DaBaby - BLAME IT ON BABY (Album Review)

After a hugely successful 2019, one of the worlds biggest rappers right now DaBaby is back in action with his new project 'BLAME IT ON BABY'. This album would see a slight change in style from DaBaby - but the question is would it be for better or or worse? Firstly, most of the beats on this album range from decent to straight up bland and not having much to them. The beats mostly consist of hard, generic 808s, synths, and occasionally guitars and flutes but it's always booming and obnoxious - but unfortunately at times falls into the bland and generic category. Lyrically, DaBaby isn't as generic or basic as some other rappers but isn't as good as others either - he sits somewhere in the middle. He doesn't attempt much wordplay or have great punchlines, but his bars are reminiscent of Kanye's braggadocios style and they hit hard - helped by his confident, menacing delivery. His flow switches a bit more than usual this album, but for the most part is that same quick flow - but let's not lie it sounds fire. He also tries to change it up by being melodic on this album at times - which gets a mixed reception with it being decent at times and straight up trash at others. The features on this album don't tend to bring anything special - once again ranging between mid and decent with a few of them being bland or boring. It's a case of big names not doing much for the most part. Content wise the main topics are flexing, guns, girls, his work rate & hustle as well as his come up. For the latter two, he doesn't really explore this content with much substance, because it is decent content for the most part, it's just too surface level to grip you in.

The introduction to this album is 'CAN'T STOP' and it's an early forgettable one. The beat is simplistic, bland with generic 808s and DaBaby's lyrics range from basic to straight up bad, "Bitch, you know I turn piss into lemonade // Turn shit into sugar, that's chocolate pudding". Things don't pick up with 'PICK UP' as again the flute based beat is boring and DaBaby's energy on the track was tedious. Quavo was the highlight of the track and even so his feature wasn't all that. The track 'LIGHTSKIN SHIT' isn't great but it's at least decent. The beat again has generic 808s but they sound alright over the sci-fi type synths. Future is a feature on the track, and he provides some funny one liners and a decent melody but the voice cracks from Future have always put me off his songs - nether the less it's an alright showing. We get a distorted flute on the track 'TALK ABOUT IT' which again is decent nothing more as DaBaby provides us some basic but braggadocio delivered lyrics about his hustle and his drive. Overall, a pretty mid track but at least it isn't bad like the first couple. 'SAD SHIT' is a very 50/50 track. Firstly, to focus on the positives, the verses have a great flow and perfect delivery to them, unfortunately though - the singing on the hook is trash. DaBaby harmonises as he reminisces on his feelings for an ex over once again, a beat that sits just at alright and nothing more with it's deep synth base and lowkey vibe.

The lead single to this album 'FIND MY WAY' is one of the main highlights on here. It's a showcase of him changing his style up and it working. Firstly, the guitar based beat is great and captures the mood of the track brilliantly as he reminisces about an ex. The lyricism is decent and DaBaby provides us with a catchy hook to sing along too. There's not a total drop in quality on the next song 'ROCKSTAR', it's decent but again I don't think I'll go back to it a lot. The beat is decent, DaBaby is decent but unfortunately Roddy Ricch's feature is bland - but it's not horrific. The rappers compare their lives to that of rockstars but rather than a guitar they have a gun with them. 'JUMP' is without a doubt the best song on the album. The energetic kicks of the beat and whole bouncy, fun atmosphere make this a fun song as DaBaby does his thing while NBA YoungBoy's fire flow and mean delivery help create this catchy track. Not as good as the previous song, but 'CHAMPION' is still a decent song. The hard synth bass and sliding 808s are simplistic and sound great while his melody at a lower pitch actually sounds nice to the ear and is bearable. The beat of 'DROP' is slower and more melancholy sounding decent, as does Baby but the feature A Boogie Wit da Hoodie just sounds uninspired, generic and like his album earlier this year - his melodies just aren't that catchy.

The final three tracks are some of the worst on the project beginning with the title track 'BLAME IT ON BABY'. The piano themed beat in the instrumental is decent, but when the beat switches it sounds horrible and is all over the place. It just sounds like a song you'd find at the bottom half of KIRK - he's done it before but so much better. 'NASTY' has another bland beat with generic 808s and easily has the worst hook of the project from Ashanti - it sounds horrible I'm just not a fan of her style. The song graphically describes sexual acts, so Megan Thee Stallion slots right in giving us a verse that fits the theme of the song well - but the verses come and go while the hook is unbearable. The final song, 'AMAZING GRACE' is once again a bland song with a boring beat. There's nothing unique, interesting or catchy about the song - and like a lot of this album it just comes and goes.

To conclude, DaBaby's new album isn't very good. He switched up his style slightly on this with his melodies and introducing some new flows - but it didn't pay off and is his worst album to date. The melodies aren't ALL awful, e.g. 'FIND MY WAY' is good, but some are garbage such as on 'SAD SHIT'. There was a lot of complaints that he wasn't versatile, and now there's a lot of complaints that the switch of style is bad - and you've got to ask yourself, where does DaBaby go from here?

FAVOURITE TRACKS: TALK ABOUT IT, FIND MY WAY, ROCKSTAR, JUMP, CHAMPION

LEAST FAVOURITE TRACK: BLAME IT ON BABY

OVERALL RATING: Light 4.5/10

*REVISED SCORE: Review may not match favourite tracks and overall rating because I've since re-listened and changed my score.*