Lil Baby took the stage at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards on Sunday night (March 14) where he performed an explosive rendition of “The Bigger Picture” alongside Run The Jewels MC/orator Killer Mike.
The Atlanta native, who undoubtedly experienced a meteoric rise to fame in 2020, was nominated for an award in the Best Rap Performance category for the politically-charged anthem but lost to Megan Thee Stallion’s “Savage (Remix)” featuring Beyoncé.
But the night wasn’t a total wash for Baby — he got to meet one of his heros JAY-Z and learn a little lesson in chivalry in the process. Taking to Twitter, the platinum-selling rapper appeared impressed by the way Hov treated his superstar wife Beyoncé backstage.
“I met jay z,” he wrote.” He let the security walk with bey an he walked by his self. Boss shit.”
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But there were also an army of people who were impressed with Baby and his HipHopDX Song of the Year performance. As one fan noted on Twitter, “You shut it down fam!! Respect is worth way more than the grammy! You represented for tha streets and did something way more meaningful.”
In a case of art imitating life, the theatrical performance kicked off with a Black man sleeping in his car as two police officers approach his window. After he’s ordered to step out of the vehicle, the situation escalates and he’s ultimately shot in the back as he tries to flee, a situation American society has become all too familiar with over the years.
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From there, Baby hops on the mic and starts spitting, “Trade my 4 x 4 for a G63, ain’t no more free Lil Steve/I gave ’em chance and chance and chance again/I even done told them please/I find it crazy the police’ll shoot you and know that you dead/But still tell you to freeze/Fucked up, I seen what I seen/I guess that mean hold him down if he say he can’t breathe.”
Following an impassioned speech about police brutality from activist Tamika Mallory — which included a call-to-action aimed at President Joe Biden (or Moneybagg Joe, whatever one prefers) — Killer Mike steps up to dozens of mics as if he was at a press conference and proceeds to deliver a scathing verse from theRTJ4 track “walking in the snow.”
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“I said somethin’ on behalf of my people,” he spits. “And I popped up in Wikileaks/Thank God that I’m covered, the devil is smothered/And you know the evil don’t sleep/Dick Gregory told me a couple of secrets before he laid down in his grave/All of us serve the same masters, all of us nothin’ but slaves/Never forget in the story of Jesus, the hero was killed by the state.”
Check it out below.
