“Whatever Wham says goes.” That's the phrase that appeared on billboards in Los Angeles, referring to a Young Thug prison tweet from June. The YSL boss teased new music with his fellow Atlanta rapper Lil Babytweeting, “Wham let's drop one on those peter rats,” shortly after returning home from the Fulton County Jail.
Now, Baby is ready to say his piece with a brand new album — his first since 2022 It's just me. On Thursday (November 14), the rapper released the lead single and video for the project WHAM: Who Hard As Me.
“5 am” (produced by Wheezy and Sean Momberger) shows Baby trying to come to terms with the pressures of expectation and celebrity. He begins the song by talking about these pitfalls, rapping, “How you got everything you want and still ain't happy?/ Half of me's over dead, the other half alive, I'm trying to balance it/ Grandma said if it's worth anything to you, then it's worth the challenge.”
Later in the song he raps about combating vulnerability and survivor's guilt, saying, “Five in the morning,” just me and a “Rary, I don't know where I'm goin'/ I'm thinkin' 'bout it all, honestly, I don't know how I do it this/ I can't be vulnerable, who will I talk to when I go through this?/ Am I delusional? Keep telling myself everything's fine/ All I know is survival and dollars, I'm from the hood.”
Last night, the Atlanta rapper took to Instagram and posted footage of himself shooting the new music video and recording the song with a caption stating that he's been going through a rough patch for the past two years. “Isn't it crazy how they try to play me like I'm not him!!! It's that time! I would say again, but this ride will be completely different!!” he wrote “I've had the darkest time of my life in the last couple of years but I got down and over that sh—t now I'm back to f—kin sh—t up as usual…, Regards, Wham!! Who is as tough as me. Let's go.”
Although no release date has been announced for the album, Baby wrote to X that he was releasing another single and video this week. He was recently spotted in the studio with Young Thug and Future, so there could be something from the trio soon.
Watch Lil Baby's new video for “5AM” above.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/lil-baby-5am-single-album-announcement-1235828918/
