Lil Baby is in the midst of a superstar-caliber run, with his acclaimed album My Turn and his collaborative album with Lil Durk Voice Of The Heroes both currently holding it down on the Billboard charts. Never one to rest on his laurels, Lil Baby has been actively working on his upcoming studio album -- easily one of the most anticipated releases on the horizon.
Today, Billboard has published an extensive cover story with the Atlanta rapper, covering a variety of topics from activism to entrepreneurship. In fact, Motown Records chairman/CEO Ethiopia Habtemariam actually compared Baby to JAY-Z, drawing a parallel between the two business-minded artists.
"I look at him, and I think a lot about JAY-Z and the way Jay put out music on a consistent basis at the beginning of his career,” she explains. “Seeing where he came from — quiet in the back, but really pulling all the strings and making all the business moves and decisions — there’s a lot of similarities there.”
Andre 3000 Collab In The Works">Brad Barket/Getty Images
The piece also highlights a key distinction between his new album and its predecessor, centering around Baby's creative process. It would appear that this time again, he'll actually spend time writing his lyrics as opposed to freestyling them. It should be interesting to see if there is a discernible difference in his penmanship, and one has to wonder if a more methodical approach will enhance and flesh out his lyricism moving forward.
“I’m in a whole different headspace than I was at with My Turn — I’m going to be at a different level every time I drop because I’m at different levels in life,” he explains. Though he doesn't divulge anything really concrete about his anticipated new album, the article does make note of Baby's dream collaboration -- Andre 3000. “I talked to somebody who be talking to him, and he’s on it right now," teases Baby, said to have described Andre as a "cold motherfucker" in the best possible way. "We’re in third-party communications.”
While that's hardly conclusive, if the JAY-Z comparison holds true, Lil Baby will not stop until he achieves his goal. Look for more details on Lil Baby's upcoming studio album -- that may or may not feature Andre 3000" -- and be sure to check out Billboard's full cover story right here.
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