If you're a fan of DaBaby's music, you would know that he has a lot of love for his father, who passed way in 2019. For his sophomore album Kirk, named after he and his father's legal last name, he made a photo of his father holding him as a baby the cover art.
The next year, 2020, DaBaby's brother Glen Johnson took his own life at the age of 34.
Tragedies like these have shaped the mind state of DaBaby for the past few years. He let all of his emotions out early this morning (Dec. 1) o his Instagram story, first detailing how his father's death impacted him as he was blowing up as an artist: "One month after I signed & dropped my debut album Baby On Baby in 2019, my lil brother hit me & told me my daddy was found dead in his crib. I was the hottest rapper in the world spending my entire breakthrough year hurting behind a fake ass smile, using my hustle to block out how f**ked uo I was bout my daddy dying unexpectedly."
He explained how he powered through the pain and dedicated his music to his father: "I ran laps round n****s my first year in the game with all types of accolades that I was too numb to enjoy. I held it down & carried the last name as righteously as I could, dropping my 2nd album Kirk dedicated to my daddy later that year. 'Til this day I still don't know what happened. Or how my daddy died."
DaBaby continued to discuss how his popularity peaked in 2020, the same year his brother was the next to pass away: "June 2020 "Rockstar" went #1 on Billboard Hot 100 & stayed the number one song in the world for 7 weeks straight. November 3rd, 2020, my big brother committed suicide. I was the top streaming artists in the world at the time that I lost my big brother."
Father & Brother">Derek White/WireImage/Getty Images
He said it is hard to celebrate his achievements and success when he has been dealing with such tough realties: "2 & a half years in the game I done accomplished sh*t that n****s ain't did who been in this sh*t 10 years+. Whole time I can't feel NONE of it. 'Til this day I get targeted, lied on & get my name dragged through the mud everyday for fame & money. 2 things everybody wants that I don't even care about."
It's difficult to know what somebody is going through when you aren't around to see their low moments. Hopefully DaBaby can continue to stay strong and surround himself with the support he needs.
Check out his posts below.