26-year-old Dominique Armani Jones, better known to the world as Lil Baby, opened up about his growing legacy and activism for the cover of Billboard’s 2021 R&B/Hip-Hop Power Players issue.
“Everything I’m doing is really for my kids,” he says about his two sons, 2-year-old Loyal and 5-year-old Jason. “I want more kids than I got because once you get older, you start to look at life differently,” he continues. “Where I come from, I’m the only one, so I have to build the generation up and keep the family going. I need more children to continue the legacy.”
Lil Baby’s mainstream breakthrough album, My Turn, released in February 2020, topped the Billboard 200 for five weeks. This year, he’s reached top 10 on Billboard Hot 100 hits more than twice with music icons like Drake on “Wants and Needs”and J.Cole on “pride.is.the.devil.”
However, when police killed George Floyd in 2020, Baby was called to release “The Bigger Picture” and his rap career shifted from that moment on
“To make that song about social justice, and even talk about what happened to George, was phenomenal,” says Philonise Floyd, George Floyd’s younger brother. “I thank [Baby] a lot for that, because he let a lot of other people understand that, ‘I might be from the streets, but I understand what’s going on in this world.’ ”
The song reached No.3 on the Hot 100 and Baby hit the height of his career. However, the rapper wasn’t worried about numbers and charts. He wanted to go further; he wanted police reform.
In May, he joined the Floyd family at the White House in support of passing the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. (The Act has yet to pass by the Senate.) Then in December, he attended and paid for George Floyd’s daughter Gianna’s seventh birthday party in his hometown, Atlanta.
Lil Baby constantly prides himself on his hometown of Atlanta
He tells Billboard he knows his community needs a hero, not a celebrity figurehead. So, in June, Lil Baby bought out an entire Atlanta Foot Locker store. He then gave away all the sneakers to his own neighborhood. Lil Baby downplayed his endeavors on Instagram live. Nevertheless, fans praised him for his humbleness and efforts at giving back.
“My life feels like a responsibility,” says Baby. “I’m not even trying to be no role model, honestly. [But] now that I know that I am, I try to carry myself differently, because I got people watching. I don’t even be doing what I really want to do. I do what I gotta do now.”
Pierre “Pee” Thomas, CEO of Quality Control says Baby’s rhymes continuously resonate with people. His lyrics are “grounded in personal experience” and truth.
Lil Baby’s “The Bigger Picture” calls for police reform, but also speaks to Baby’s personal experiences. In the opening verse, Baby raps about how his mother was devastated after police told her that her son wouldn’t be coming home from jail.
“[Baby’s] the real definition of what Atlanta is and what it is to be a Black man making it out,” says Thomas.
Baby’s stayed true to himself throughout his career, and his origins always remain his badge of honor.
To see all the photos from the Billboard cover shoot, click here.
Written by Alena “Lay Low” Williams | IG: @lenalayl0w | Twitter: @lenalaylow
