KIRK - DaBaby: Review
is a Charlotte based rapper who has blown up in 2019, scoring a top 10 single on the hot 100 with Suge a number of high profile features, and an impressive spot on the XXL 2019 Freshman list. Baby dropped a record earlier this year Baby On Baby that was commercially successful and turned around quickly to transition into Kirk.
Review By Lavender:
I've wanted to like DaBaby since he first showed up on the hip hop scene, he's from my home town of Charlotte after all and I have to represent. However I have been pretty mixed by what DaBaby has brought so far. I'm not in love with his breakout hit Suge and I ended up choosing to skip reviewing his first record Baby On Baby because it didn't do nearly enough to stand out from the sea of trap records that come out seemingly every day now. I have enjoyed a few of his tracks and a handful of his features this year though so now that he is more popular than ever I figured I would give this album a fair shot, but I wasn't thrilled by this one either.
This record does have a handful of highlights that I liked quite a bit. Intro was a hard hitting single with a bright trap instrumental and some sharp bars, he is personal in his lyrics and fast in his flows for an all around excellent beginning to the record. Bop is somewhat of a bop in itself with some weird pan flute or something of the like that is pretty cool although the track does have what I'm calling the "DaBaby Flow", you'll hear it a lot across his music. Really is a track that surprised me because its a pretty solid tune with a feature that I didn't love at first but grew on me. I have no idea who Stunna 4 Vegas is but his silly almost cartoonish performance contrasts hard with the seriousness of his lyrics and it turned me away from the track at first but honestly the more times I heard it the more I started to enjoy it and it became one of my favorite tracks.
Prolly Heard is probably the only song on the record as good as Intro. It's a short but very solid track that features a number of lights out lyrical moments and an excellent beat that hits really right in the second half of the track. Raw Shit is a pretty contemporary trap tune that features Migos, everyone on the track fires off pretty solid and catchy verses that I really enjoyed.
One of the things that makes this a little bit of a tough listen is that you will hear the "DaBaby Flow" on song after song after song here and it just gets so taxing. Off The Rip is a short track with an exciting beat that ends out of nowhere for no reason and reps the flow for almost its entire runtime. Vibez is a song that literally every contemporary trap rapper has done and done better with an absolutely horrible hook, more of the same flows and some really awful sexual lyrics. xxl is the closing track that is another disappointing and forgettable track that has some pretty cool elements but never really hits it home. Finally There He Go has some London On Da Track production and shows it with a slick beat and some rattling high hats that I really enjoy but unfortunately the annoying and shrill vocal samples on the hook are so fucking annoying that I can't listen to the entire track after hearing them more than once without just wanting to turn it off.
The worst part about this record isn't even the exhaustive flows that show up again and again, but its dire case of feature-itis. Pop Star has some clever wordplay in the hook and a weirdly stripped back beat during Kevin Gates verse which is decent but it makes for a song that I don't overall enjoy. Gospel is one of the hardest tracks here to get through, DaBaby open up with a decent verse and Gucci Mane ends the song off with a killer verse that is one of his best features all year. But in between is another mediocre Chance The Rapper feature that could have been on The Big Day and an awful annoying hook from YK Osiris who has no business singing on the track. Iphone is actually one of the better features here with Nicki serving up some fast paced and evolving flows that I like quite a bit despite the fact that they need a better mix and the track has very little structure. Finally Toes is probably the worst track on the entire album, DaBaby is average but the real drag is yet another lifeless Young Thug intimidating feature from Lil Baby who refuses to be the only rapper in the game rivaling Nav in terms of sheer forgetability. Moneybagg Yo also features on this track and drops an awful verse of his own rounding out one of the harder listens I've heard this year on a trap record I was anticipating big things from.
Kirk is a big let down considering how much DaBaby has proved he is talented and can rap, it just doesn't come anywhere near to the peak of his talent. There are way too many awful features, generic beats and repeated flows for this to stand out in the grander scheme of contemporary rap. Despite flashing talent numerous times across his career DaBaby is gonna have to put together a better full length record to help his longevity. 4.5/10
For more trap check out my review of Young Thug's So Much Fun here
