When it happened, I didn’t really have time to grieve.
I was getting on the bus to start the tour, and the
very next day I found out [he had passed]. So I went
straight from seeing him at the damn mortuary to
the show — not knowing what the fuck happened,
because it wasn’t like he was sick that I knew of.
Trying to drop this album and dedicating it to him,
the cover being a baby picture and the shit being
on billboards in Times Square, being able to tell the
world my story — and they’re so interested, too?
Like the whole world is interested in how influential
my pops was to me. This shit right here been more
therapeutic than anything.
Clearly he was a strong influence. What did you
inherit from your mom?
The way I make something out of nothing, I got that
from my mama. That’s 100% her. Staying happy
through the struggle, staying close to family and shit,
I learned that from her, because if we didn’t have shit,
you couldn’t tell. She was still throwing parties at the
crib, inviting the family and the whole neighborhood.
Anybody who goes broke, she gon’ take them in and
let them sleep in her crib. Having that good heart and
hustle — those are the traits that I got from my mama.
Have any lessons from the street helped you in
the music industry?
Not taking shit personal. Business is business. Do my
own thang. Knowing how to deal with
people. And just knowing how to move,
you get what I’m saying? In the streets,
you gotta know how to watch out for the
police. But rap is really more dangerous
than the streets, for sure.
Why do you say that?
You’re so accessible to people. Every-
body in the world wants to be you.
That’s the reason why it’s dangerous in
the streets: N—s want what you got. And
now I got way more, and the ability to
get more. If I go and do this show, I’m
gon’ get $100,000 after whoever takes
their expenses out. They don’t know
that there’s a bunch of overhead — travel, paying
staff and all that other shit — but it’s still a lot of
money and n—s are aware of that. You gotta show
the money when you become a rapper. I can’t wear
a hoodie every day and act like I don’t know no
better, you get what I’m saying?
It’s a full-time job, right?
It’s a full-on lifestyle. The people that don’t move the
right way in the streets, they either go to jail or end
up dead. And I wasn’t in the streets to play around
— I was never doing street shit with intentions of
staying in the streets, ever. [I knew] how to deal with
money — reinvesting is imperative. Even when I
ain’t have shit, I was putting everything I had back
into getting here. When I had $1,000 to my name,
if I got rent coming up in a week, I’m gonna spend
$1,000 on T-shirts, posters, CDs and shit. And fuck it,
I’m going to figure out how I’m gonna pay that rent,
you feel me? (Laughs.) It was all about just stretch-
ing, pushing the envelope and making shit happen.
That’s what I do. I make shit happen.
LeBron James shouted you out on Instagram
when “INTRO” dropped, and you remind me of
him: No matter the situation, he gets it done.
Do you see that similarity?
I’m aware, but 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. Like I got the creativity
of a Kanye [West], the consistency of a Lil Wayne,
the versatility of a Drake to make male and female
songs. I’m still about whatever, like a [Lil] Boosie or
a Gucci [Mane]. I’m God’s work, bro.
Earlier this year, you said you were still scared
to go to the bank. Are you now?
Scared? Hell, nah. I be in that bitch all the time.
That shit feels good. They don’t question me no
more. [But] I swear to God, I used to be scared to
go to the bank. I ain’t trust ’em. Hold my goddamn
money? For what? I still don’t like ’em. Real talk:
freezing my card and shit because I’m traveling
— what the fuck you mean? That’s why it’s a card
— you should be allowed to travel with it! I ain’t
tripping, though. Safety first.
You’ve teamed up with some of rap’s biggest
names, and now some of pop’s, too. Does the
idea of going pop scare you at all?
Hell, nah. The shit gonna be easy. (Laughs.) I feel like
with me, I can’t ever just go pop. I’m still going to be
me. So you can call it pop, but I would change pop.
You got pop stars, right? And then you have mother-
fuckers like Rick James. What would you call Rick
James — what genre of music?
He’s just a bad motherfucker.
And that’s what I’m gonna be: a bad motherfucker.
And with the shit I’m gon’ do and whatever lane I’m
in, I’m gonna bend the rules. I’m gonna stretch it out
and see what’s been done, see how to do me and how
to do it differently.
From wearing a diaper at South by Southwest
to making a T-shirt inspired by a fight you got
into — what’s your marketing philosophy?
It ain’t even about what a motherfucker thinks, but
you never want a motherfucker to think that you
let that bullshit distract you from the business. The
diaper shit, that’s different from the T-shirt shit. The
T-shirt shit — I could have let that situation turn
into a bad thing and become a bad look, but [instead]
I capitalized off it. It’s not fucking clout-chasing
[feeding off someone else’s popularity for one’s own
benefit]. It’s clown shit when you don’t capitalize off
of it. Anything I do, I’m doing it for a reason.
So what’s the difference between marketing
and clout-chasing?
Not gaining anything from it. Not making money off
it. Especially with the diaper shit, I knew exactly
what I was doing, and people still talking about
that three years later. They have a whole different
level of understanding on it now when they see the
creativity that I put in videos and how outgoing I
am. They see how comfortable I am in my skin. It
just makes sense. I’ve had myself figured out for the
longest [time] — it was getting y’all to figure me out,
that was the task.
You’re always willing to interact with fans,
whether on social media or in person, but there
have been times when they tried to attack you
while you’re onstage. How do you find a bal-
ance that doesn’t put you at risk?
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. I understand the artists
who aren’t: No one wants people suing
them and shit.
So how do you make sure legal is-
sues that arise don’t get in the way
of your career?
I seen plenty of artists fuck up every
time fans walk by and give them too
much attention. I don’t feed into that.
It’s going back to knowing how to move
in the streets. If you catch a charge, you
still gotta go to court. I ain’t tripping, we
gon’ keep it rocking until we go to court.
You can’t sit around all day like, “Man,
I’m facing this.” You pay the lawyer and
trust that it’s gonna work out at the end. I just keep
going to work and through time, people might see,
“All right, that might’ve been bullshit.” I turn piss
into lemonade and put it in a cup with some ice and
make a motherfucker drink it.
In 2018, you shot and killed a man at a Walmart,
saying you were acting in self-defense. Does
that incident weigh on your conscience?
Nah, not at all. From my end, it was unavoidable. It
wasn’t my action, it was my reaction. At the end of
the day, my family was right there. My daughter. So,
hell no. I don’t lose no sleep.
What’s your relationship with God like today?
It’s [about] expressing how grateful I am, more
than anything. Asking him for more lessons. I tell
him to give me the chance to adapt and get right.
We planned this from the get-go, me and God. I
asked him for it and met him halfway. And every
time I meet him halfway, boom — it goes how it’s
supposed to go.
“Whatever lane I’m in,
I’m gonna bend the rules. I’m
gonna stretch it out and see what’s
been done, see how to do me
and how to do it differently.”
&
POWER PLAYERS 2019
DaBaby reveals his first celebrity crush at billboard.com/videos. OCTOBER 19, 2019 • WWW.BILLBOARD.COM 43