Lil Baby More Than Tripled His Price for a Feature in the Last 2 Years
Atlanta-bred rapper Lil Baby released his first mixtape in 2017, and has released ten total projects since his debut. Since the turn of this decade, he’s become an increasingly in-demand artist, as other emcees bring Lil Baby on their own songs as a featured guest. Because of his rise to success, Lil Baby has tripled the price that he used to ask for a feature just a few years ago.
Lil Baby used to charge $100,000 for a feature
Back in 2020, Lil Baby tweeted that his price for a feature on another artist’s song was set at $100,000. “At this point it’s safe to say I want 100k for a feature,” the “Heyy” rapper wrote.
Meanwhile, Pierre “Pee” Thomas, the CEO of the Quality Control record label (to which Lil Baby is signed) chimed in and insisted that Baby should double his price. “200k,” the record executive tweeted. Chicago rapper Lil Durk agreed that Lil Baby’s asking price was too low and told him he should up it to $200,000 as well. “F*** that,” he tweeted at Lil Baby in response. “200k.”
In May 2020, rapper Vince Staples confirmed that Lil Baby charged $100,000 for a feature on his song “East Point Prayer.”
Lil Baby now charges $350,000 for a feature
In an October 2022 appearance on Big Loon’s The Experience podcast, Lil Baby discussed his going rate for features these days. In the two years since he first said his asking price was $100,000, he’s more than tripled his rate.
“I don’t even be doing features no more,” he said honestly when asked how much he charges for a feature. “Like, $300,000, $350,000. But I ain’t been doing features lately.” He explained that he took a step back from appearing as a guest on other artists’ songs because he was busy working on his third studio album It’s Only Time, released in October 2022.
Still, he hasn’t stopped doing features altogether, and is open to them when he’s not as busy. “If I know I ain’t putting out no album, or I ain’t got nothing going on, like, why not?” he said.
In early 2022, he teamed up with superstar rapper Nicki Minaj for not one but two collaborations: “Do We Have a Problem?” and “Bussin'”.
Lil Baby is much happier today
Lil Baby went on to speak about his life today and how it compares to being behind bars before his rap career took off.
“There was a long time I wasn’t happy … But now I’m finally in like a happy stage. I wake up, I’ll be happy now,” he said. “I don’t know. A lot of s*** I be going through, getting adjusted to this, changing, having to stop being around people I’m used to being around. … It was just like adapting to my new environment — s*** had me in a little dark spot for a minute, man.”
In an interview with The New York Times ahead of It’s Only Me‘s release, Lil Baby reflected on his Atlanta upbringing and how it has affected his music, as well as Atlanta’s production of hit-making rappers over the past three decades.
“Honestly, I think there’s something in the water,” he said honestly. “It’s the upbringing, it’s the culture, it’s the things we see, the people we watched on TV. It’s a repeating cycle of greatness.”
