Lil Durk Details Confronting DaBaby Over NBA Youngboy Collab

BYAron A.Published on May 24, 202318.8K Views

Lil Durk attends the Givenchy Menswear Spring Summer 2023 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on June 22, 2022 in Paris, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images) HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 25: DaBaby attends Sir Lucian Grainge's 2020 Artist Showcase Presented By Citi and Lenovo at Milk Studios on January 25, 2020 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Arnold Turner/Getty Images for Universal Music Group)

DaBaby's collaborative project with NBA Youngboy became a point of contention between the "Suge" rapper and Lil Durk's crew.

NBA Youngboy’s “F*ck The Industry Pt. 2” found him airing out his grievances towards the music industry. Drake, specifically, caught a stray due to his friendship with Lil Durk. Apparently, the OVO Boss told YB that they couldn’t work on music because of his long-standing feud with the Chicago rapper. However, not everyone has been deliberately choosing a side for similar purposes. Last year, DaBaby joined forces with NBA Youngboy for their joint project, Better Than You.

Although a war of words broke out between DaBaby and OTF member Memo600, the “Baby Sitter” artist alleged that Durk was in his DM’s “waving a white flag.” “it ain’t a gang, city, N***A, or neighborhood in da WORLD scary enough to make BABY Pick & Choose who to get money wit n***a,” DaBaby tweeted. Durk confirmed that he addressed DaBaby in the DMs, though he refuted DaBaby’s account of their conversation. “I’m like, ‘Hey fam, whatever you got going on when y’all doing a tape, that’s y’all.’ You feel me?” Durk said. “That’s when the other bullshit came out, ‘Waving the white flag in my DM.’”

Lil Durk Says He Confronted DaBaby

Afterward, Durk explained that he and DaBaby had a face-to-face conversation at a stop on Future’s One Big Party tour earlier this year. The Chicago rapper said he told DaBaby there was no issue before bringing up the sales of Better Than You. “I pulled him in a room — not on no ‘come here!’ I was like, ‘Check it out.’ He’s like, ‘What?’ ‘That’s small shit, little shit. Let’s get to the money. You see what they tryna do to you? We don’t have no beef. Why? I don’t give a fuck ’cause you did an album with that man. That shit sold how much?'”

Ultimately, Durk appears to want to move in a more positive light without unnecessary friction with people. In the case of DaBaby, the Signed To The Streets star claimed that they were able to hash it out. “So when we chopped it up in the DM, we already handled it … We don’t have a problem with nobody, man. We don’t want smoke with nobody. I don’t want problems with nobody,” he said. Almost Healed drops Friday.

About The Author

Aron A.

Aron A. is a features editor for HotNewHipHop. Beginning his tenure at HotNewHipHop in July 2017, he has comprehensively documented the biggest stories in the culture over the past few years. Throughout his time, Aron’s helped introduce a number of buzzing up-and-coming artists to our audience, identifying regional trends and highlighting hip-hop from across the globe. As a Canadian-based music journalist, he has also made a concerted effort to put spotlights on artists hailing from North of the border as part of Rise & Grind, the weekly interview series that he created and launched in 2021. Aron also broke a number of stories through his extensive interviews with beloved figures in the culture. These include industry vets (Quality Control co-founder Kevin "Coach K" Lee, Wayno Clark), definitive producers (DJ Paul, Hit-Boy, Zaytoven), cultural disruptors (Soulja Boy), lyrical heavyweights (Pusha T, Styles P, Danny Brown), cultural pioneers (Dapper Dan, Big Daddy Kane), and the next generation of stars (Lil Durk, Latto, Fivio Foreign, Denzel Curry). Aron also penned cover stories with the likes of Rick Ross, Central Cee, Moneybagg Yo, Vince Staples, and Bobby Shmurda.