What Now? with Trevor Noah - DaBaby [VIDEO]

Episode Date: November 30, 2023

Trevor sits down with Grammy-nominated rapper DaBaby, who just a few years ago was the face of hip-hop with multiple hit singles to his name. Then a controversial moment at the Rolling Loud festival in 2021 changed everything. Trevor and DaBaby face that moment head-on, as well as DaBaby’s challenging upbringing in North Carolina, how he understands his own role as a father, and whether he has any regrets. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey everybody, so today I'm having a conversation with the hip-hop artist DaBaby. There was a point when DaBaby was literally the face of hip-hop, one of the biggest artists in the world. He conquered all of the hip-hop stages and all the way to the Grammys. He was killing it. Until one day, he made statements at the Rolling Loud Festival, which many people deemed extremely homophobic, and everything in his career changed. DaBaby is one of the hottest rappers in the game, but after making some wild comments during his Rolling Loud performance, major celebrities like Elton John and Questlove have called him out, saying his actions are ignorant and homophobic.

DaBaby is doubling down on his seemingly homophobic and disturbing remarks made on stage at Rolling Loud in Miami. Now, since then, DaBaby has still been a performer, he's still been an artist, and many have asked the question, has he learned, has he changed, and what has he learned or changed from that experience? Well, today, we're chatting to him about all of this. This is What Now? with Trevor Noah. This episode is brought to you by Peloton. With Trevor Noah. Ready to support you from the beginning. Remember, doing something is everything.

Rent the Peloton bike or bike plus today at onepeloton.ca slash bike slash rentals. All access membership separate. Terms apply. This episode is brought to you by Fidelity Investments Canada. Make investing simple. Fidelity's all-in-one ETFs are designed to do just that. In fact, Fidelity does the heavy lifting, including rebalancing these ETFs to help navigate changing market conditions. Visit fidelity.ca slash all in one. Getting closer to your goals could start today. Commissions, fees, and expenses may apply.

Read the funds or ETFs prospectus before investing. Funds and ETFs are not guaranteed. Their values change and past performance may not be repeated. Past performance may not be repeated. What's going on? Happy podcast day, everybody. How you doing? Good. How are you? I'm fantastic.

Me and Mandem's having a great time, blood. Can I tell you something? I think I'm going to move to London. Yeah? I'm having the time of my life. I just love it part are you staying in all of it blood all of it i got bare mans in it so i've been riding i've been riding the the tube to my shows um which you know what's strange is like everyone in in london tells you to ride the tube but then when you ride the tube everyone asks you why you're riding the tube which is a very strange thing literally i'm i'm on the train every single day

going to my show and then people like what are you doing here what are you doing riding the tube and you're like well it's the fastest wave yeah but i didn't expect you to be riding the tube oh that's so strange oh what are you doing here and then one guy's with me on the escalators coming up from the the underground. And he goes, yo, Trev, I thought they gave you more money than to ride the subway, bruv. But I love it. It's been fun. So I was in Ireland for a day.

I love the Irish, man. They just have like a, I don't know what it is. They have a thing that connects them to us as south africans oppression and colonization you see i wasn't gonna say that christiana i was looking for something more i love the irish but they've suffered so that's why we get on i like the irish too scotland and ireland i feel like it's a full they feel like 100 my people who just live somewhere else. That's how I feel. And the Irish are the least uncomfortable with a very uncomfortable story. Yeah, I can see that.

In fact, Ireland was the first place where I ever told stories about apartheid in South Africa because I was talking to a comedian and some audience members. We were at a comedy festival and one of the one of the comedians was was chatting to me and he's like so tell me a little bit about your life trevor like what have you done where have you been and i was like oh this is how i grew up and this is what i

and he goes my god why why aren't you talking about any of that on stage i was like well because it's depressing it's this is i'm talking about apartheid and racism. And he's like, that's the most interesting thing you've talked about, Trevor. He's like, our audiences would love to hear about that. And I was like, oh, okay. And then I went on stage the next day and I told some of those stories. And the audiences loved it. And so I will always credit the Irish for, you know, being the people who encouraged me to just explore the less obviously funny parts of life and the less comfortable parts of living because i i think

you know that's comedy encompasses all of it life encompasses all of it this podcast encompasses all of it that's why we're here people that's why we're here the The good, the bad and the ugly. I mean, look at our guest today, DaBaby. Ooh, DaBaby. Yes, this is an interesting one. Christiana, this is how I know you are my friend, truly. Yeah. Is that you'll roll with me and you have both a judgment and a love and an understanding for me, regardless of some of the decisions I make. Yes. I mean, I trust it will be okay in the end. Just like I trust you'll do a good DaBaby interview even though I have some reservations. But I trust, I'll roll with you on it. That's why I'm here. Okay. So here's the thing. Some people listening to this podcast have no clue what a DaBaby is. And if you're one of those people um i actually

hope you will listen because i i think it's a it's a fascinating compass conversation that goes beyond his art and and the music that he creates and i think there will be parts of the conversation that'll be very tough you know um da baby has not an easy life, nor has he grown up in an easy world. And I think he's been part of making it not easy at times. And if you do know DaBaby, some of you might love him and go like, oh, I love him and his music. And some of you might be like,

I cannot stand DaBaby. I hate everything he stands for. And I don't know. I often find myself wrestling in life with the question of forgiveness, reconciliation, and the conversations that we have with people who have either wronged us or wronged, quote unquote, society. quote unquote society you know and one of the things that interests me about the baby is you have someone who has definitely i mean he's he's definitely you know hurt people but he he seems to want to make amends and sometimes i feel like he doesn't necessarily have the the the tools or the or the aptitude but he has a willingness and i'm a sucker for willingness or the aptitude, but he has a willingness and I'm a sucker for willingness.

Yeah, I know that about you. You're definitely a sucker for some willing, even if they're not able. Yeah, but I think he's, I don't know about the willing part and I'd love to learn more. I would say that before, you know, all of his controversies, I was a big fan of DaBaby. I still think he's so talented yeah just

the music is brilliant music videos just so artistic so I came to his music as a fan and then I think perhaps it was fame perhaps it was environmental but you know a few things happened back to back and you're just like oh and then you know it kind of culminated in the incident at rolling loud festival where he was he was quite homophobic very publicly even though the crowd seemed to be enjoying it which what was going on in that crowd but you know and since then he's kind of been a pariah but he's i think he's coming back into public life. And there are some people that feel he hasn't been accountable enough. I'm intrigued by how people get to where they are and what informs not just the decisions they make, but the people they become.

And Dababy is one of those people, because I loved what you said. You became a fan of his and then discovered things and I sometimes wonder how many times people all aren't given grace because we don't know what we don't know about them yeah and then when we do discover things about them they're lucky enough that their past or their or their present doesn't sort of catch up to them you know yeah and it wasn't just his kind of comments he also has kind of this history of violence and i do want to say that sometimes this is not to absolve him for any responsibility for the things he's done but how much is that linked to how we grew up right that is that where the violent come from i'm

curious about that but i do think we live in a world where violent men are able to get away with things with little to no consequence. But, you know, who knows what consequences he's faced both personally and professionally because of it. The question I would have is how willing is he to grow? Does he want to grow? Does he need to grow? Does he want to grow? Does he need to grow? And then more interesting for me is what is everything that has affected him? Like what are the ingredients that have come together to create the baby and who this human being is? That's what I'm really interested to get into with the baby is, you know, who is the human being behind the actions?

All right, yo, let's jump in with DaBaby. Let's see how this goes. DaBaby, welcome to the podcast. Pleasure to be here. Appreciate you having me. I think for this conversation, what I really wanted to get into is I appreciate you having me. I think for this conversation, what I really wanted to get into is understanding you as a human being to understand a lot about you as the artist.

Absolutely. You know, you've had an outsized influence on the world. You know, someone who has 21 million followers just on your Instagram. But what your music has done, what you've embodied, I think goes far beyond that. And so let's start with that I'm always intrigued by how an artist chooses their name and what that name means to them absolutely why the baby well I'm the youngest of three boys my mom has three sons I'm the youngest sibling out of the um out of the three sons. And not only that, like, early on, early on, I had the name Baby Jesus.

Okay. This is as a local artist, you know what I'm saying? But my mom didn't feel, she didn't feel good about that name. You know what I'm saying? A lot of people, they like, no, absolutely not. No, no. But I'm like, you know, my whole thing with it was like my purpose being, you know, to do for others. You know what I mean?

And not myself. So that's my responsibility. You know what I mean? On this earth. I would love to know what your family was like and why that has been such a driving force in your life. So you were born in Cleveland. Cleveland, Ohio. Raised in Charlotte, North Carolina.

So what moved there when you were seven years old? Yep. Was there a reason you moved? Was it good? Was it bad? Oh, it was a great thing. I commend my mother, you know what I mean, for changing our environment, our situation, even though Charlotte itself is not a walk in the park, you know what I mean?

Not at all. Not even a little bit. What was your mom like? Was she strict? Was she a disciplinarian? Absolutely. Was she a, yeah? Absolutely, but also fun? Was she a disciplinarian? Absolutely. Yeah? Absolutely.

But also fun, loving, nurturing. Right. You know what I mean? Like, all about her sons. Like, all about her sons. I remember her email was, my three sons, Linda. Like, everything is my three sons. My handsome son.

She's all about just uplifting. So she was proud of you from the beginning. Absolutely. Especially me. Like, I got the smile like her, the two dimples. I resemble her the most. Don't get mad at me to my brother. Y'all got mad at me enough growing up, but

I'm my mother's twin. You know what I'm saying? Sweetest woman on earth. You know what I mean? I'll give you the shoes off her feet, you know what I'm saying? Even if she didn't have another pair to put on. How did she punish you? Like if you did something wrong? She whooped our ass. Excuse my language. She whooped our ass, you know what I'm saying? Most definitely. Like we,

what was the worst whipping your mom gave you? Oh man. Um, like I remember mine, the two that I hated the most was I had two types of whippings that my mom would give me. One was the chasing whipping. That one was one where I was trying to get away, and she would just follow me. It was like a tornado coming after me. And then the other one was, like I tell my mom until this day, I go, that was like a war crime. She would send me outside to get a stick from a tree.

To pick a switch. You call it a switch. You call it a switch out here, right? Absolutely. And she would send me outside to pick my own punishment. Absolutely. I always said I hated being an accomplice to her crime. So everyone knows their worst,

like what was the worst whipping that you've ever been in? That was one of the ones that, that was always, you know, that's like adding insult to injury, you know what I mean? You know, especially when you try to find the tiniest little stick. Oh, those are the worst though.

And it's like, oh no, go back. You know what I'm saying? And it's like, go back. So know what I'm saying and it's like go back so definitely the ones with the switch and the extension cord you know

with landline oh man you hear the extension cord when you can hear it and one thing about my mom like one thing she always like she was very adamant on

like not feeling sorry for yourself like no like when we used to get whoopings like we weren't allowed to get whoopings, like, we weren't allowed to cry. The whooping isn't over until you stop crying.

Wow. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, like, that's it. Because it's like, you know, you know right from wrong. You know what I'm saying? How did you, you know, I feel like everyone has a different experience of this as a child. Did you know why you were being whipped? Absolutely.

But did you think that it was right? Or did you go, this is the worst thing in the world? Which way did you go? Because I feel there's always two types of kids. I knew right from wrong, you know. And it kind of tickles me sometimes because, like, with the way that I'm perceived, you know what I mean, by the public. Like, I was the good child in my house. Like, you know what I'm saying? In my household, I was in my house like you know I'm saying in my home my household I was the I was an angel you know I'm saying like I was an

angel so you know I say that to say you know like the environment that I come from the household I was raised in like every day it was like it was war you know to me like growing up was a challenge for me you know how let's talk about those challenges like like you know i grew up in south africa you know we had our challenges they're very different and yet i find in many ways very similar absolutely to many experiences that black americans had absolutely we all have our hood we all have the dude at the corner we all have the dice game right we all have the shootings we all have it's strange how familiar and yet how different the worlds were. On different sides of the world.

You grew up in this world where you have a mom who, by all accounts, is religious, is driven, is focused, is loving, is also a disciplinarian. She's keeping you in check. And she moves you to North Carolina. Now, when you're growing up in North Carolina, I've read a little on your story. I've listened to some of the interviews that you've had. It seems like you lived in a strangely hybrid world where, on the one hand, you had a few opportunities. But on the other hand, you were in the streets. And I'd love to know, how did you end up in the streets?

Did you find the streets or did the streets find you? how did you end up in the streets? What would like, did you find the streets or did the streets find you? So a lot of those elements like that you list, like, you know, you got the, the hoods, the dice game, you got the alcoholics, drug addicts, all of that one thing with me. And you know, and I, and I take my time speaking on this because I never discredit the, the superhero that my mother was and still is. You get what I'm saying? A lot of those elements like like, that, you know,

most people have to go down the street to see or venture off or don't go over there, go to places their parents tell them don't go to see, they were in the household with me. You know what I'm saying? Like, we would be watched by my uncles, like, my uncles who are either an alcoholic, drug addict. Right.

Do you get what I'm saying? Right, right. This or that. Like, real deal drug addicts. Like, not, you know, like, yeah, my grandmother's house directly across the street from the crack houses. That's what they called them, a crack house. Yeah, damn.

So it's, you know, drug addicts, prostitution, 24-7. Like, they're up from, they're up 4 or 5 in the morning, they're up the entire night, out the entire day, roaming the streets. Like, a lot of these elements, they were like right there. But at the time, like growing up, it just seemed completely normal to me. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? It's hard, though.

I mean, it's hard. You know, it's interesting. I grew up in a very religious household. Many of the views that I held growing up were completely shaped by that religion. Over time, they've shifted and they've changed. But that was the core of my foundation. I also grew up in a very African household. So those are some of the ideas that I held and I maintained. And it's interesting that you've now brought that up because you have your dad from afar giving you wisdom, contributing to your life, but he is from afar. You have your mom who's working all day, all night

to make your life just what it needs to be. To keep a roof over your head. And unfortunately, you're in an environment where you're surrounded by drugs, violence, alcohol. You can name it. I mean, people can imagine it, but when you're in it, it's a very different experience. It's extremely different.

There are two types of responses to this. There are people who will crumble because of this, and there are people who almost, they'll become galvanized by it, and they will fight within it. I feel like you're the latter. I feel like you're the kind of person who saw opportunities

and saw ways to thrive within that world. Absolutely. What was the first moment where, this is long before you're DaBaby, you know, I mean, you're Baby Jesus, you're the little kid in the family. And even with that, that name didn't come until... Oh, that didn't come until much later. Yeah, much later. That wasn't a childhood name. So at this point, you're still John.

Childhood, I was John John. You're just John John. John John or Hard Chocolate was another nickname. Hard Chocolate? Hard Chocolate. Okay, so you got John John or Hard Chocolate. What was the moment where the streets took you? What was that life?

What were you doing? Where were you going? There's a moment where it snaps. I remember the first time I had a, like, what was my first encounter with the police? snaps. I remember the first time I had a, like, what was my first encounter with the police? First encounter with the police was my friends and I had, we had like a replica gun that we had with us. And we were stupid. We were thinking maybe we would be, I don't even know. We were like, maybe we'll be gangsters. I don't know. But that was like our first encounter with the police. I mean, we'd get arrested for throwing block parties that were illegal. But you always remember your first, what was your first encounter with the police?

What was it about? What was happening in your life? I don't even know if the police were involved, but I remember I was in, I was in fourth grade, third or fourth grade, but I bought a pocket knife to school and I was showing it off to some girl. You know, I brought a pocket knife. I got expelled for bringing a knife to school. I'm so glad they didn't expel me. Oh, I got expelled. They suspended me for a day.

That is wild. I showed it to a girl and she told on me. They suspended me for a day. Oh, I got expelled for that one. They didn't. The knife was already gone when she told them. Thank God she waited probably to the end of the day to tell them because I probably would have got expelled too.

probably to the end of the day to tell them. Because I probably would have got expelled too. And that would have messed up my little school record because I was straight A's like all the way until like high school. I mean, nothing less than a B for sure. I didn't get a C till maybe high school. You know what? That is one of the paradoxes. So I don't know what it was like growing up where you grew up.

Where we grew up i found there was a there was a conflict there was a clash between the streets and school right if you did well in school guys would be like you're goofy guys would say you're a punk guys right and so there was almost this element of you don't want to do well because you don't want to be perceived as somebody you know who somebody can step up on somebody who can be you know taken advantage of it you are a strange mix in that. Absolutely. You were proud of your straight A's.

Yeah. But you're in the streets as well. Was there ever a moment where violence came into your world? Yeah, it was there. It existed the entire time. Oh, this is just a daily thing? Violence was in my world. When I'm three or four, like, I see, I see it's in the household.

I see my uncles fighting each other. Damn. My brothers, you know what I mean? With me, every day, it was like that. I was the baby boy. I was the one. They'd lock me in the closet, bang on the doors. Oh, wow.

Yeah, act like Jason's here, the boogeyman's here these types of things like it's yeah Like I was I used to piss in the bed because I was scared to get up to go to the bathroom You know what I'm saying like it was that type of thing right all sharing a room, but violence is yeah It was it was very much there like while my mom's out working all these long hard hours like my brother He's but he's probably 10 at the time 20 30 older kids in the house, you know what I'm saying? Like, yeah, like, there's a lot going on. Did you ever see a dead body growing up?

I've definitely been around, yeah, shootings and all that for sure. The first time, death probably was around me. A certain situation had happened with one of my family members, and I just remember it like it was yesterday that we were like sat down and told, when you go to school, because we're little kids, you don't speak about this to nobody. You don't ever bring this up to anybody.

I literally never have, you know what I'm saying? Like to this day, you know what I mean? But that's the first time I remember it. And I had to be maybe like, oh, I think I was in middle school. I don't think I was in elementary school. I think I was in middle school, but it was early in middle school. Had to be like sixth grade, seventh grade. Sixth grade, seventh grade.

Do you think you had a full comprehension of what that was? No, absolutely. No, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, I knew exactly what that was. But just in terms of violence, like. Were you scared ever? I was scared all the time, every day. But as a child, you know what I mean?

Like my mom's not at home. And so and then, you know, like elementary school kids, they get out of school first. Yeah. So I had a house key at like age six. I got let myself in. You know what I mean? I come home and let myself in a six year old. You know what I'm saying? When I look at my daughter right now being six years old I'm like wow. I can't believe I was going through that.

Oh for sure. And like I say it didn't feel like I was going through anything. It did. It very much did but it didn't. Like this was just the norm.

I don't know anything outside of this. You know what I'm saying? But I say that to say like you know when my brothers will come home shortly after they come in

and go right back outside. They leave me. You get what I'm saying? They go right back outside so I'm in the say like, you know, when my brothers will come home shortly after, they come in, go right back outside. They leave me. You get what I'm saying? They go right back outside. So I'm in the house. Like, that's probably one of the reasons why I'm just so self-sufficient. I had to be. You know what I mean?

Like, I had to be. Like, I had no choice. Right. Many moments where you're raising yourself. Yeah, absolutely. Like, I'm feeding myself. I'm making my own food. You know what I mean?

All that. One of my uncles, they have a story that they tell us where, because one of my uncles doesn't do drugs, right? Hardcore drugs. He drinks. Doesn't do hardcore drugs. But where he tried to beat one of my other uncles with a baseball bat because he had me with him in a crack house smoking crack.

Like he had me with him. I was like one, two years years old you get what i'm saying like these types of things like that's what i come from and it also helps me understand why i'm set up the way i'm set up as a person you know what i'm saying that's that's fascinating that you that you have that level of of self-awareness to understand how much of you has been shaped by the world that you were and that's newly this is this is all these are all things that I'm beginning to notice like within the old couple years okay yeah I know this stuff when I come sit down with people because I've never been to therapy is therapy even is that allowed in hip-hop

I utilize my yeah I mean several people recommend it to I believe you know it's I believe it's something it would be like extremely healthy for me that's why I like you know I always lean towards like interviews, especially like early on. Like when I first popped in the mainstream and when I sit down with somebody, you'll get a whole you'll get so much more out of me than probably like the average person. Because it's like, you know, I'd walk out of interviews like, damn, like that's those are stories I've been waiting to tell. I almost forgot about them. Like it takes, you know, you buried them and then you wait I almost forgot about them. That's interesting, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You've buried them, and then you wait for somebody to ask you.

That's what I did with my childhood. It elicits something out of you. Buried it. That's what I did. I buried it. All those memories, like, that's what I did. So I know how to, like, bury things. Yeah, let me ask you this.

As somebody who grew up in a household, and I'm speaking about myself now. I grew up in a household where, you know, there was a lot of domestic violence. I grew up around. I was around plenty of that. Plenty. I grew up around, you know there was a lot of domestic violence. I was around plenty of that. I grew up around uncles who were violently drunk. You see it. You go through phases. You're afraid.

You're terrified. You freeze. Everything you're speaking about, I can relate to. And there's also one emotion that you don't realize you're having because you don't have the power to have it. And that is anger. Right. Right. Suppressed anger.

Yeah. I can only imagine there was a lot of suppressed anger inside you. For sure. Because you are the baby. There's a lot of the time you don't have control. Yeah. You got siblings and whatever. Exactly.

That's a whole different category. So you're dealing with just brothers on their own. But now you're also dealing with uncles. You're whole different category. So you're dealing with just brothers on their own, but now you're also dealing with uncles. You're dealing with the streets. You're dealing with a world that is- Brothers who are angry about this same world that I'm living in, but they're actually older than me and able to process it. So it's hitting them, you know what I mean? Even harder than it's hitting me. How did your anger manifest itself?

Without the support of a father. That's the difference too. Like I'm the baby boy and I'm the one whose father is in his life at a distance. Okay. Okay, so your brothers didn't have that. No. Oh, okay. And growing up, like, you can see.

Like, you see the difference between me and my brothers, you know what I'm saying? Do you think that was the defining factor? My oldest brother committed suicide in 2020. Damn. So when you say, like, I remember, you know, maybe like five minutes ago in a conversation, when you say, you know, like, some people, they crumble or, you know, these types of elements in their environment and just their upbringing destroys them. Like you see the difference like between, you know what I mean, how I dealt with it and, you know, like what I was able to blessed enough to be able to turn it into as opposed to, you know, like it ultimately being like my brother's demise. You know what I'm saying?

Do you think your dad was the defining factor? Absolutely. You think that made the difference? Absolutely. What do you think it was about your dad being in your life, even from a distance, that made the difference? Just always just putting something on my mind and just showing me something different. Like always, like always. And I don't, you know, I'm going to keep having to like go back to saying like I I can't discredit the job that my mother did.

She did amazing. You know what I mean? Because she also has to allow him to be able to do that. Like, a mother has to make a way for that to happen. You know what I'm saying? Like, she has to. She has to. No, call your father right now.

You know what I'm saying? Like, she. What was your. Tell me a little bit about. Because at times I'd stray away from it. Tell me a little bit about your dad, though. Like, what was his life? He was in the army. What was he was his life? He was in the Army.

Oh, he was in the military. Oh. He went to the Army when I was born. Oh, this is interesting. So he was in the Army for like 10 years straight until he, like, injured his foot. You know what I mean? So he was at all those wars, Afghanistan, Iraq. I'd get the pictures of him.

I used to love the pictures of him with the guns. I'd show them off, have them on my wall in my room. I used to write him. That's why I'm such a good writer. I'd write him letters back have him on my wall in my room. I used to write him. That's why I'm such a good writer. I'd write him letters back and forth when he was in the army. He's really at war. I had to communicate with him through letters. You know what I'm saying? And he'd write me. I'd write him back as a child. Like he'd tell my mom, let him write me. I'd write him back. He'd like grade my papers like an English professor, like red line it. You know what I'm saying? Like have, you know,

like punctuation corrections, everything throughout the paper paper and he wouldn't even let me like use slang and he's from that too he's from cleveland ohio right so he's but he wanted me yes when i'm with him you know he'll he'll he'll relax a little bit more with it and you know what i mean but while i'm over here uh-huh mom's side because it's a whole different, you know, yeah, it's a completely different cloth over here. Yes, ma'am. Yes, sir. Yeah, like he's very adamant on just making sure, and it made the world of a difference, you know what I'm saying? This episode is brought to you by Fidelity Investments Canada.

Make investing simple. Fidelity's all-in-one ETFs are designed to do just that. In fact, Fidelity does the heavy lifting, including rebalancing these ETFs to help navigate changing market conditions. Visit fidelity.ca slash all-in-one. Getting closer to your goals could start today. Commissions, fees, and expenses may apply.

Read the funds or ETFs prospectus before investing. Funds and ETFs are not guaranteed. Their values change, and past performance may not be repeated. What day of the week do you look forward to most? Well, it should be Wednesday. Ahem, Wednesday. Why, you wonder?

Whopper Wednesday, of course. When you can get a great deal on a whopper. Flame grilled and made your way. And you won't want to miss it. So make every Wednesday a whopper Wednesday, only at Burger King, where you rule. Your music career is public. Your music career is public. Your music career is well-known. So I won't delve into that too much. What I'd love to understand is behind the scenes.

Right. As the baby, you start blowing up. Your music starts growing. You start building up a fan base. You start making money. You start experiencing success. What confuses me is how violence still stays a part of your world. Absolutely.

You know, this is something I've learned changes depending on where you're from and the hood that you're in is how you respond to conflict and how conflict is expected to be dealt with. Absolutely. That's the disconnect. Right. So in South Africa, for instance. The disconnect, for sure.

Yeah, in South Africa, we have different hoods. You know, so we had like, Alexandra was one township, and then Soweto is where my grandmother's from, and you have Tembisa, et cetera. And we'd even know, we'd go like, oh, cats from that hood, they'll stab you. For sure.

Cats from this hood will break a bottle on your head. Cats from this hood will shoot you. Like, we'll even say like, those guys shoot. Right. Those guys stab, those guys. But you almost know what type of violence is either expected or probably going to happen to you in those worlds. It feels like the world you were in was a gun environment. Right?

It was all of the above. It was all of the above. Absolutely. So when you're growing up, do you think to yourself, all right, there is only one way I can defend myself? Do you know that there is an ultimate conclusion? Like, how does DaBaby exist in this world, trying to be you whilst acknowledging that you're still in Charlotte and you're still,

because you're successful now, you're an artist. This is DaBaby, like, this is an early on. Yeah, not as a child, but as an adult. Okay, yeah. I mean, one night, I was getting ready to go to the club i didn't go everybody else went i'm like i'm tired i'm gonna sleep i hear the door gate i hear i don't even notice until after the fact i hear people screaming that's what i feel like woke me up when i when i jumped up i hear people screaming where's that get down get down where's that where's that

shit like that you know what i mean and i immediately grab my gun come out around the corner it's like six people with masks and guns you know i'm saying they're looking through the boxes i had like different posters with different pictures like i had all my promo material out like in the front yeah um it's like a condo a condo type of apartment where it has stairs in it and yeah you know i mean you can come in the garage from the top but you don't know that if you come through the front door down here yep that type of situation maybe three four bedrooms me and my brother were both staying there and um i come around the corner it's like maybe yeah like six people you know what i mean with mask on this is like you know two in the morning two three in the

morning maybe like six people with mask on and guns creeping around the corner some of them looking through the boxes with the posters the closest person when i turned the corner was as close as me and you are yeah yeah when i turned the corner welding a gun you know i'm saying like creeping like having it down low i i'm the same way when i turn the corner boom shoot spin back around the corner because this is I'm completely outgunned Like it's Like I I immediately see You know As soon as I turn the corner It's

Several bodies in here All in all Black All got masks on All of you guys Shit Turn the corner Shots just ring

Boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom I go out Through the top And open the garage To where Because the side street To where you can Yeah

Walk through the grass Or the little sidewalk Get to the front door I come up through the top And the grass or the little sidewalk, get to the front door. If I come up through the top and I come out of the garage, if I look to the left, it's literally like right there. I just have to cut through some grass and it's right there. And I can hear them. You hit, you hit somebody.

You hit and they jump in the car, pull off. You know what I mean? That's the first shooting incident. But whatever. Like it's Charlotte. It's normal. Whoa, whoa, whoa. You say, but whatever.

And this is sort of what I'm trying to understand and what I'm trying to get to is I hear your but whatever, and this is sort of what I'm trying to understand and what I'm trying to get to is I hear your but whatever, but it's also not whatever. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. What I mean by this is like a few things. One, you hear the commotion. You hear what's going on. You grab your gun.

grab your gun. What I wonder sometimes, whether you think about your life, because I try and think this about my life and I think many of us don't, is how abnormal some of our normal actually is. Absolutely. You know, the fact that you think there's a possibility this is happening.

You know, the baby's not walking down the stairs going like, hello, is anybody there? You know what I mean? You're going, yeah, you're immediately going, I know what it is. I feel like God woke me up and put my hand on my gun. Well, there you go. Get out there type.

You know what I'm saying? That tells me the kind of world that you're living in to think that that's a possibility. You know, the fact that you then go through the motions the way you do tells me that this is a world where you believe that it's a possibility. Absolutely. Day in and day out. Once, let's say post that event, there's trauma, there's, there's, there's fear, there's everything. Obviously you have the fight or flight. So fight kicks in first,

but there's gotta be a moment where you go, I'm not safe. Or there's gotta be like, oh yeah, the bullets, the return gunfire just missed me. You know what I'm saying? It just missed me. I feel like the the difference with me like I don't you know it in terms of uh how do I deal with violence as opposed to how people expect me to deal with violence like you know in my upbringing it's like your only option is to you know defend yourself right so you have this world where you genuinely believe, and maybe validly so, that anytime anything can happen, anyone can step up to you.

Anyone wants to test you. This is an environment that you're- Not even necessarily test-like. And so what I'm trying to understand and trying to get to in your world is sort of an understanding of this. Because you see what you just said now is interesting. It is not a test. You're dealing with very real situations.

Do you, in this moment in time, do you feel like you're a safe individual? Do you feel like you're beyond it now? Never. No? I can walk outside right now and anything can happen to anybody. But who would the anything be?

And who would the anybody? And I mean this honestly. There's no way. I'd have no way of knowing. You know what I mean? I'd literally have no way of knowing. You know what I mean? Like, I'd literally have no way of knowing. But would it be the streets coming back or would it be, like, what is it? What makes somebody do something wrong, it doesn't necessarily have to have anything to do with you.

You know what I mean? Somebody could be having a bad day and, you know, and step and trip over your foot accidentally on the way in the store. And the next thing you know, it's the next because they turn around and kill you it turns into you know what i mean a fight or a life a life or death situation you know what i'm saying let me ask you this though based upon what you see is is a is a beautiful segue to this question you are a parent and you're a proud parent absolutely you. You talk about being a father. You talk about what it means to you. It's my favorite thing to be.

Oh, yeah? Mm-hmm. And there is a valid argument that it is about the environment and it is the world that you're in. Mm-hmm. What is the world that you want to see that you're creating for your child? What is that world? And how different or how do you make that world different? Because I'm assuming you don't want your daughter knowing that as a reality.

I'm assuming you don't want your daughter thinking of that as a possibility. Not necessarily. You want her to be aware of it, I'm assuming. Absolutely. And that's the word I was going to use. It's just being aware of the world that she exists in, which she already is. Like it's just being aware of the world that she exists in, which she already is. Like when, you know, when I got into the situation and a guy was shot and killed in Walmart by me, my daughter was right there.

She's right there, one years old. How did she process that? She didn't. She didn't. She probably doesn't even remember her older brother. Definitely probably remembers it. You know what I'm saying? She's one, so he had to be what, five at the time.

He's her age. He was a year younger than what she is now. If she saw it now, she'd definitely remember it. I mean, of course, it's completely traumatizing. How do you speak to your kids about that? What do you say after that situation? For real? I don't. Now,

immediately after, yeah, I just pay very close attention to him you know what i mean i've definitely had a conversation with the older brother my daughter wasn't even really talking at the time she was but it's like you know but with your son though what's the conversation it's just more so just checking on him seeing how he himself processed it not telling him how to process it you know what i mean okay like not telling him how to process it. You know what I mean? Okay. Like not telling him how to process it. And, you know, thank God he was one aisle over from me and he didn't actually see it.

Right. So he hears boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, and sees an entire, you know, a Walmart store evacuate. Yeah. You know, a fire alarms going off, the little siren going off. Like he sees it. You know what I mean? He sees mayhem.

He hears the conversations immediately after when I come back over to check on them. Like he sees it all, you know what I mean? He hears, he's very aware, like he hears people talk about it, of course. So then, like what happened in Walmart? Yeah, I mean, that's what I attempted to do originally was de-escalate the situation with my words, but that isn't, you know, what the opposing side of the situation, that isn't what they wanted.

They had different intentions in that. You know, that just goes back to like what I'm saying. Like, you never know. Like, I'm in Walmart buying diapers and, you know, But you don't know this person, right? No, hell no. From a can of paint. I'm in Walmart just buying,

shopping for my kids. Baby shampoo, shit like that. Absolutely. Yeah, they know me from being the rapper from our city. Like, the rapper that's in our city. Okay, okay. So that altercation starts off because this person is? Curious as to what they see.

You know somebody that has something going on? You know, like, from the environment I'm from, the city I'm from? Yeah. The person who has something going on, it's like, fuck him. Like, he, like, it's like, fuck him. It's immediately. I remember seeing a Biggie interview where he's like, yeah, growing up, we'd see the person drive by with the nice car. The jury is, fuck that nigga. I'd kill that nigga.

Yeah, that's how it is. You know what I mean? People, they target success. A lot of people with nothing to gain. You know, they target, you know, success. A lot of people with nothing to gain. Like, I remember the media, like, when it happened, like, reports were flying around saying that they attempted to rob me. They didn't.

It was never a robbery. It wasn't, you know, I had nothing to rob me for. You know what I mean? Like, it wasn't a robbery attempt at all. I'm like, you know what I'm saying? It was a, I don't know, an ego thing. I don't know. You know what I'm saying? Right. I don't know. If they wanted to test me. That's what I'm saying it was uh it was uh I don't know an ego thing uh I don't know you know what I'm saying right I don't know but if they wanted to test me that's what that's what it was it was a test like you know people see you know a person admired you know a certain way or perceived

a certain way and they want to test it they want to know okay what makes this and I and what I think it is you know what I mean is this like why why do they deserve what they're what they're working towards i don't even have it yet right you know what i mean you know it's it's not at the same level but i found it exists in all professions comedians what we experience is people always try to test how funny i know this is ridiculous absolutely people try and test how funny they go let me see if i can make him a fool. Let me see. So I'll go out, I'll be at a restaurant. I'll be, people will do the stupidest things. Sometimes it's a person serving. Sometimes the person who's at a restaurant, they go, let me act the fool in their life because I want to see if I can out fool. And I go, but that's not what

I do. I've seen this happen to, you know, like soccer players. They'll, someone will see them in the street and go, Oh, I have a ball. Let me go and see if I can throw it in front of the ground and see if I can. But what's interesting is hip hop is one of the few professions and worlds where it is tied to something that is a lot more real and a lot more dangerous. So the test that you, I'm getting the test of a fool. I'm getting the test of a joker. I'm getting the test of a gangster. You see, that's a difficult thing about hip hop that I think a lot of people don't understand.

And while I don't condone it, I don't like it, but I go it's a very real thing. It's very real. You know, it's very much, It's dangerous to not know how real it is. It's dangerous to not know, you know what I mean? There you go. It cost several rappers their life, you know what I mean?

Time and time again. Right. I'm gonna ask you a question that may be ignorant, but I know a lot of people will ask it because they're not familiar with the world. A lot of people would say, but DaBaby, why don't you leave that world? I did. Why don't you go live in another neighborhood? Just escape it all.

There's no shootings in Westchester, DaBaby. There's no shootings in my part of Connecticut. Why don't you escape that world? How would you respond to that question? I hadn't made it out of the city yet. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah of shooting incidents on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach. I hear you. You see what I'm saying? Like that is where you wanna move to. And that's what I'm saying. It's like you never know when violence is right there in front of you. Like you just simply don't know.

It's all about the type of day somebody's having or the way, it's more so about how you move throughout these different environments. You know what I'm saying? That's what it's all about. It's about knowing how to move no matter, you know, where you're at. But when you have the magnifying glass on you that artists or entertainers have, especially rappers, right? Hip-hop artists.

You know, it comes with the world of people who feel like that is for this type of person. What makes him deserve that, and they immediately, you know, they feel entitled to what you have going on or entitled to, they feel entitled to the idea of you having to go through everything they're going through in order to exist in that space. You get what I'm saying?

Yeah, yeah. So it's like, you know, and that's where you get situations where, like, people are willing to come, you know, approach a guy with his two kids and their mother in a grocery store, in Walmart. Right. You know what I mean? With no intent. Like, you know, it'd make more sense to me if they thought I had a large amount of money on me or some jewelry and they were attempting to rob me.

This guy just died for nothing you get what i'm saying because his friend and that's what i'm saying it's about knowing how to move and a lot of times it's about the people that you got with you you know what i'm saying because that guy died for his friend that night because his friend approached me you know what i'm saying his friend was the was the catalyst of the situation were you were you sad that he lost his life knowing because it feels like you have a certain level of understanding for his world. It was sad, but yeah, it was

definitely sad. Was I sad? I can't sit here and honestly say I was sad. I became more aware of, you know, I was reminded once again, it was more like, you know, reassurance that, hey, you never know what's going to happen.

And you have to be prepared. You know what I mean? Had I not been prepared, had I not been legally possessing a firearm, you get what I'm saying? Had I not been prepared, I would have had a gun pulled out on me, my one-year-old daughter, her four-year-old brother, their mother. And then I would have just been at the mercy of however they're feeling or whatever they decide to do. Right. And these are people who clearly don't, don't walk around making good decisions. You get what I'm saying? But that's what I would have been left with,

you know, and, uh, but ultimately, you know, most importantly I'd have been left with the responsibility to protect my family in that situation. FanDuel Casino's exclusive live dealer studio has your chance at the number one feeling, winning, which beats even the 27th best feeling, saying I do.

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Gambling problem? Call 1-866-531-2600 or visit connectsontario.ca. Please play responsibly. It's what you said about moving between worlds. You said you move from one world to another, not realizing that you don't understand the other world. And there's a level of ignorance that you move into it with. DaBaby blows up in hip-hop, becomes an icon,

becomes somebody who's setting trends. You're not just a music maker. You're a trend creator. You then accelerate that growth into a world where you are now on mainstream media, the SNLs, the Rolling Stones. You're on covers. The Grammys with you. The Grammys with me.

You know what I mean? You're in this world. Six nominations. Doing your thing, right? And all of that comes to a halt. A lot of it, because not all of it, really. A lot of it comes to a halt when one day you're on stage, and in the middle of a performance,

you start saying things to the crowd about AIDS and gay people and I mean you just as I would say it with friends if I was talking colloquially I'd be like just shooting off at the mouth just going and that sets into effect a series of dominoes

oh immediately you didn't show up today with HIV AIDS any of them dead it's a social expanse it'll make you die in 2-3 weeks Oh, immediately. So let's break this down in steps and in stages. Because when things are happening to us, they often happen so fast that we cannot process what is happening. And I think from the public's point of view, oftentimes people consume something and then there's another story and then you move on and there's no real processing of anything. So let's start with the actual incident. You're on stage, you know, you go into this moment with the audience where you're saying

these things. What was your intention in that moment? Just to have everybody do exactly what they did, just to put their cell phone lights up and, you know, create a transitional moment in my set, in my performance. But why do you think you said what you said? Where do you think it came from? I mean, what I said was, I mean, I said it so naturally and without any ill intent, but at the same time, on hindsight, definitely.

And it didn't even have to be that far behind for it to be on hindsight. I learned immediately. I'm speaking the way I'm speaking, ignorant to the way that it'll be perceived with me being the person who I've grown and worked to be. You know what I'm saying? Because it's not, like like I say it's completely unintentional like and not once did I even mention you know a gay person like I didn't even say anything about a gay person I'd mention if you don't have AIDS fellas I said if you didn't perform oral sex on somebody in the parking lot right put a cell phone light up all these are

just things to you know to to somewhat get you not somewhat to very much so get you lot, put a cell phone light up. All of these are just things to somewhat get you, not somewhat, to very much so get you to just put a cell phone light up, and which literally everybody did. Like, I don't, you know, everybody did. So you see now, this is what I'm trying to get to. Everybody there. That's what, exactly.

This is what I'm trying to get to. And that's the disconnect, but I'm just in a space to where I'm not making excuses for it. No, no, no. I just feel like I should have been so much more aware of the fact, first of all, that it's being live streamed. Right, right. And you know that this can potentially be used as, you know, used as a vessel to just paint my character or assassinate my character or just paint it a certain way. You know what I mean?

And that's just, it wasn't what it was. But in terms of like how I responded to it, and I think that was the most, I think that was more detrimental than what I said itself. Yeah. The way I responded to the backlash that I got. You know what I mean? The early backlash. Right.

The first wave of it. Like I kind of like took it as a joke. Like this got to be a joke. You know what I'm saying? Like I'm like, this can't be like, y'all don't think like, you know what I'm saying? Like, Oh,

this is just another attempt to, you know what I mean? For the media to, you know, to knock me off of this pedestal that they feel like I'm on me. This felt minuscule to me. Like this didn't feel like something that needed to be, you know,

responded to from a, a place of, of me being worried. Like, I felt like the second I say, no, that's not what I meant, like, that should have been understood, and boom. Or if you were there, you get what I'm saying? Like, I feel like they should...

Well, let's take a step back then, maybe, and go through each thing. Okay. If you have grown up in hip-hop, I will be honest, I will be a person who says this, and maybe this will now bounce back on me. But I'll be honest. No, no, no, but I'll say this.

In hip hop, there's a lot of language that is used, there are a lot of ideas that are used that, it's like surface level, and we have to admit, is also homophobic. There's a lot of homophobia and racism, and I'm not trying to make you solve all of that. I want to talk to DaBaby, not everybody about everything? Because I think you're one individual who is part of something. But you can't deny, you know, whether it's, you know, black community in Africa and

North America. And I mean, even the white community, I mean, you know, it's oftentimes black people get singled out. But I feel like homophobia is something that has been rampant throughout time and then slowly has been evolving over the past maybe two decades really in in our lifetimes you look at from the 80s to now there's been a huge jump and it's still not complete absolutely but in in that moment it feels like to me correct me if i'm wrong but it feels like to me you're on stage you're saying something that feels reflexively funny and just like engaging with the audience that they're, because as you said, they engage with you, right? Absolutely.

Okay. They engage with you in this moment. You're having a good time. It does go outside of that bubble, right? And as you said, now you're aware of the context outside of that. People then say to you, DaBaby, you're homophobic. DaBaby, you hate gay people. Why would you parrot these ideas?

It was that part. People speak out. People speak out. I understand you were offended. I understand that you were hurt. Nobody wants to be labeled as something that they don't see themselves as. But was there also a part of you

that understood why people were saying that? At the time? At the time, no. I literally i was i was you know i literally did not understand i made it clear that i didn't understand you get what i'm saying like because it's you know in my videographer that works very close to me right he was going through just the hard drives i've been recording my entire journey since i've got serious about it right and he's like bro i'm watching it. And you said the same thing before at a show. I said it before at a show, right?

I'm on tour, but I'm not the top streaming artist in the world. I'm not the top streaming rapper in the world at the time. You get what I'm saying? So, you know, I think that's the difference. Like I got so many. I got a completely new world of people who look up to me, you know what I'm saying? Who support me, you know what I mean? Who buy my music, you know what I mean?

They literally look up to me. My music has probably helped them get through certain situations, you know what I'm saying? What have you, you know what I mean? And I'm unaware of that, you know what I'm saying? I'm aware of it, but I'm unaware of the way that, you know, certain things that I would normally say that wouldn't even, you know, not even normally say like that's, you know. No, no, no. But I think, look. Something that I would say and look at is like, okay, no, that's normal.

I don't feel like you should be offended. I think we have to be honest about that. That's why I think we won't get far. And not just the two of us, but I think in society. The reason I don't think we get far with a lot of these conversations is because we're not honest enough about. So to say that the baby's an outlier, I think, is a dishonesty. But to say that what the baby did is good is not, it's like, for me, it becomes a symptom. It goes like, oh, shit, that thing now got exposed to the world.

Now it's like, okay, all right. The baby showed a little bit of his world to the outside world, a bigger world than he normally does. And now he's dealing with those ramifications. world to the outside world, a bigger world than he normally does. And now he's dealing with those ramifications. It sounds to me like you are stepping into a world where you're understanding this. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, for sure. Now, for sure. But now here's the thing I want to know from you on a personal level, and maybe it's too personal. And if it is, forgive me. But like, do you think that your experiences since then have helped you understand? Do you feel like you're becoming more tolerant?

Or do you think you've been more defensive? Like, this is just you as a human being. I'd love to know how you've responded to the criticism or how you felt. Like, as the baby, what do you want to be more of now that you're on the other side of that, you know? What do I want to be more? So which, so you want me to answer the first half of it?

Because you're saying you didn't think it was homophobic at the time when you said this, right? Yeah, yeah, for sure. And you said then. But you said now. Yeah, and it didn homophobic at the time when you said this, right? Yeah, for sure. And you said then. But you said now. Yeah, and it didn't even take all the way up until now. Like, even, you know, over a year ago, I'm like, I get it. You know what I'm saying?

Okay, okay. When I see, you know, like, when I see, you know, like, how detrimental it was to my career and my journey and everything that I worked that hard for. Like, just when I see the amount of manpower being put behind you know I'm saying like just shining but do you see how I don't this narrative I see like wait no that was in what I say is impactful like but what I'm what I'm saying do you see the impact that it has on members of the gay community who make fans of you do you also see that absolutely like I see it you know what i'm saying i see it and and you know um all together like i'm ignorant to the to the fact at the time you know what i'm saying i'm ignorant to the fact

first of all it's you know i what i didn't intend to offend anybody that's the first step and then you know once i did okay understand okay, okay, wait, I offended people. I'm ignorant to how I offended them. I know you're offended. You know what I'm saying? That's interesting. Immediately after you get what I'm saying. That's interesting.

And I know I didn't mean that, but how much I offended them or how impactful something that I say is at this level that I've worked. And that's the thing. I didn't wake up and be like, okay, look, you're a role model. You're the face of hip-hop right now. I was literally damn near the face of hip-hop, you know what I'm saying? But, you know, I wasn't aware

of how impactful my words can be. Because I say, and this is not an excuse. This isn't me deflecting or anything, but on that stage I also said something about probably a shooting or this or that, but that wasn't, you know, that's not perceived that way. You get what I'm saying? So it's kind of like, that's just me offering an example of how somebody can get why I didn't immediately get how. Actually, let's go into that because that is interesting.

Do you feel like people take the shooting, let's say if you talk about shootings or if you talk about anything like violence or anything, do you think people take that with a grain of salt, but then they take the homophobia as being truth? They go like, oh, this, and I won't even put homophobia on you. They'll go like, oh, those statements, they go like, that's your truth. But then the other stuff is you just messing around. Is that what you say you feel?

Absolutely. That's what I know. I mean, it's, you know, I'm a walking example of that. You know what I'm saying? Because it's like, you know, it's okay for me to say these types of things,

but this is like, hell no. Like I wouldn't dare even say anything remotely close to it now. Like in private or public, like I don't, you know what I close to it now, in private or public. I don't, you know what I'm saying? Because it's like my entire world was shifted by that. You know what I mean?

The public knows oftentimes how it wants to flog somebody. The public knows how it wants to punish somebody. Right. I find the public doesn't often know how it wants to reconcile with somebody. Right. I would like to know from your perspective, A, do you feel like people engaged with you on a level? And this is like everybody from inside the industry, from outside. Do you feel like people engaged with you on a level human to human where they helped you

understand? And then B, do you feel like there was ever a path to redemption for you to like change and grow? Or do you feel like it was the baby, you're cut off, this is who you are and you're done? The latter of the two, for sure. I feel like it was more so like, no, you're done. You know what I'm saying, type of thing.

Now the difference is like, you know, you got one or two decisions to make to let, you know what I mean, a mistake define you, or to, you know, put in the work necessary to, you know, change the narrative bits and bits and pieces at a time. Right. Like it is what it is. It's, you know, I don't I don't feel entitled to.

And this this goes back to earlier in our conversation. It's a beautiful thing. I was always taught to not never look for sympathy, never look to make somebody feel sorry for you. So that just goes to like my reaction to it taking, you know, the turn that it did, you know, the turn for the worst that it did. Like I have had it instilled in me that, you know, you don't make people feel sorry for you, you know what I mean? No matter what you go through. I hear you there. no matter what you go through.

I hear you there. That can, that can, you know, almost like heighten, you know, people can look at that as ignorance or, or arrogance as opposed to me just being, you know,

the, the person that I was raised to be. Right. I'm saying that I have to, I have to go through experiences like that to understand, okay, look, sometimes you,

you might need to do that immediately. You get what I'm saying? I know that now. Yeah. I learned something new. In a way, you you might need to do that immediately. You get what I'm saying? I know that now. Yeah, I learned something new. In a way, it's like you took the whipping, essentially. Oh, yeah, for sure. Like, I'm going to, right. Like, when I used to get whoopings, I couldn't cry.

It doesn't stop until you, it's stop crying. You keep crying, boom, boom, but it's stop crying. So this is what, you know, like when I get a whooping, I got to take my lick and I carry on. Like, you get what I'm saying? Like, that's what I do. In that situation, that was looked at as a, he doesn't care. He's that much worse of a person, like that type of thing.

You get what I'm saying? When it's really like, you know, I care enough to keep going. Like, that's what somebody has to understand. Like, that's, you know, it's very few that care the way I care. Very few. Like, that ends people. Like, they'll never few that care the way I care. Well, that's what that's what that ends people like. They'll never be sitting across the table from you. Exactly. And that's that's that's actually you see, it's funny you said that because that's exactly what I said to the team.

As I said, what intrigues me about the baby is this. He has every opportunity to stay immersed in a world that will fully accept everything that he has done. Absolutely. And yet he keeps on insisting on trying to both explain, reconcile, and deal with what has happened. And that intrigues me. And so now you've explained that to me as a person. Before I let you go, though, I'd love to know where you go from here. What now?

You know, summer came around. You had a song on the on the billboard hot 100 you know you're still making good music you're still a fantastic artist thank you so much you know i hope for you as a human being genuinely that you'll continue to grow i do think you should look into therapy no for sure one brother to another no for sure i promise you it'll change and for your kids i've been on to it. I'll share this with you real quick before I ask you about the future. So my mother was shot by my stepfather, right? She survived, thank God. But one of the biggest things I regretted, and I always talk to my mom about this, is the fact that myself and my two younger brothers never went to therapy to deal with it.

Right. My youngest brother was, I don't know, maybe six years old when it happened. Mistakenly, my mom thought he doesn't fully process and understand it. How old were you? I was 20. I was in my 20s. I was in my 20s. Maybe even touching 30.

Yeah, but 20s, I think, late 20s. And then the middle brother, the one who drove my mom to the hospital, he was a teenager at the time. 20s and then the middle brother the one who drove my mom to the hospital he was he was a teenager at the time and one of honestly one of my greatest regrets is that we didn't know at the time how powerful and impactful therapy could be in helping us not just deal with but unearth some of the traumas that we hadn't dealt with for sure you know some of the angers some of the fears some of the you know and it don't get me wrong it's a scary thing it's a crazy thing and also therapy has a stigma attached to it you know but, but I personally as a human being,

I would encourage it for you and especially your kids because you seem like the kind of dad who wants them to have 10 times what you had. You want her to have all the A's. Yes. I honestly believe that. And so I'd love to know where you go from here. What now for the baby? So professional with me, the next step would definitely be venturing into film and television for sure. That's something I've been passionate about from the get-go, really from the beginning.

Maybe even before the music, you know what I'm saying? And, you know, what I bring, it's like the same thing that gives me somewhat of, I won't even say the upper hand, but a different perspective or an interesting perspective that can't be found anywhere else is my life experiences that I've been able to you know I mean navigate through and these are like a lot of the things that I implement in like my music videos from day one you know all the way until now to where I have other artists and major labels reaching out to me to direct videos yeah yeah you know what I mean artists that are signed to major labels and things of that nature.

You know, I got people who have like, you know, the top rated, you know, television shows and, you know, filmmakers like they're, they can't wait for me to, you know, give them, you know, what I got going on inside of this burning of minds, you know. So that's what I'm on. And not only that, like just solidifying a safe space for my kids to, you know, somewhat because they're, I mean, my kids have pretty much been born into this, right? You know what I mean? Like just, they've been around it. Like my daughter, my daughter can direct, like she, you let her make a TikTok, like

her perspective is just like,'s amazing you know what i mean she's musically inclined like you know like it's it's just amazing like she's an amazing amazing little girl um but it's just you know making sure that that while i'm here which i've been doing from day one but you know literally like solidifying like you know a position for her to do because she's grown old enough, you know, for me to begin to see the things that she loves early on. And she, you know, I got something very, very special coming up with me and my daughter that I just know. I don't even care how the world feels about it, like, because she's in love with the idea and I'm in love with it.

And, you know, we get to do, you know, we get to do something, you know, at a high level, you know, together. Right. So that's going to be beautiful. Like, I'm so excited about that. So excited about that. Therapy. You know what I mean?

That's definitely something. Conversations like this is therapeutic. When I sit across from people like you, you know, I already know, okay, boom, that's going to be a therapy session ahead. Like, I love it. You know what I mean? Like, I just love people who have boom, that's going to be a therapy session ahead. Like, I love it. You know what I mean? Like, I just love people who have compelling conversation, who just come from a place, especially you.

Like, the more I talk to you and just knowing, like, your, you know, your real life experiences and, you know, things that you've been through, you can understand my perspective and, you know, my setup as a person and my character from a place that, you know, a lot of people just simply can't. Like, I always felt like that's my purpose like I feel like the way my career has played out this far is that's exactly how it was supposed to happen like right because even at the time like you know with with this and me as a person like that that's very big the therapy and just finding the outlet for all of the feelings and and emotions and experiences I've suppressed this entire time.

Yeah. Because even during the fact, like, okay, I'm the top streaming artist in the world. I'm, you know, one of the, like, go-to live performers. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Definitely, like, top of the, you know what I mean, the food chain. But, you know, I also, my brother just killed himself in front of his daughter. You know what I mean?

Just months before then. You know what I'm saying? Left four kids. You know what I'm saying? So it's like, and I'm the head of the family. Like, I'm responsible for so many people. You know what I mean? Emotionally, financially.

You know what I mean? Like, I'm just responsible for so much and so many people. And this is me. But this is also still me being a person who grew up, you know, and having to suppress emotions, feelings, these types of things, and having it instilled in me to never let anyone feel sorry for you. You get what I'm saying? I hear you there.

Never let anyone feel sorry for you. So that was, like like the main thing and you know and and I saw you know my brother like looking for sorrow like and on on a live stream just you know seconds before ending the live stream and killing himself you know what I'm saying so it's like you know this these are this is my world as I'm going on that stage at Rolling Loud you get what I'm saying but I still went on that stage at Rolling Loud. You get what I'm saying? But I still went on the stage, gave a hell of a performance, right, up until that life-changing moment, that pivotal moment, career-changing moment, life-changing as well.

You know what I'm saying? But this is like I understand even with my reaction to that because, okay, now it's like they're telling, it's like they're making me take the lid off of that jar that i've just suppressed all these things in you know what i mean if i'm if i'm gonna tap into that space and i just feel like you know the world just got just got like you know the the the bad end of a ticking time bomb you know what i mean that's what i was like i was just a ticking time bomb the entire time so i feel like the way that situation played out man it was it was it was healthy it

was so needed because I'm such a hot commodity like and I'm such a hustler workaholic then I'm just I'm using my hustle to just you know to help me suppress I'm just staying busy to help me suppress all of these feelings you know I'm saying I'm not dealing with what's happening underneath. Absolutely. And what's happening underneath is very real. This is as real as it gets. That's my worst nightmare.

It's never been about me. It's my people. Right. You know what I'm saying? I've lived through my worst nightmare while being the, at the time, hottest artist in the world, top streaming rapper in the world. Right. Not just, you know what I'm saying? No man talked. at the time hottest artist in the world top streaming rapper in the world right not just you know what i'm saying like you know so it's it's yeah you know my plate was full but i'm not

one to complain i'm gonna grab my fork my knife and my spoon i'm gonna eat you know what i'm saying like that's what it is especially when eating makes you forget about you know what i'm saying no you know the pain of the stomach but as i I say, man, from one human being to another, from one brother to another, I hope you take a moment to acknowledge the stress, the pressure, the environment, everything that it comes with. And know that, honestly, maybe, and I hope you don't make me regret this. I'll be honest with you. From me to you. Don't make me regret this moment, DaBaby. Got you.

I'm rooting for you. No, for sure. I appreciate that. I hope the best for you. I'm i hope the best for you i'm not the person i hope you'll become an icon i hope you'll become somebody who makes the world a better place i will you know i'm rooting for you don't make me look bad i got people are going to play this interview and be like i got he vouched for him for sure you know i think you're beyond everything i think you are truly someone who can rise to the greatest heights we've seen your. We've seen what you're passionate about. You're an amazing parent. Keep doing your thing. Avoid the guns. That's just my personal opinion.

Yeah, for sure. I hate guns. That's just me. But I appreciate you, my dude. Thank you for the time. I appreciate you having me, man. Thank you so much. Thank you. What Now with Trevor Noah is produced by Spotify Studios in partnership with Day Zero Productions, Fullwell 73, and Odyssey's Pineapple Street Studios. The show is executive produced by Trevor Noah,

Ben Winston, Jenna Weiss-Berman, and Barry Finkel. Produced by Emanuel Hapsis and Marina Henke. Music, mixing and mastering by Hannes Braun. Thank you so much for taking the time and tuning in. Thank you for listening. I hope you enjoyed the conversation. I hope we left you with something. Hopefully we'll see you again next week. Same time, which is whenever you listen. Same place, which is wherever you listened. Next Thursday, a whole new episode. What now?