Lil Baby Responds To Criticism Of Controversial GRAMMYs Performance

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Last weekend at the 63rd annual GRAMMYs, Lil Baby performed his powerful 2020 hit single, "The Bigger Picture." This record addresses topics such as racism and police brutality. In Baby's performance, it came off as controversial due to the beginning of it displaying a Black man being shot and killed by police, something that is all too frequent in the United States. Many believe that that scene wasn't needed to get the point across of the performance.

In a new interview with Billboard, Baby sat down and explained why eh chose these scenes for his performance. He related to the Rayshard Brooks incident in his hometown of Atlanta.

"I wanted to use a specific situation that would give people an understanding of where I come from," said  Baby. "I didn’t really want to use the George Floyd or Breonna Taylor [killings] or something. I wanted to use something that stood by me. [Rayshard Brooks' killing] happened in Atlanta, and I live in Atlanta, and I’ve been in some of those same exact situations."

Baby also went on to explain how he has loved ones who were actually killed by police as well. He labels this situation in the US as a "never-ending saga." Baby also pays legal fees for his loved ones in prison.

"It’s a never-ending saga for the people who really live in it but to the world... stuff like that dies down when no one’s talking about it," said Baby. "But me, I’m a person who really has family members who’ve been killed by the police. I really have friends in prison for the rest of their lives for things that they didn’t do. I’m really a part of that outside of music, when I’m not on stage, when I’m at home. That’s my everyday life. I talk to my people in prison, I’m spending millions of dollars on lawyers to get my people out of a messed-up system."

Baby added that he's glad he hasn't been one who's lost his life to police brutality yet. He cited how this was sadly a fate that happened to Brooks while simply sleeping.

"It’s way bigger than just a song to me. It doesn’t die down for me when the world is not rioting or talking about police brutality or the whole problematic system. I’m still thinking about it -- it’s still something that I gotta face. I’m still that same guy who could fall asleep in my car one night, and I could wake up to police in front of me. I’ve been in those types of situations, and thank God I never lost my life in any of them."

"The Bigger Picture" was also nominated for two GRAMMYs last weekend as well. It fell into the categories of Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance. This record also peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and is currently platinum in the United States. The official music video has also amassed closed  to 120 million views. The Bigger Picture was also released after Baby had a chart-topping album in "My Turn" that February as well.