DaBaby Embraces His Status as the Villain of Hip-Hop
DaBaby brought out Tory Lanez during his performance at Rolling Loud. It was seen as a middle finger towards Megan Thee Stallion.
This past weekend, Rolling Loud — the biggest hip-hop festival in the world — held its annual festival in Miami. The closing act for the weekend was Post Malone. But, by the time Sunday evening was over, there would be another rapper to garner the top headlines.
DaBaby had the 8:45 set on the Ciroc stage — right after Megan Thee Stallion performed. His performance was a polarizing set where he cemented himself as one of hip-hop’s villains. Not only did it include a homophobic rant — where he lashed out against people with AIDs and HIV — but during his set he brought out Tory Lanez, who was, for whatever reason, wearing a teddy bear costume. (DaBaby teased the reveal, telling the crowd,“I’ll give somebody out here a million dollars if they can guess who in here.”)
The two performed Lanez’s latest single “SKAT,” which dropped earlier this summer. On social media, the move was seen as disrespectful gesture toward Meg, who DaBaby has collaborated with in the past.
DaBaby just brought out Tory Lanez during his Rolling Loud set. Megan Thee Stallion performed before him
— XXL Magazine (@XXL) July 26, 2021
We should add that audience didn’t appreciate the move, either. At one point, someone threw an “adida” shoe at DaBaby — George W. Bush style.
??? pic.twitter.com/cLnY1xDJzY
— Shug Knite (@shugknite) July 26, 2021
This month was the one year anniversary of Tory Lanez allegedly shooting Megan Thee Stallion in the foot, a matter that is still being investigated. Lanez has been charged with one felony count each of assault with a semiautomatic firearm, personal use of a firearm, and carrying a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle; he has pleaded not guilty to the charges and has tried to form some type of career comeback, with pretty lackluster results.
This performance also comes weeks after Meg and DaBaby went back and forth on Twitter. After the video for “SKAT” dropped, DaBaby retweeted a tweet making fun of Meg’s shooting. (DaBaby said he didn’t retweet it and there was some sort of glitch.) Meg responded by tweeting:
“Support me in private and publicly do something different…these industry men are very strange. This situation ain’t no damn “beef” and I really wish people would stop down playing it like it’s some internet shit for likes and retweets.”
DaBaby responded by saying he had no “Bad energy” for her, adding that she should “stay focused.”
support me in private and publicly do something different…these industry men are very strange. This situation ain’t no damn “beef” and I really wish people would stop down playing it like it’s some internet shit for likes and retweets.
— TINA SNOW (@theestallion) June 19, 2021
You done let these folks get the best of you thug. ion got no bad energy for ya.
You know like I know I ain’t no “industry” nigga , let em fool you into thinking that you trippin.
Stand on what you stand on without feeling like I’m against ya.
Stay focused my g??? https://t.co/EnbBvahHHX
— DaBaby (@DaBabyDaBaby) June 19, 2021
My stance hasn’t changed at all YOURS has. We already spoke abt this in private and you specifically said “that ain’t even no good business move why would I promote that shit” but now this ain’t your “beef” ? That ain’t real. But you stay on ya “business” my g https://t.co/WeKAVD0xnu
— TINA SNOW (@theestallion) June 19, 2021
You ain’t tweeting nothing I ain’t tell dat nigga directly. I told him da same shit. lol
Whoever cleared it cleared it, so what.
Shit still ain’t enough of my bidness for MFs to be feelin some type of way bout my pretty chocolate assGettin into dat don’t feed my ppl. https://t.co/p4v5dFq9G8
— DaBaby (@DaBabyDaBaby) June 19, 2021
Rapper Pardison Fontaine, who is currently dating Meg, also added some parting shots.
You a clown ass nigga doin doin clown ass shit then tryin to back pedal .. nigga that’s what it is .. u don’t ever gotta address her again
— UNDER?ED (@pardi) June 20, 2021
You can see there was still some bad feelings from the respective camps when, days later, Meg and DaBaby were not on stage together during a planned DJ Khaled performance at the 2021 BET Awards.
So, when you add all of that context together, you can see why hip-hop fans on social media felt like this was a weak move on DaBaby’s part. As the video was passed around, the reaction is clear — DaBaby sentiment is at a low.
Dababy bringing Tory Lanez out right after Megan Thee Stallion performed is not petty its evil. Tory shot that girl. He literally tried to harm that girl. This ain’t no rap beef quit trying to minimize what Tory did to that girl. pic.twitter.com/Vt5lKbXDHU
— Reggie Rocket (@itsJustMiahh) July 26, 2021
Dababy is quite literally the corniest mf alive, I fear
— Chosen One ?️? (@TarotByBronx) July 26, 2021
Dababy the lamest nigga of the year no bullshit https://t.co/9lsccWRc1O
— von ♅ (@VONDUPPY01) July 26, 2021
yes. it’s disrespectful and it’s raggedy and it’s transparent https://t.co/Qdz8fEAop3
— Danyel Smith (@danamo) July 26, 2021
DaBaby isn’t “weird” or “goofy” for bringing out Tory Lanez, he is sociopathic.
— OG Venus (@Tendurag) July 26, 2021
Does he care? Who knows. But it’s clear over the past couple of weeks that Tory and DaBaby — who had a strange incident involving kids selling candy — have embraced their status as hip-hop’s two main villains.