DaBaby

Jonathan Lyndale Kirk (born December 22, 1991), known professionally as DaBaby (formerly known as Baby Jesus), is an American rapper.

Jonathan Lyndale Kirk was born on December 22, 1991, in Cleveland, Ohio.

He moved to Charlotte, North Carolina at age six, where he spent most of his early years.

He attended Vance High School, now called Julius L. Chambers High School, where he graduated in 2010.

He attended the University of North Carolina at Greensboro for two years.

He did not complete his studies, saying he only went to college for his parents' sake.

He grew up listening to Eminem, 50 Cent and Lil Wayne with his two older brothers.

After releasing several mixtapes between 2014 and 2018, he signed to Interscope Records in January 2019 in a joint venture with the North Carolina-based record label, South Coast Music Group.

Kirk began taking music seriously between 2014 and 2015.

In 2015, he started off his music career by releasing Nonfiction, his debut mixtape.

He followed this up with his God's Work mixtape series, Baby Talk mixtape series, Billion Dollar Baby, and Back on My Baby Jesus Sh*t.

He initially performed under the name Baby Jesus, which he eventually changed out of concern that it had become a distraction.

Kirk got his big break after signing to Arnold Taylor, the president of the South Coast Music Group label, a big radio promoter.

Taylor saw Kirk perform around North Carolina clubs at the time he [Taylor] was launching his label.

Taylor had been responsible for the early rise of Southern rap stars including Yo Gotti and Future.

Once they started working together, the team kept building buzz around the South with mixtapes and club shows, while Kirk was finding his sound.

Through his deal with South Coast, Kirk signed a short-lived distribution deal with Jay-Z's Roc Nation for his Blank Blank mixtape that would prove to be his breakout in late 2018.

Thanks to the guidance of Taylor, and following major label bidding wars, Kirk landed a seven-figure recording deal with Interscope.

He released his debut studio album, Baby on Baby (2019) to belated commercial success, later receiving support from the Billboard Hot 100-top ten single "Suge" a month after its release.

His second studio album, Kirk (2019) debuted atop the Billboard 200 and spawned the hit singles "Intro" and "Bop".

That same year, he guest featured on the singles "Enemies" by Post Malone and "Cash Shit" by Megan Thee Stallion.

In January 2019, upon being signed to Interscope, Kirk launched his own imprint, Billion Dollar Baby Entertainment.

In March 2019, Kirk's debut studio album Baby on Baby, was released via Interscope Records and South Coast Music Group in a joint venture with both labels.

The thirteen-track project features guest appearances from Offset, Rich Homie Quan, Rich the Kid and Stunna 4 Vegas.

Baby on Baby debuted at number 25 on the Billboard 200 albums chart in the US.

The song "Suge" debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 87 on the chart, dated April 13, 2019, and reached the top 10 on the chart, dated June 8, 2019.

Kirk was featured on the cover of XXL as part of the Freshman Class of 2019.

Kirk featured on various hit songs throughout mid-2019, including Megan Thee Stallion's "Cash Shit" and Quality Control's "Baby", both of which reached the top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100.

In July 2019, Kirk was featured on Dreamville's compilation album Revenge of the Dreamers III, on the opening track, "Under the Sun".

He received acclaim for his guest feature, with various publications ranking it as his best verse of 2019, including Complex magazine calling it a "defining breakout moment for a new rap superstar".

In August 2019, he announced that his second album would be titled Kirk, named after his surname.

It was released in September, and debuted atop the US Billboard 200.

Its lead single, "Intro", was successful, peaking at number 13 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Around that time, Kirk also made notable appearances on singles such as Post Malone's "Enemies", which peaked at number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100, and on the remixes to YG's "Stop Snitchin", Lizzo's "Truth Hurts", and Lil Nas X's "Panini", released in May, August, and September 2019, respectively.

In October, he made a cameo appearance in the music video for his protégé, Rich Dunk's single "High School".

Kirk closed 2019 having 22 entries on the Billboard Hot 100 for the year, the most of any artist that year.

His third studio album, Blame It on Baby (2020) became his second to peak the chart and spawned the single "Rockstar" (featuring Roddy Ricch), which spent seven non-consecutive weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 in the wake of the year's George Floyd protests.

Furthermore, it received quintuple platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and earned a Grammy Award nomination for Record of the Year.

In 2020, he guest performed on the remix of "Whats Poppin" by Jack Harlow and the single "Levitating" by Dua Lipa, both of which peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100.

Following public controversies regarding homophobia, he released the collaborative mixtape Better than You (2022) with YoungBoy Never Broke Again and his fourth album, Baby on Baby 2 (2022).