DaBaby

TikTok can help smaller musicians reach huge fan bases, especially if their song gets turned into a viral challenge. That’s exactly what happened with Erica Banks when her track “Buss It” quickly became the backdrop for a challenge that had celebrities like Chloe Bailey and Rico Nasty dropping low to her track. The song’s popularity led to a number of offers from big labels like DaBaby‘s Billion Dollar Baby Entertainment, but she decided to turn them down.

Speaking in an in interview with The Neighborhood Talk, Banks explained why she decided to decline DaBaby’s label offer. When DaBaby DM’d her asking if she wanted to be the “First Lady of Billion Dollar Baby Entertainment,” she was ready to jump on the opportunity. But she instead heeded the advice of her mom, who said it was still too early to be accepting offers:

“I had already turned everybody down. I personally did not sign with DaBaby because I was very excited, it was my second offer, I was like, ‘Hell yeah.’ I was about to get all the planning done. But then I called my mom, like, ‘This is what I’m about to do, I’m about to go sign with DaBaby.’ She’s like, ‘Oh no, we need to slow down. This is only the second offer. We’re not gonna just jump on whatever.’ Once she explained to my why it’s important to wait I was like, okay, you know what? You’re right. So I decided to wait. And now I’m glad I didn’t make a decision that I made because that’s a little early. You don’t want to take the first two offers, the first three. You might get something that fits you better.”

Not taking up DaBaby’s offer proved to be the right move for Banks. Instead, she inked a deal with Warner Records.

Watch a clip of Banks’ The Neighborhood Talk interview above and revisit her performance of “Buss It” with UPROXX Sessions here.

Some of the artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.