Wow. Hi, everyone. Whothony Hardtano here, the Internet's busiest music nerd and it's time for a review of this new Lil Baby album, WHAM. Atlanta rap titan Lil Baby coming through with his fourth official solo studio LP titled WHAM, or Who Hard As Me.

Now, this thing dropped pretty suddenly right after the holidays, and so I'm playing a bit of catch up with it. But let me be honest and say that I wasn't exactly rushing to go into this record out of excitement. Because despite Lil Baby's massive commercial success over the past seven years, he continues to be one of the most supremely average lyricists, vocalists, and rap artists out there today. You could say he was even underwhelming from the start, when both he and Gunna made waves off of their breakout collaborative record, auto-crooned in 2018, an album that is so densely packed with warbly repetitive auto-crooned flows that at points it was kind of difficult to tell where Lil Baby ended and Gunna began.

Since the day that project dropped, Baby's career has been one instance after the next of overpromising and under-delivering. There was My Turn in 2020, which featured a title that I'm not sure really panned out. If it was Lil Baby's turn on that record, I don't remember. I mean, here's the "Bigger Picture" single that dropped in response to the Black Lives Matter protests that erupted that summer is more memorable than any of the material on that album.

In short, if My Turn made any waves, it was essentially to prove the commercial streaming viability of what he was creating on this record. This wash, rinse, repeat rap, caviar, wallpaper, trap. Because after all, this thing did go quadruple platinum, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. And then we had Lil Baby's 2022 record It's Only Me, whose cover really is coming out of a fantasy world.

I also think this record illustrates the difference between a commercial music success in the age of streaming and true actual fandom. Because while yes, it is true that Lil Baby did rack up another number one with this record, simultaneously, I don't think I've ever seen a genuine music conversation where somebody is like, yeah, my rap Mount Rushmore is a Lil Baby, Lil Baby, Lil Baby and uh, Lil Baby. I say this while acknowledging it's totally fine to be into some Lil Baby tracks and also enjoy his features too, which are usually decent. Even his collab project with Lil Durk from a while ago was surprisingly good, but his full, entire solo projects have never really been as good as these smaller, more singular moments.

Again, we are four albums into the Lil Baby catalog, and it's becoming harder and harder to put into words just how profoundly mid he is as an artist, and how unwilling he is to evolve. You have to wonder how he sidestepped the same claims of using and recycling the same flows and deliveries that pretty much sank DaBaby's career. Despite those two having collaborated in the past and both exhibiting similar levels of artistic growth since then, pretty much everything that has plagued Lil Baby's past records plagues this new album, too.

But in WHAM's defense, I will say the record does put its best foot forward with the track "Listen Up", which features these thick, epic string layers with baby furiously spitting about achievement after achievement he's seen in his career. It's enough to make you think you're actually going to be in for something different on the rest of the album.

But it doesn't take long for him to start spinning his wheels in the mud. On the following "Dumb, Dumb and Dumber" featuring Future, a track that honestly could have been on his last record, and I would have forgotten about it by now. Lyrically, Baby clearly has nothing new to say at this point. While there is a grit and a glamor for sure, to all the money and drugs that turn up in his bars, they're not really delivered or described with any kind of finesse or poeticism or humor or charm. It's just a bunch of idle flexes that kind of go in one ear and out the other, which I think is also the case for Lil Baby's voice. And that's made even more apparent with Future in the mix on this track, as his voice is infinitely more memorable and stand out and attention grabbing.

After all this time, Lil Baby just has very little bass or presence in his voice. It's pretty monotone, very easy to put in the back of your mind, and the autotune that he always uses as a crutch just kind of worsens the froggy quality of his flows. The production then takes a nosedive on the track "F U 2x", which has the most thin, bland, lifeless trap beat you are going to hear in the first half of this year, guaranteed. And what is with his delivery on this track? He is rapping like he's trying not to wake up his parents in the next room.

There are similarly understated vibes on the track, "Say Twin" and I'll say, I think it goes over better there because on that track he actually managed to write a chorus and focus on a song topic. There's also some focus on the track, I promise, where Baby is really going for a more emotional moment. Something about a relationship going awry. However, a majority of the song's bars pretty much amount to just whiny complaints and hilarious inner thoughts.

Like the opening lines where he says "She from up top where it's cold out // I call her pretty feet, she liked to have her toes out." My guy is focusing on the feet. But deeper into this track he's buying her all this stuff and icing her out. Despite the fact that he openly finds her shady and difficult to trust on some level.

He also makes mention of getting her pregnant. He says, "How are you going to keep this baby? We barely know each other's names," which, like, I mean, you have some responsibility in that situation too. Lil Baby is almost a veteran of the game at this point, and he's essentially describing here a relationship with two high schoolers if one of them had a lot of money.

Deeper into the record "By Myself" is going as well for some tender, introspective, and emotional vibes. But what is a bit distracting is that it sounds like Baby and Rod Wave, as well as Rylo Rodriguez are in a who can sing worse contest. Meanwhile, on 'Due 4A Win", Baby tries to lock in with a faster flow over a very simple and nocturnal beat, but the results are not very dark or gripping as his flows just kind of become this continuous, mind-numbing drone while he tells people on the chorus don't compare me to other artists, other rappers. Even if he sort of sounds like a boneless Future on this track.

There are several songs around the midpoint of this album that really just kind of come and go without really a standout flow or chorus. This section of the record is so one note that I'm actually shaken awake by a Travis Scott feature on the song "Stuff", and miraculously, it's actually Lil Baby himself that stands out on the song "Free Promo". He's just really awake and passionate and focused on this track in a way that makes me wonder why he wasn't bringing this energy to all, or at least most of the songs on this record.

The song "Outfit" also piques my interest a bit as well, as it features one of the weirdest beats on the entire record. The instrumental is packed with these horror movie synths and weird background noises. Plus, Lil Baby's vocals are so close and doubled up that they sound almost like a nightmare. Truly some voices in your head type shit. It's also fitting that 21 Savage is on this track too.

Te final moments of this record, though, are pretty unceremonious. It's like the album has no real flow or macro vision to it, and the closing track even ends things off in a way that feels like, yeah, this is a cliffhanger, but a cliffhanger to set you up to basically expect just more of the same on the next record. There's not really much to report. It's pretty much Underwhelming: The Album.

It is easily listenable, but also easily forgettable. Bored me to tears outside of a couple of standout moments. I'm pretty much feeling a light three on it.

Anthony Fantano Lil Baby forever.