by Roman Salomone, Staff Writer

[South Coast / Interscope Records; 2023]

Rating: 3/10

Key Tracks: lol

2019 was a simpler time. Hip-hop fans like myself were absolutely spoiled, Borderlands 3 and The Outer Worlds came out within a month of each other, and this Covid-19 thing didn’t exist yet. However, the thing I recall most vividly was the inability to escape this dumb, cheesy trap song that as much as others and myself wanted to hate, couldn’t help but be fascinated by it. “Suge”, its hilarious music video, and some of the funniest headlines in history put North Carolina rapper DaBaby on everybody’s radar in 2019.

For whatever reason, Jonathan “DaBaby” Kirk’s cartoony demeanor and oddly charismatic personality really struck a chord with many at the time. And to be fair, it makes sense. Through singles like “Walker Texas Ranger”, “Intro”, and a killer feature verse on Dreamville’s “Under the Sun”, DaBaby showed some potential to become the next “big thing” in trap. But that did not happen, and it probably never will. After countless homophobic comments, being Kanye West’s only supporter in his 2020 campaign, and even getting T-Pain to poke fun at him, the Charlotte MC has continued to release albums and singles left and right to a diminishing audience. Not to mention, the quality of his music has taken a steep nosedive, which leads us to this new EP, LET’S DO IT. 

“CRASH THE JEEP” serves as an intro cut and it encapsulates this EP’s ethos in a nutshell. A slightly interesting beat, boiler plate trap flows, and DaBaby struggling to have anything noteworthy or substantive to say. Furthermore, the hook is really clunky and forgettable, yet it’s the most coherent of the three songs. The instrumental has a few left-field qualities in it, mainly the warped bass synth lead and its subtle, chirping counter melody. Regardless, DaBaby says nothing interesting or engaging, outside of the partially funny bar: “Fuckin’ these hoes like ridin’ a bike / I do this shit easy”. Then again, that would be the most tame bar to a guy like Danny Brown.

The following “NO FINSTA” sees DaBaby taking up a flow and subject matter that one of his more successful contemporaries, Megan Thee Stallion, could have probably killed. But of course, Megan hopping on this would have actually been interesting, and DaBaby clearly does not want that. What’s more offensive than Kirk’s willingness to turn in filler is whatever is going on with this beat. This honestly sounds like a watered down version of something DistantCry would cook up. Could a worse piano part have been chosen? What the hell are these sound effects? Why are the bass hits so weak? Why are we still using that stupid sound from the very beginning of “Crank That (Soulja Boy)”?

Finally, there’s “DICK”, which (big surprise) is about more NSFW thoughts DaBaby has to share. Instrumentally, there are some neat aspects in play. There’s some super subtle horn tones and distant vocoder vocals placed throughout that are semi-tasteful. Combined with the main warbling effects and some pretty tight 808s, it pulls very hard from the Astroworld playbook, but it’s one of the few positive things to note on this EP. Sadly, the potential of this instrumental is wasted on the verses being directionless with these overly sexual themes. DaBaby is forcing himself to be Kevin Gates levels of vulgar as a means to make up for the track’s complete lack of purpose. Finally, there’s the chorus where he just half-shouts “Dick! / Dick!” a handful of times, very much in the vein of a Playboi Carti/Whole Lotta Red kind. This should be self-explanatory as to why it’s nauseating.

LET’S DO IT is really only for hardcore DaBaby fans. And I’ll be honest, using the term “hardcore DaBaby fan” has me dying laughing while I type this on a silent floor in the library. Look, if this is a taste of DaBaby’s leftovers and/or afterthoughts, he should have just kept them locked away. Nothing on here is interesting in any regard. This EP is only six minutes long, yet despite its brevity it’s still a waste of time. These songs are throwaways, which (*get ready to have your mind blown*) means they should be thrown away. At its very best, this shit goes hard on mute.

Listen here: