This past month hot new artist; DaBaby gave us his critically acclaimed album KIRK, just six months after the release of his debut album Baby On Baby. This came after a summer filled with notable features and is heralded to be his biggest album yet. It is earning him a total of 146,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. alone on its opening week. This album is dedicated to his late father, touches into his North Carolina roots, giving us some unexpected depth into his music, instead of his routine “I’ll punch you” antics. But like always, he doesn’t disappoint.

Leading up to the release of KIRK, DaBaby gave us a new single ”INTRO,” which was dedicated to his late father and grandmother. In the song, he speaks about his father’s death, his family’s impact on his life, and his rise to mainstream stardom. It charted at number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 at its peak, giving him a substantial boost prior to the release of this new album.

Even after he emerged on the scene, DaBaby did not let up. He came time and time again with his signature flow, rapping ruthlessly like a Tasmanian devil on beats that could blow your eardrums out with a single listen. This flow showed up on most songs on the album with the likes of ”OFF THE RIP,” ”BOP,” ”VIBEZ,” and others. But to our dismay, his song with Nicki Minaj, ”IPHONE,” had a softer sing-rap type of hook, where he complains about using his iPhone to send “I love you” messages to women.

Despite his star status, he did not hesitate to fill up his bag with notable features. DaBaby included long-time collaborators, Stunna 4 Vegas and Kevin Gates, on ”REALLY” and “POPSTAR” respectively, where each sounded right at home. Chance the Rapper, Gucci Mane, and YK Osiris all gave a helping hand on “GOSPEL,” giving the album a bit more depth in the mixture of R&B and hardcore rap by the various rappers. Also, Lil Baby showed up – just after the two collaborated on Quality Control track ”BABY” – with Moneybagg Yo on “TOES.“ Towards the end of the album, guest stars Migos gave us a touch of their sound and addictive ad-libs on the song “RAW S**T.“ Ending out the album with his previously recorded XXL Freshman class cipher from earlier this year.

All in all, it’s a preeminent body of work by the North Carolina rapper, earning him 20 entries in the Hot 100 (the most by any artist in the year of 2019) and a number 1 album. If he keeps on with this type of heat, he’ll be gunning for Grammys in no time. But for now, we’ll have to watch and see.