Lil Baby’s success can be seen in the gold records that line his walls, but it can only be truly grasped by listening to the opinions of those around him. Signed as a teen to Quality Control, the label were drawn by his irrepressible energy, and the buzz around him in Atlanta. An organic success story, there’s a sense sometimes that Lil Baby is slept-on outside his circles – but ‘WHAM’ should change that.
The first crucial moment in American rap in 2025 – the year is only three days old, after all – ‘WHAM’ distils Lil Baby’s potency down to a thick, unrelenting elixir. Continually switching up flows, his trap-leaning sonic thirst has rarely been so unremittingly effective. It’s a record littered with jewels, asserting his dominance in Stateside rap’s top tier.
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‘WHAM’ starts with a real statement of intent – a solo pursuance of his skills, ‘Listen Up’ dominates your headphones with its 360 sonic world-building and lyrical finesse. It then moves straight into the record’s most headline-worthy feature – Young Thug’s return to the mic after his legal travails. Backed by Future, it’s an incredible moment, and has already sparked a ruckus on socials.
It’s to the credit of Lil Baby that this undoubted peak is backed by real consistency. There’s detail here – the plucked string eeriness of ‘I Promise’ or the bold muscularity of ‘Due 4A Win’; the pleading verses of ‘So Sorry’, built up delicately on top of one another, are matched to the arena-filling piano bombast of ‘Say Twin’.
A record that feels both eclectic and uniquely defined, ‘WHAM’ packs huge amount of detail into its 15-track, 41-minute run. The neo-hallucinogenic production flourishes of ‘Free Promo’ show his studio control, but the roll call of features – GloRilla, Rod Wave, an electric Travis Scott – illustrate the respect Lil Baby is afforded by his peers. If ‘WHAM’ is the point that the rest of the world catches up, then that’s only apt – sometimes, real talent will out.
8/10
Words: Robin Murray
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