History
DaBaby
Born Jonathan Kirk in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1991, DaBaby relocated to Charlotte, North Carolina, by the age of six. He began his musical journey in December 2014, adopting the moniker Baby Jesus and releasing his debut mixtape, NonFiction, the following month. His first live performance was at South by Southwest in the spring of 2015.
Kirk later changed his stage name to DaBaby, explaining the shift in the lyrics of "DaBaby (Intro)," featured on his 2016 mixtape God's Work Resurrected. This project included a guest appearance by Boosie Badazz and started to garner attention from both fans and fellow artists.
A prolific period of mixtape releases followed. In 2017, he put out Billion Dollar Baby, Baby Talk, Baby Talk 2, Baby Talk 3, Baby Talk 4, and Back on My Baby Jesus Sh!t. The momentum continued in 2018 with Baby Talk 5 and Blank Blank.
In November 2018, an altercation at a North Carolina Walmart resulted in a fatality. Kirk was present during the dispute, which involved gunfire, but was not charged with any crime related to the death of 19-year-old Jalyn Domonique Craig.
DaBaby secured a record deal with Interscope in 2019. His first major-label release, the album Baby on Baby, arrived in March of that year, supported by music videos for the singles "Suge" and "Walker, Texas Ranger."
