The rollout for NBA YoungBoy and DaBaby’s new collaborative album Better Than You was a long and eventful one. Making news throughout the first two months of 2022, one particular video DaBaby posted sparked headlines.
In early January, Baby posted a song snippet for his unreleased song with YoungBoy titled “Call The Fireman,” which actually did not end up landing on their March 4 album. In the teaser, fans noticed that YB’s ad-libs and choppy flow sounded a lot like Playboi Carti.
Now that we have the album, it seems that NBA YoungBoy fleshed out this Carti flow even more, as he introduced a high-pitched, squeaky voice for his chorus on the eighth song “Syracuse,” rapping, “Glizzy, glizzy, show ’em what that Draco do (Blatt! Blatt!)/Pass that drank from Syracuse (Ha! Ha!)/Millions, millions, Bentley, Bentley, Lamb’ truck too.”
When a leak of the song surfaced the day before the album released (March 3), fans erupted on YB, accusing him of stealing Carti’s sound.
It is hard to deny that YoungBoy definitely sounds like the Atlanta “Whole Lotta Red” rapper, as Carti’s influence has been widespread since his emergence.
While DaBaby and NBA YoungBoy’s joint album is an exciting time for hip-hop, it is a shame it could be clouded by a story like this. Promotional singles like “Bestie,” “Hit” and “Neighborhood Superstar” all had fans excited for the record, but “Syracuse” could bring a stench to the overall project.
Do you think NBA YoungBoy is biting Playboi Carti’s flow?