Lil Baby’s third album WHAM is a return to the mindset he knows the best. His mantra of being “the hardest out” is just as much of a message to himself as it is to the rest of the world. WHAM – an acronym for Who Hard As Me – continues his run of “hard” projects that dates back to his 2017 mixtape Harder Than Hard.
There, Baby debuted his breakout hit “My Dawg,” which took him from an upstart Atlanta rapper to one of hip-hop’s promising artists of the future. By the end of the following year, Baby extended the “hard” project series with Too Hard, home to his crown jewel record “Freestyle,” 2 The Hard Way with Marlo, his debut album Harder Than Ever which featured assists from Drake, Gunna, Young Thug, and Lil Uzi Vert, and the collaborative Drip Harder mixtape with Gunna.
At the turn of the decade, Baby departed from the “hard” series to deliver what would be the highest and lowest moments of his career. My Turn shot Baby into rap’s highest level in 2020, becoming the best-selling album of that year while logging five weeks atop the Billboard 200 chart. Records like “We Paid,” “Heating Up,” “Live Off My Closet,” and “Low Down” convinced fans that Baby deserved to be on a pedestal above most rappers.
As the saying goes, though, “what goes up must come down,” and Baby suffered a tumble from the mountaintop after the release of his third album It’s Only Me in 2022. Although the album was commercially successful, it didn’t resonate as much with Baby’s fans, sparking speculation of a possible fall-off. With It’s Only Me failing to match the big-league performance of My Turn, Baby’s back was pushed against the wall. Desperate times call for desperate measures – or familiar and reliable ones, at least — which brings us to WHAM.
WHAM is steered by an artist with a point to prove and the self-awareness to know that he needs him to step his game up. Baby acknowledges this on the album’s closer “Streets Colder,” rapping “Had to get outside my comfort zone, I’m on it, now I’m focused / I was startin’ to feel stagnant, I had to switch the motion.” WHAM isn’t a new level for Baby, but it is the result of finding your balance just enough to put you in a position to elevate following a misstep.
Baby’s choice of topics are mostly the same — money, women, lavish luxuries, defeating the competition, instilling fear in enemies, etc. — but the determination to convince us his words are true is elevated. “Due 4A Win” is by far the most locked-in version of Baby we hear on the album. Stuttering hi-hats keep you on your toes, while a thunderous bass foreshadows what’s to come if Baby’s warnings and threats are not obliged.
“From the streets and them n****s been rappin’ on beats they whole life, don’t compare me to those n****s,” he quips on the song’s chorus. That line is the ethos of WHAM and one that follows the question entwined into the album title. “Listen Up” carries the same ideologies as waning synths and sweet violin strums as Baby takes the floor and demands the attention of those before him for a hustler’s PSA. “This time, I’ma show ’em, get in a whole different bag,” he preaches. “Everybody can talk it, but they ain’t standin’ how I stand up.”
The big moments on WHAM speak to Baby’s claim of being “the hardest out.” His alleged prowess as the street’s ideal hustler made him the ideal platform for Young Thug to deliver his first guest verse since his release from prison. “Dum, Dumb, And Dumber” is just one rapper short from being a thrilling posse cut, but Baby, Thug, and Future each offer good swings at the hook-less track, with Thug’s show-stealing verse serving as a reminder of what was missing in hip-hop over the last two years and change.
“Free Promo” is a charged-up and grand display of bravado that Baby uses to showcase the benefits of simply being seen next to him. “Drugs Talkin” emulates a similar energy as Baby documents intoxicating feelings of love amplified by the consumption of liquor and drugs. Being the hardest out is more than being a great rapper to Baby, it’s also about building, flaunting, and maintaining the lifestyle that comes with it. You’ve got to look the part, too.
Still, there are moments on WHAM that Baby makes it harder for himself to fully emerge out of the ditch he fell into with It’s Only Me. “Redbone”, his collaboration with GloRilla, hip-hop’s hottest rapper in 2024, fails to be as magical as advertised. Both artists have co-starred on better collaborations, making this one a stale entry on the album and their discography as a whole. “Stuff” with Travis Scott works fine enough on WHAM, but feels better suited on a Travis Scott album than one of Baby’s. “Outfit” should be more memorable, but Baby and 21 Savage’s second-ever collaboration (shocking right?) fails to move the needle much.
In the end, Lil Baby gets back on track with WHAM. As fun as it may be to joke about his downfall and inability to return to My Turn heights, WHAM is an early sign that a turnaround may be in order. The fun and more relaxed “Catch The Sun”-esque moments on WHAM – “I Promise,” “So Sorry,” and “My Shawty” – and the determined rap flows of “By Myself,” “99,” “Say Twin,” and “F U 2x” prove that counting Baby out isn’t in our best interest. WHAM gets back to the basics in a way that’s satisfying and entertaining — and most importantly, as hard as we’ve come to expect.
WHAM is out now via Quality Control Music/Motown Records. Find out more information here.