“Baby Jesus put on a show.
If you ain’t a fan of my music before you see me perform, I guarantee you by the time
my show over…
I got you.”
Before Da Baby would get into a shootout…
Out of self-defense, In a Walmart, and have all charges dropped!
Before he would have almost 600k subscribers on YouTube and over 1.5 million followers
on Instagram
He also says that he doesn’t follow a single female on Instagram besides his A&R, which
I guess limits your distractions on a daily basis so maybe that’s a good thing.
Before Da Baby would make his mark on the hip-hop baby game, standing amongst the likes
of Baby aka Birdman and Lil Baby and dropping his album Baby on Baby with songs like Goin
Baby, which now has over 5 million views on YouTube and Baby Sitter, which has close to
5 million as well.
Da Baby has become one of the most talked about names in hip-hop, not only because of
his ability to use his rap name in songs, and not only for his bars, which are fire,
but also because of his insane journey to fame.
And by insane, we mean that.
He’s survived attempted robberies, home invasions, pepper spray attacks, and even
shootings inside of Walmarts.
But through all of that, he is quickly winning over rap fans all over the world and has become
one of the most requested videos on this channel.
I’m just glad music worked out because while I was doing my research I scrolled back through
his old tweets, and in 2015 he tweeted that he was thinking about selling his meat, and
not at the local deli…
Can you guess how much his hourly rate was going to be?
Stick around to the end of the video to find out.
When I was at Power 106 a couple months ago, the label brought through a quiet guy in an
orange jacket who humbly shook my hand and introduced himself as Da Baby.
I didn’t know that a few months later, that guy in the orange jacket would become my new
favorite rapper.
What’s going on good people in the comment section?
I hope you’re having one Hecht of a day, my name is Jeremy Hecht here for you on Before
They Were Famous, and today I’ll be taking you through the life and career of Da Baby
prior to fame.
I’ve been making videos on this channel for about 6 months now and the goal has been
to get better with each one.
And based on the comments, I think we’re doing that!
But, in case you’re new here and are all up in the comments saying “we want Michael,
get out of here loser.”
First of all, you can always leave, cause I’m technically the one on the screen, I
can’t go anywhere, secondly, I’m not Michael’s younger brother, and thirdly, Michael didn’t
go anywhere, he’s still making videos for this channel but I am the LA host for this
channel so I’ll be here weekly.
I’ve covered Lil TJay and Lil Nas X recently and you guys requested this video…
A LOT.
So keep sending in your requests in the comments down below and I’ll talk to you there, now
let's get into the show!
“Shoulda happened maybe a little sooner but, you know, everything happen at the right time."
Da Baby aka Baby Jesus was born A baby as Jonathan Kirk on December 22, 1991 in Cleveland,
Ohio but moved to Charlotte when he was 6 years old.
He reps the 704 wherever he goes, and carries the city on his back, literally.
Shoutout to all of the people from Charlotte in the comments section!
He grew up with his mom and two older brothers, making him the baby of the family.
His father was in the army stationed in places around the country.
But Baby would stay with him in the summers.
He says his dad was in his life but he would also send some child support checks to their
family, which his mom would then hand down to Baby, so he was flexing with that little
extra money in elementary school.
But according to Baby’s Uncle Rick, who Nardwuar allegedly talked to, Da Baby was
raised by robbers?
“Some of them was robbers… yeah.”
He told Mass Appeal that there is a crabs in the bucket mentality in Charlotte where
everyone tries to pull you down if you’re doing something great.
And like Charlamagne said in Baby’s Breakfast Club interview:
“The gift and the curse of being from Charlotte, is that, you’re the only one.
So when you’re the only rapper that’s really buzzing the way you’re buzzing, you
got a target on your back.”
Growing up, he was listening to rappers like Nelly, Eminem, Lil Wayne and 50 Cent.
He says that even as a kid, he was just as confident as he is now, and at 5 years old,
he knew that he wanted to make a million dollars, stay in a mansion and never work a 9-5
Jonathan was hustling and getting money in the streets from the age of 17, but he knew
that there was more to life and wanted to change his circumstances.
So around his 22nd birthday, he picked up the mic.
Baby had a condo in downtown Charlotte with two cars that he wasn’t even driving.
He was driving a rental car because of how he was getting his money at the time.
But he sold both of his cars, all of his jewelry AND his condo and basically went broke to
go after his dreams.
In December of 2014, Baby began rapping.
“I feel like rappers was rapping about stuff I was really living, you know what I mean?
And I feel like I can put the words together and have more flavour than them.”
He went into the studio that month and recorded 10 songs within a couple of weeks.
He said that he was overcharged for the studio time, BUT, he WAS able to create enough for
a project called “NonFiction.”
The first song he ever recorded was called “Baby Jesus” and from there, he took that
as his rap name.
He put it up online in early January of 2015, and continued to put out freestyles over some
of the most popular beats at the time to keep his buzz up.
2 months later, he was able to get his way onto a SXSW stage, after Deniro Farrar saw
his music online and brought him out on stage during the festival.
So two months into his rap career, he was already doing some pretty big shows.
But the road to success was long from there.
He was rapping without a manager or a publicist so he was doing things, all on his own.
Well, along with his friends who were acting as his street team.
“Every last one of these people with me… they playing a role.
You know what I’m saying?
Around me, everybody…
They not gonna let nobody walk by.
You got one of these?
Boom.
CD.
You got one of these?
Flyer.
They giving out t-shirts.”
He was always big into marketing, so he and his team were up early every morning doing
their own publicity and putting up posters and stickers all over each city they were
in, advertising for his upcoming show!
His friends would hold massive Baby signs up and have t-shirts with his logo on them
everywhere they went to help promote his brand.
“Put posters up, flyers up.
So when the people come in there early way before we get there.
They already see who on the way and by the time we get there they already familiar with
the face and the name.
You gotta think, baby.”
Some of his friends even became a part of the music creation process.
After beginning to take rap seriously, Baby invested in some studio equipment.
“I went to my partner Slim Hood, I’m like bro I got like brand new keyboards over here,
the big boy ones, you know what I’m saying?
Yeah the big boy.
I’m like bro I’m not using any of this stuff and I don’t know how to make beats.
I just had it.
I just had all that stuff brand new.
I’m like bro you can have this.”
After giving it to his friend Slim Hood, his boy cooked up some heat and made a beat for him.
And he produced some of Baby’s biggest early hits.
Originally, his rap name was Baby Jesus, with his twitter being @BabyJesus704.
He said he woke up one day and felt the name was given to him by God.
He later dropped the second half of his name due to industry pressure and worries that
it would cause some problems down the road.
“Jesus did grow up.
You don’t always have to call him baby.
It’s a bit odd and off-putting to pray to a baby.”
“Well look, I like the Christmas Jesus best and I’m saying grace.”
But he says he still feels like he’s been put on this earth for a purpose.
In terms of representing the Baby aspect of his name, well… he just lives his truth.
Plus he always rocks a Stewie Griffin chain around his neck to rep famous babies around
the world.
But, that wasn’t just a one off.
In terms of his image and marketing, he is a very calculated dude.
All it takes is to watch one of his music videos to know how funny and smart the guy is.
From the beginning, he knew that he needed to be creative to stand out.
“You just doing cliche s***.
You doing what everybody else doing… it ain’t gonna get you nowhere.”
You’ve all heard of Kandy Pens, right?
Well if the name doesn’t ring a bell, I’ve got a good feeling you’ve seen them before.
Now Kandy Pens was named best vaporizer of 2018 by High Times due to it’s combination
of popular technology and flashy design.
And Kandy Pens, well they’ve quickly become to go to choice for vaping in the hip hop
and rap community.
They’ve got some cosigns from DJ Khaled, Fat Boy SSE, Young MA and Amber Rose.
Even the one and ASAP Rocky, yeah he’s got his own signature line called the Flacko Jodye
collection.
Now Kandy Pens has actually made me their YouTube ambassador, the one and only, and
they’ve given me the ability to get you 25% off your entire order.
Yeah, there’s a link down below, also use the promo code BTWF25, get some money back,
enjoy your vaping.
Remember Kandy Pens are for those 18 years and older.
So after getting his team in order and putting out a mixtape, Baby began to promote his work
by any means necessary, dropping consistent visuals and performing locally, even opening
up for artists like Young Dolph.
The oldest song still up on his YouTube is called “No compadre Freestyle” and that’s
from 2015.
But back in 2015, the local radio stations Streetz103.3 and 102 Jamz played his songs.
During the 2015 NFL season, Baby Jesus made an anthem for the Carolina Panthers called
Dab City.
Because of the catchy hook, hilarious visuals, and because the Panthers went to the SuperBowl
that year, the song got placed on Worldstar and stared to blow up there.
In 2016, Baby dropped the mixtape Baby Jesus, Gods Work hosted by DJ Infamous
And in early 2016, Baby Jesus headed on his first tour throughout America with his friends.
“So you know me and the squad loaded up, got everything we needed.
And we hit the road.
We went way to Virginia.
Entertainment for the guys.”
On that tour, Baby had a little run in with the police…
Ironically enough, while trying to shoot a music video at a local Walmart.
He ended up doing 8 hours in jail in Virginia before getting out.
“It wasn’t nothing.
The team held it down.
Stayed at work.
They waited on me.
I got out.
We got right back to it.
Entertainment for the guys.
Lesson learned.”
Baby Jesus also got an early cosign from Boosie, who hopped on the remix of his song Baby Jesus.
“Sleepy a** n****s wake up!”
Immediately after hearing the song, Boosie went into his home studio and recorded a remix
just off the strength of Baby’s music and energy alone…
Well, that, and 15 racks for one feature and 8 racks for another.
Hey, at least he got the second one for half off.
But Boosie recorded 2 remixes and 2 in-studio music videos for Da Baby all between 3 and
5 O’ clock in the morning that day.
And he had a radio interview at 6 in the morning that same day.
So judging by that, he was clearly a fan.
But the first free feature he ever got was from Yo Gotti.
He heard Baby’s music through Arnold Taylor and really loved it, so he got on the remix
of one of his songs.
And the genuine love from superstars didn’t stop with Boosie and Gotti.
When Da Baby and his crew were in Miami hustling CD’s and marketing their posters, they ran
into none other, than Diddy.
“When Diddy seen us he pulled out his Snapchat and put us on his Snapchat.”
“How was that though?
You got the OG right there in the street.”
“He saw that movement.
He saw the squad.”
But just when things were going well, and he was gaining a pretty sizeable buzz.
Baby was involved in a home invasion situation.
After the studio, his friends went to the strip club but Baby decided to go home.
He was scrolling through Instagram and left the TV on before falling asleep at his house.
But then he woke up to a bunch of yelling.
And since the only other person living with him was his brother, Baby knew it wasn’t him.
5 or 6 men had broken into Baby;s house and were trying to rob him.
There was a shootout, but Baby made it out of the situation unscathed.
He says he felt like James Bond.
In 2017, Baby deleted all of his old Instagram pictures and said that something great was
happening.
“You know me, you know.
Look, if something like that happen with me.
You know something… something real great ‘bout to… that’s that gas.
Something real great ‘bout to happen.”
That was around the time that Baby’s music caught the ear of Arnold Taylor who I mentioned
earlier, and who is the CEO of South Coast Music group, an independent record label in
Charlotte.
Taylor signed Baby on as an artist.
On their website it says:
“SOUTH COAST MUSIC GROUP IS AN INDEPENDENT RECORD LABEL BASED OUT OF CHARLOTTE, NC THAT
STILL BELIEVES IN THE TRADITIONAL WAY OF BREAKING MUSIC.”
Between 2017 and 2018, Da Baby flooded the internet with mixtapes and continued to build
a sizeable following online.
On November 5, 2018, while shopping with his baby mother and 2 children in the baby section
of a local Walmart, in Hunterseville, North Carolina, Da Baby was confronted by 2 men
who were staring him down.
According to statements made by Baby through Instagram live and in interviews, two men
tried to check him and asked him to go outside.
He told his family to go the other way.
No one went outside, but the two men allegedly run up on him with their hands in their pockets
reportedly clutching a weapon and whipped it out.
Da Baby tried to deescalate the situation but things only got worse.
At around 6pm, 2 to 3 shots were fired in the produce section, leaving 19-year-old Jalyn
Domonique Craig killed.
DaBaby has said that the incident was in self-defense.
The incident was used in the intro to his music video for No Tears, which was released
just days later.
But after receiving some backlash of people saying that Baby was using the incident to
promote his record, Da Baby denied that and posted a video issuing his condolences to
the victim.
But even with all of the controversy, Baby got involved in a million-dollar bidding war
as record labels were itching to sign the kid from Charlotte.
But ultimately, Interscope records won out and signed him to a deal on January 23rd,
2019.
Taylor, who initially signed Baby to South Coast, has had relationships with Interscope
for years, so that could have played a part in his choice of label.
But with his success, came even more drama for Da Baby.
While shooting the video for 21, some kids came up to him and said "hi."
Then those kids went down the block and told some of their older friends who came back
and tried to gain some clout by telling Baby that he needed a permission slip to shoot
a video there.
But Baby was able to handle things with a level head and the dudes who were checking
him, left the situation.
“Who signed your permission slip?”
“Ain’t nobody signed a permission slip for me.”
“Like I said, next time you just say hey come holler at me bro and I’ll come holler
at you.”
After that, he dropped the video for his single Suge.
Prior to the drop, a lot of people had just heard about Da Baby for things outside of
the music, but this was many people’s first taste of his skill and ability to create great
visuals.
The video blew up online and currently has over 21 million views on YouTube.
Later releasing videos for the songs “Going” and “Babysitter” featuring Offset.
The man knows how to play off his name.
In March of 2019, he dropped his debut studio album “Baby on Baby” and later that month,
all charges filed against DaBaby were dropped.
It seems like he’ll be around for a long time in this game and despite all of the altercations,
he has a good head on his shoulders.
And I’m glad all of this worked out, because back in 2015, Baby tweeted that he was going
to start selling D instead.
His prices, well, $50 for a half hour and $100 dollars per hour.
So there’s the answer to the question from the beginning of the video.
As for the rest of the story, well we’ll have to wait and see because this is Before
They Were Famous!
As always I’m Jeremy Hecht for this channel, follow me on Instagram, link is below, or
hit me in the comments and let me know who to cover next.
I try to respond to as many people as possible and I will try to get to as many of those
video request as possible.
Dream good, live better, I hope you have one Hecht of a day.
Subscribe to the channel and turn on the notification bell so you don’t miss our next videos…
I think that’s it for the outro and I’ll see you in the next video.