You can't cheat the game. You can't cheat the grind. You get out what you put in at the end of the day.
DaBaby
The way I make something out of nothing, I got that from my mama. That's 100% her.
I used to think I was ugly because I was the baby.
Anything I do, I'm doing it for a reason.
I am the type where I don't worry about anything else but how to top what I did yesterday. My main goal is to top what I did before.
I don't play the ugly game, I think everyone is beautiful and I see it in me now more and more.
And I'm the type of person, if I ain't wrong, I'm gonna stand on that.
When I get bored with something, I'm done with it.
People are unpredictable at the end of the day.
It's just the risk that I take and the sacrifice that I make: Putting myself, my career, my family's peace of mind on the line just to do right by my fans. It ain't no gray area: You're either with that and willing to go out of your way to make people who contribute to your dreams coming true happy or you aren't.
It's just the way I'm set up, being that once-in-a-generation, once-in-a-lifetime, once-in-an-era type of star.
I'm pretty sure my expectations are higher than the average person's. It just sets standards.
I like pressure.
Early on in my life, I got two older brothers; we used to listen to Eminem, 50 Cent, Lil Wayne.
I'm a force to be reckoned with.
I just had that mindset to never settle. That's a credit to my pops, too. He used to say 'the sky's the limit' every time we talked.
I definitely am the best rapper alive, mark my words.
Any '90s baby, The Rock or Stone Cold Steve Austin had to be your favorite wrestler.
Anybody that is trying to go into business with me, of course, I'm gon' do my research on them.
I've been broke my whole life, you get what I'm saying? I'm scared of the bank.
I like to have fun with my videos and performances, that's the most fun part when it comes to the music. I get to show off my character.
No, I wasn't a bad kid. I was always intelligent, and strong-minded, and outgoing, like I am now.
The music I make, it's so hard. I listen to it 100,000 times before it even drops.
Everything is organic. I got the wordplay, I got the vocabulary to really, really rap.
My name was originally Da Baby Jesus, but I changed it like two years into my career because I didn't want to offend anyone; although I feel like my purpose in the game is related and still is, I didn't want my name to be a distraction from the music.
There was so much music growing up. But definitely Lil Wayne was a big influence because I had more of an understanding of what I was listening to when I was getting older.
I love it when you have to perform at a certain level or else. That's when I'm at my best.
I'm an early 1990's baby, so I had the pleasure of going through a lot of eras in music.
I paid for every video I ever shot.
I made that a point when I was creating my sound from the beginning, I didn't want to sound like anybody. Once I kind of found my own sound, I mastered it.
My Internet presence was definitely bigger than the music. I'm so good at marketing, so once I knew I had them looking, I turned up with the music. I knew what I was doing - it was premeditated.
Some songs I rap before the beat even play and I enjoy doing that. I like walking the beat down.
He's from Fayetteville. I'm from Charlotte. We got two different upbringings. All in all though, I love J. Cole's perspective and I love his music. I love his approach. It's just two different things.
I'm all the way hands-on when it comes to my videos.
I don't even listen to peoples' music… I'm really in-tune with my craft, I listen to me all day long.
I was all about touching people and influencing people, I always been that type of person. I was the one teaching people things, I just always had a way with my words and I always spoke with substance.
I didn't know of any rappers in Charlotte. Not to sound like I'm bragging, but I brought the music scene alive and shed the proper light on it. I took it to a whole other level when I started rapping.
Charlotte, it's what somebody from New York or L.A. would say is a small town, but it isn't. It's right in between being a small town and a city. It's more of a city.
When you got a sound that don't sound like nobody else and it's brand new, you've got to feed it to 'em. You've got to force it on 'em.
When I started coming on my music the way I was coming on freestyles - just relentless, at your neck, as soon as the beat starts, that's when everything really clicked.
When it comes to the music, the traits you got to have in order to make lit music, club music, to have the swag with it, to have the lingo - I got those traits, you know what I mean?
Now that I'm a XXL Freshman, you know, I feel like that sets high standards for me, and I feel like I have to deliver.
