Charlotte rapper DaBaby stars with Jennifer Lopez on Dec. 7 Saturday Night Live show
Charlotte rapper DaBaby will star with Jennifer Lopez on the Dec. 7 Saturday Night Live.
Lopez will host the 11:30 p.m. NBC show, with DaBaby as the musical guest, according to an SNL YouTube video announcing her and DaBaby’s appearances.
Who is DaBaby, and why is he suddenly so big in the music industry?
Earned 2 Grammy nominations
DaBaby was nominated for Grammy awards in November for Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance. The nominations were for “Suge,” the song he released in March with a video filmed in a west Charlotte neighborhood.
Signed with major record label
DaBaby’s music industry status began to blossom in January, when he signed with big-time label Interscope Records, The Charlotte Observer previously reported.
His popularity built gradually before that, much like most other famous rappers, with mix tapes and videos on YouTube that drew millions of views, the Observer reported.
His latest track, “BOP on Broadway,” has drawn 13 million views since its Nov. 15 release, according to YouTube.
In June, he dazzled a national TV audience with a performance of “Suge” during the BET Awards.
Named to Forbes 30 under 30 list
Forbes magazine recently named DaBaby to its list of “inspiring and aspiring young movers and makers out to change the world.”
The magazine assured readers that DaBaby was “no one hit wonder” with the success of “Suge.”
‘Kirk’ release tops album charts
Forbes cited DaBaby’s debut album, “Baby on Baby,” reaching No. 7 on the Billboard 200 this year and how, despite the rapper’s “legal troubles,” his follow-up “Kirk” in September “topped the album charts.”
Pop music critic Ken Tucker called the “humor-infused ‘Kirk’” among the year’s best hip-hop albums, according to NPR’s “Fresh Air” show.
Found guilty of weapons charge
Legal troubles?
Forbes was most likely referring to a judge finding the rapper guilty of a weapons charge in June in connection to a fatal shooting in a North Carolina Walmart.
DaBaby, whose given name is Jonathan Lyndale Kirk, was tried before a District Court judge who found him guilty of a misdemeanor charge of carrying a concealed weapon, a DA’s office spokeswoman told The Charlotte Observer at the time.
The 27-year-old rapper was sentenced to a year of unsupervised probation.
DaBaby was charged in connection with the fatal shooting of 19-year-old Jalyn Domonique Craig of Charlotte during a fight in the Walmart on Bryton Town Center Drive in Huntersville on Nov. 5.
In an obscenity-laced video on YouTube two days after the shooting, DaBaby said he was in the store shopping with his 1- and 5-year-olds and their mother when someone pulled a gun “and tried to take my life,” the Observer previously reported.
“Daughter could have got hit, son could have got hit (and) me,” DaBaby said in the video. “Lawyers ... telling me not to say nothing... But two (people) walk down on you and your whole...family, threatening y’all, whip out (a gun) on y’all, let me see what y’all going to do.”
Devotion to Charlotte fan base
DaBaby displayed his loyalty to his Charlotte fan base when plane troubles in New York on Thursday forced him to miss a show at Bojangles’ Coliseum back in Charlotte that night, People magazine reported Friday.
“I’m sorry Charlotte,” DaBaby posted in a video on his Instagram story with a pouting emoji.
He then performed for the Bojangles’ crowd via FaceTime, his manager, King Carter, posted on Instagram.
“Gotta respect this an if not you a hater,” Carter posted.
DaBaby in turn shared his manager’s post, adding, “MY CITY LOVE ME,” according to People.
This story was originally published December 7, 2019 at 3:23 PM.