Lil Baby says Young Thug paid him to start rapping
Thug convinced him to come to the studio with cash.
Lil Baby's journey to the upper echelons of rap began in Atlanta, and with financial backing from a member of hip-hop's elite.
"Young Thug, he gave me all the jewels," Lil Baby says in the fall 2019 cover story for XXL, adding that Thug actually put his money where his mouth was. "He literally paid me to leave the neighborhood. [He said], 'Bruh you can rap, you got it. You could be next. You gotta leave the ’hood... I'ma pay you to come to the studio.'"
Since then, Baby and Thug have appeared together on a number of songs. Some standouts include "Bad Bad Bad" from Thug's album So Much Fun, "Chanel" from the YSL Records compilation Slime Language, and as featured artists on Gunna's "Oh Okay." Thug, Baby, and Gunna will join Future on the upcoming project Super Slimey 2.