Lil Baby has reached a new career milestone, with his debut appearance on Saturday Night Live, performing hit tracks from his third studio album, It’s Only Me.
On Saturday, (January 28), the rapper — introduced by guest host Michael B. Jordan — was joined by a live band while delivering “California Breeze.”
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It’s Only Me closed out the year as the fourth biggest Hip Hop debut of 2022 behind Kendrick Lamar‘s Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, Future‘s I Never Liked You and Drake‘s, Honestly, Nevermind.
According to Billboard, the project landed the Atlanta-based rapper atop the Billboard 200 chart back in October 2022 after earning 216,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in its first week. Of that figure, 209,000 units came from SEA (streaming equivalent albums) equating to 88.97 million on-demand song streams — making it one of the largest streaming weeks for an album in 2022.
https://youtu.be/-GLGokc-RwY
In a second performance, the rapper dressed in all black to perform “Forever” accompanied by pianist Chloe Flower, who went viral in 2019 thanks to her appearance alongside Cardi B at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards.
The track features vocals by rapper, singer-songwriter Fridayy, whose performance of the song’s hook was projected onto the set in his absence.
https://youtu.be/Q1k8lNjiRoY
Released on October 14, It’s Only Me also featured appearances from Young Thug, Future, Pooh Shiesty, EST Gee, Jeremih, Nardo Wick, Rylo Rodriguez.
The project was his first solo album in two years, and followed the 2021 release of a joint project with Lil Durk titled The Voice Of The Heroes, which also topped the Billboard 200 chart in its first week of release.
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Baby’s previous effort, 2020’s My Turn also debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, nabbing roughly 197,000 album-equivalent units in its first week and became one of the best performing albums that year, after topping the chart for five weeks.
My Turn was certified 4x Platinum by the Record Industry Association of America (RIAA) in February 2022, six months before The Voice Of The Heroes received its Platinum certification and nine months before It’s Only Me notched its Gold certification.
In a recent interview with XXL, the chart-topper revealed that while his previous LP, My Turn, may have periodically applied pressure, he tries to avoid comparing himself with other artists.
“Yes, and then no,” Baby responded when asked whether he struggles to meet expectations following a series of chart topping releases. “Yes, because Imma always want to outdo myself. I’m the only person where I’m like I’m tryna outdo, ya feel me?”
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He continued: “And then no, because I never actually try to outdo myself. I just know to do what I suppose to do and it just like always happens for me that way, feel me? I’ll outdo myself with no problem.”
