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Kenneth CapelloLil Baby makes a statement with his Black Lives Matter anthem, “The Bigger Picture,” which touches on the current state of America and protests about police brutality — and also his personal story.
“I just rap about my life, all my songs are basically about me,” he says as Rolling Stone‘s August cover star. “It was at a point where I felt I needed to say something.”
Baby says he became a “victim of police brutalit,” after his prison stint for weapons and drug charges four years ago.
“I’ve been in prison where white officers control you. I’ve been in a court system where white judges give you a different time than they would give someone white,” he explains. “There have been times I had a physical altercation with an officer, and he then grabbed me and took me to a room where there’s no camera.”
“I’m in there yelling and screaming. I’m so accustomed to it, we don’t even make it no big deal,” says the My Turn rapper. “I’m from Atlanta, where they had a unit of police that got dismantled for police brutality. The Red Dogs got dismantled for using way too much force. . . . That [is] an everyday thing where I’m from.”
Despite his challenging upbringing in Atlanta’s historic West End neighborhood, Lil Baby rose to earn a deal with Quality Control Records, and released several hit records in fewer than five years. And he promises more to come, including more of his personal story.
“I feel like my story before I got here is just like one in [a] million. So I don’t want to give it up yet,” Baby says.
By Rachel George
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