streets and the rapping...

two whole different world.

And he more so got caught up
in the streets than the rapping.

He was always supportive, man.

He was always happy for Baby.

"Bruh, even if I don't make it,

if you make it, all us done made it."

You know, I think about
how you don't get to pick or choose

the family that you're born into.

Right? You don't get to pick and choose
the environment that you're born into.

You can either become
a result of that environment...

or you can be the antithesis
of what you've seen and experienced.

Not only is he a survivor
but he's gone through hardships,

learned lessons and grew from it.

Y'all don't got no coats?

No, I don't have no coat.
No, I don't got no coat.

Y'all don't got no coats?
You don't got no coat, little man?

Hey, Rashad!

A second chance at life.

The willingness to go after it.

Baby represents the American dream.

Hey, what-what's your son,
what's your son name?

What's your son name?

- What's my what?
- Your son name.

- Brandon.
- How he doing?

Fine.

I used to go to school with him at Brown.

- Yeah?
- He used to be...

Or Britain. Brandon and Britain.

- Britain. Britain.
- Britain, not Brandon.

Britain is in the Navy.

- For real? He... I could see him
in the Navy, too. -Yeah.

- I could see Britain...
- He went one year

at Georgia Southern, but he's in the Navy.

- I could see him in the Navy, too.
- Yeah.

He doing good.
He's a air traffic controller.

Tell him, um, Dominique asked about him.

- Dominique?
- Yeah.

- What's your last name?
- Jones.

Jones?

He gonna know who I am, though.

Okay, Dominique Jones.
Okay, I'm-a tell him.

Ain't nothing like where
you come from, you know what I'm saying?

But I get the chills
from that type of stuff, though.

You know what I'm saying?

I-I got more love than anything.

I done helped some of them
with their businesses.

They... it's like check-up, like...

"What you doing? What you been up to?"

Or I see, like, the people I grew up with,

I used to be bad as hell,
now I ain't seen them in a minute.

Niggas I go to school with...

they been to prison,
who out of prison, like...

I could've went that route,
I could've went this route.

This could be my reality.

That shit give me the chills,
you know what I'm saying?

I came from the trap.

Raised right here in the trap,
three blocks up.

Baby driving the hood,
riding around the hood.

Everybody know Baby.

I ain't seen nobody left.

I seen them pass away.

I ain't seen nobody left.

I haven't.

What Baby saying is

that regardless what you came from,
whatever, y-you don't have to be that.

There's other methods and ways
and things you can do to make money.

He the best rapper.

He the best rapper ever.

I never heard lyrics
come from a rapper like that.

He don't just talk thug,
gangster, pow-pow-pow.

Each one of his songs got a meaning.

And I can rap them all.

I'll sing it, too.

And I know them all.

♪ Seems like I been running out of time ♪

♪ Yeah, we still so young
and got so much to find ♪

♪ We can't never let 'em break our mind ♪

♪ We got to stay strong,
conquer and don't divide ♪

♪ I come at peace,
my heart already set on fire ♪

- ♪ If it ain't color ♪
- Ooh!

♪ What's the difference
between you and I? ♪

♪ I'll let you decide or come up
with some repeated lies ♪

♪ I'm just tired of my kind
got to be the one to die ♪

♪ Looking in the sky,
I know you with me, I can't cry ♪

♪ Standing what I stand on,
I can't never switch sides ♪

♪ Sometimes I just wanna
pop out on 'em, flip by ♪

♪ But I put my head on,
I pray I stay from off that route ♪

♪ Thinking 'bout my niggas,
I ain't seem 'em in a while ♪

♪ Thinking 'bout my son,
I just had another child ♪

♪ I been thinking back on bro like,
"What the fuck we gon' do now?" ♪

♪ On this road to redemption ♪

♪ This shit get rocky and it's wild. ♪

So we're gonna start here in this chair.

We are in L.A.

He is shooting because
Grammy nominations come out on Tuesday.

So he's doing a photo shoot,
and then he's also doing

an interview that will go out
to all the Grammy voters.

I think he's already cemented himself

as a super important part of this time,

this generation.

This guy's just, like, in a zone
that, like, you have to respect.

We were working really hard
and strategically to make sure

there was enough awareness on Baby

and doing everything we could to make sure

the Grammy voters
were able to read articles

and key newspapers, et cetera,

to understand how impactful the album was.

There's been a lot of conversation

around having music
that's reflective of the times,

coming from a-a place of truth,

and I think that that's
what Baby's been doing.

And then, I guess
the last question here is:

Could you tell...
And you can talk to the camera...

What it means to be heard?

And, like, what it's like to help
other people's voices be heard.

There wasn't no doubt in my mind

that he was gonna be up for
Rap Album of the Year.

We were fighting, you know,
for Album of the Year.

As an artist,

you do want to be recognized
for the work that you've put in.

It was early in the morning,

and I was on the live feed watching.

Turn that TV off.

All right, so let's talk about
the Grammy Awards

and some of the nominations that came out.

Did you hear... did you see
some of these nominations?

Uh, yeah, I saw some of
the fuss on social media.

It's the largest selling album
of all genres of music

for 2020.

I don't understand what the problem is.

Best Rap Album.

Yeah, I just feel like
Lil Baby should've been there

- with My Turn.
- Lil Baby definitely should've been there.

In order to properly appreciate
what Lil Baby has done and is doing,

and to properly appreciate Lil Baby's art,

you got to understand
that slum that he came from.

You got to understand that hood
that he came from.

You got to understand how hard it is
to make it out of a place like that.

White America will never understand that

'cause they don't even understand
the world that Lil Baby comes from.

This isn't right.

This isn't reflective of,
you know, where music is,

his impact in music.

I'm frustrated with the Grammys,
you know what I mean?

It's been a ongoing conversation
for so many years

about them being out of touch,
and they have a lot of work to do.

You go back to the '80s,

and you remember how
they overlooked Michael Jackson.

And then DMX in the '90s.

He had two number one albums
in the same year

and didn't receive any nominations.

And the Grammy goes to...

And of course Kendrick's loss

really just cemented how
out of touch the Grammys are.

What is this system that's been created,
and why do we give it so much value?

We're talking about
popular culture and rap albums

and what's deserving,
they-they missed the mark.

And I think, after some time went on,

there were some conversations
about what to do,

you know, because there was
an offer for him to perform.

When I seen the shit, I was sort of like...

We been working so hard,
and for you to not get

nominated for the album, I feel like...

you got the biggest album of the year...

I don't really want to do this shit.

- I ain't really like it.
- You got the stats.

You deserve it. You put the work in.

Man, shit just... it's fucked-up, really.

And for them just to skip over that,
that shit like a...

It like a slap in the face to me, bro.

I'm just like...

You know, that's just how I feel.

Ultimately, it's your decision.

I'm saying, so you saying
you feel like don't perform there?

Yeah. That-that how I feel.

We "look up to" this shit
like it's supposed to be...

This is the-the reward
for all the hard work that you put in.

It's supposed to be the biggest award.

But I'm... I was like "fuck 'em"
because that...

that shit don't really determine
who you are and what you do.

- You know what I'm saying? And-and...
- Right.

- When we bigger than that.
- Right.

You see what I'm saying?

That how I feel, but I feel like...

I be feeling like
a performance bigger than the award.

You feel me? Like, I feel like if...

Because it's such of
a big award space or whatever

and I got a chance to perform,
I'd rather perform, then.

'Cause I care about a performance
more than an award. I-I, like...

It's something that you gonna
never be able to forget.

You gonna keep being able to replay it,
especially like with streaming.

I got people in prison who want to see it.

My little kids who can't be...

Like, versus just me getting an award.

Like, I ain't really into the award part.

Like... like, versus just,
like, I'm-a be mad

that I ain't get me an award,
so fuck it, I ain't performing.

I ain't one of them type of artists.

I really don't, like...

And I get how you saying you feel,
you know what I'm saying?

Like, it's like almost a slap in the face,

like you deserve this,
you don't get what you deserve.

But, you know, where I come from,
shit, I'm-a perform at the Grammys?

Shit, I ain't really trippin'.

I don't got to win or get out.

Some shit you just said to me
right there, it goes so far.

You like, "My guys that's in prison",

you know, they get to see me
on the big stage."

Yeah, my grandma,
she don't want to go out of town.

- She don't want to get on
no plane and shit. -Right.

Shit, well, P, go make the call.

Yeah, tell them I'm-a do it.
Shit, I'm-a do it.

A'ight. Okay.

- I call Jesse?
- Just got to make that

the biggest shit ever, like,
"That boy deserve...

- "That boy should've had got..."
- And-and they,

and they got to play, they got to play

on our, on our playing field
and what we want to do.

- And then another thing, too...
- And what... his vision.

Right. Make them feel bad,
the people who work there, like,

"Why didn't he get a Grammy?

This guy here,
why didn't he get nominated for... "

Know what I'm saying?

- Yeah.
- However it go.

A'ight, say no more. I'm-a call Jesse.

Y'all figure it out.
Let me know if the plan change.

Nah, we good. We locked in.

- Shit. -Nah, we locked in.
I'm gonna make it happen.

We just got to make them see our vision.

I'm with it.

♪ Throw us in handcuffs and arrest us ♪

♪ While they go home at night,
that shit messed-up ♪

♪ Knowing we needed help,
they neglect us ♪

♪ Wondering who gon'
make them respect us ♪

♪ I can see in your eye that you fed up ♪

♪ Fuck around, got my shot,
I won't let up ♪

♪ They know that we a problem together ♪

♪ They know that we can
storm any weather ♪

♪ It's bigger than Black and white ♪

♪ It's a problem with
the whole way of life ♪

♪ It can't change overnight,
but we got to start somewhere ♪

♪ Might as well gon' 'head start here ♪

♪ We done had a hell of a year ♪

♪ I'm-a make it count while I'm here ♪

♪ God is the only man I fear. ♪

Get that in there.

So you'll get that in.
Let's go from the top.

From the top, fellas.

I think she just want to make sure, like,
in certain moments you just have, like...

you passionate in the moment
of performing, you know...

I'm telling her, like, though, like, you
don't even got to tell me that 'cause...

- Because you already know what to do.
- This is like...

- I already know what it do.
- I'm serious about this.

- Exactly. For sure.
- Like, I'm telling her I'm gonna...

I'm gonna be there on the floor.
Everything.

- I got it. I'm gonna goddamn perform.
- Yeah.

She's like, "You better perform."
I'm telling you.

Because this is one of them moments.
It's a big moment.

- You know what I'm saying?
- Yeah. This is gonna be like...

- a moment.
- Yeah.

It's a different platform.

Like, it's gonna be on
some whole other shit.

Like, some of these people
not even heard this song before,

and it's gonna be on some...
"What the hell is this?"

No question. No question!

- You going leather again?
- Leather again.

- Ah.
- Give me leather again.

I'm in a good mood today. I went shopping.

They killing all the rappers,
so I wore a vest.

- I'm telling you.
- Oh, Lord.

They killing rappers, so I wore a vest!

The vest too big, though.

Man, I could perform in this, Britney.

I mean, that's...
You-you could perform in it, bro.

Yeah.

Yeah, you know I'm grateful
to be here today, man.

Could be somewhere selling dope.

I got my acceptance speech.

I'm grateful to be here.
I could be somewhere selling dope.

You are not gonna say that.

- Hey, man...
- Why are you playing with me?

I'm grateful to be here.

I could be somewhere selling dope,
know what I'm saying?

Straight up.

Oh, the Grammys said they want him there?
They said they want him there?

- Yeah. Yeah.
- On the... on the day?

Well, that must mean
that they gon' give him...

- an award.
- I-I think you're gonna win.

Like, I don't see them doing it.

But they got some kind of crazy voting,
and whoever...

whoever their board is,
it-it go off of their board.

It ain't going off, like,
popular vote, so...

I don't... I don't know
it be tricky with...

Your performance is
the only one that's outdoors.

We're closing L.A. Live
and Staples Center down.

Like, it doesn't really make sense.

I'd be very surprised if you didn't win.

I wouldn't.

I wouldn't. Shit.

Don't be surprised if I don't win.

♪ The plug say he gon' stop
sending the bows ♪

♪ We keep stressing his friend,
well, little do he know ♪

♪ His ass next soon as we meet again ♪

♪ Jason hit my phone like ♪

♪ "They just booked me
for 'bout 20 racks..." ♪

I'm surfing.

Come here, Jason.

Oh!

My phone done dropped through
the goddamn floor.

It's okay. You're rich!

Okay.

I got a little game. All right?

My guy!

- How you doing?
- A'ight. Good to see you.

There's somebody there.

Look at the camera.

Come on, Dominique!

Come on, Dominique!

Know what I'm saying?
I said, "Kim, I'll go with you."

Yes, baby, I think...

- They didn't tell me.
- Kim, did they say...

They been sending the call time...

They've been sending the call time.

- They want you on time.
- No, no, no.

- They trying to show my face when I lose.
- Nah, listen.

You know what?

We need positive energy in here.

Hey, hey!

They'll play the hell
out a nigga here, man.

They want me sitting in the spot

so they can show my reaction
when I lose, man.

I'm-a do like that. Shit.

Soon as somebody else win, I'm like that.

But I don't want him waiting around.

They've been asking where he is.

- Where my, where my car at?
- That'll be in front.

I'm going on TV, Britney.

You gon' kill this shit.

Make it tight.

He's so aware
of his influence and his power now.

And he doesn't take
that responsibility lightly.

Here's a kid that wasn't dealt...

all aces.

All them little guys
from his neighborhood...

he gives all those kids hope.

Here performing "The Bigger Picture,"
please welcome Lil Baby.

♪ Trade my four-by-four for a G 63 ♪

♪ Ain't no more free Lil Steve ♪

♪ I gave 'em chance
and chance and chance again ♪

♪ I even done told them please ♪

♪ I find it crazy
the police'll shoot you ♪

♪ And know that you dead
but still tell you to freeze ♪

♪ I seen what I seen, I guess that mean ♪

♪ Hold him down
when he say he can't breathe ♪

♪ It's too many mothers that's grieving
for no reason ♪

♪ Been going on for too long to get even ♪

♪ Like dogs and hyenas ♪

♪ I went to prison, my money was quoted ♪

♪ My mama was crushed
when they said I can't leave ♪

♪ First I was drunk,
but I sobered up quick ♪

♪ When I heard all that time
that they gave to Taleeb ♪

♪ He got a life sentence plus ♪

♪ We just some products
of our environment ♪

♪ How the... they gon' blame us? ♪

♪ You can't fight fire with fire, I know ♪

♪ But at least we can
turn up the flames some... ♪

The whole world like,
"Oh, my fucking God, this is...

"Who is this guy?" And it's like,

I knew who this boy was.
This boy one of the ones.

I knew this.

Seeing him get smarter,

asking questions,

it just make me happy and proud to see him

make that transition
in being to where he at now.

♪ It's bigger than Black and white ♪

♪ It's a problem with
the whole way of life ♪

♪ It can't change overnight,
but we got to start somewhere ♪

♪ Might as well gon' 'head start here ♪

♪ We done had a... of a year ♪

♪ I'm-a make it count while I'm here ♪

♪ God is the only man I fear ♪

♪ It's bigger than Black and white ♪

♪ It's a problem with
the whole way of life ♪

♪ It can't change overnight,
but we got to start somewhere ♪

♪ Might as well gon' 'head start here ♪

♪ We done had a... of a year ♪

♪ I'm-a make it count while I'm here ♪

♪ God is the only man I fear. ♪

It's a wrap!

Congratulations!

Coach and Ethiopia, P,

they know the benefits
of winning a Grammy.

This shit new to me.

I don't really understand all that yet.

I'm just happy I'm getting
my message out there.

Trying to show the youngins
that it's bigger.

I'm living proof.

Lil Baby is a-a name,

a brand that he built.

Dominique is who he is.

I think Dominique is
the essence of Lil Baby.

Dominique is...

the owner of Lil Baby.

And Lil Baby is an artist.

Dominique is a businessman.

One day, there gonna be no more Lil Baby.

How could it not?

That's my child. I know his potential.

Very proud, especially with all the people

who didn't believe he was
gonna amount to anything.

"Oh, you know,
he gonna probably just end up

like the rest of the hood."

I smile knowing that
that's him on the radio.

Their kids listening to him.

Little Dominique Jones
who never came to class.

- Say, "Blast off!"
- Blast off!

Blast off! Ah!

Y'all, y'all, share.

Jason, you can't be doing all that.

Come here.

See it there?

See it?

Want to go over there?

I can see my plan,
what I'm trying to do, it's gon' work.

I'm-a have a full legacy.

Like, it's just gon' be started from rap.

'Cause I took it to this point
in three years.

I plan on living
to at least, like, 60, 70.

That's a long time from now.

Even though I got to this point

where it's damn near
you can ask a question like

"What do you think your legacy
is going to be?"

'cause I done built a legacy where
if I stop right now I could leave it.

It's already a full one
if I stopped today.

But, man, you got to just imagine
what I'm finna do.

Now that my brain is untrapping.

I'll never be trapped again.

I'm just getting started.

♪ Cook that... up, Quay ♪