Lil Baby and say 'Yes Indeed'

The Atlanta rapper Lil Baby is the latest in a string of recent Drake endorsements that also includes BlocBoy JB and Octavian. Baby isn’t as exciting a prospect as either of those artists, but he does seem poised for a breakthrough. His collaboration with Drake, “Yes Indeed” (formerly known as “ Pikachu”), unfortunately splits the difference between dispassionate and marble-mouthed, but there are still quotables hidden in their sharply pivoting verses. “Yes Indeed” is produced by Wheezy, and so Drake connects the dots to the Weezy that made him , reflecting on his rap origins with string of muttered run-ons that hardly seem to break. “When I started out, I just took what they gave me/Did all the favors, they never repaid me/It worked in my favor, ‘cause nobody saved me,” he murmurs.
In a roundabout way, the verse—and to a greater extent the song—is Drake coaching up rookies like Lil Baby, all while acknowledging the incredible run he’s on. And his student nearly interrupts this lesson, eagerly punching in for a hook and verse that are even more unrelenting than Drake’s. Baby is the latest featured rapper on the Quality Control label that produced Migos and Lil Yachty. He normally takes a chameleonic approach to Auto-Tune, but on “Yes Indeed,” he opts to rely on his natural, mewling singsong flow. He is almost whiny where Drake is stony; their styles don’t complement each other, yet they find a balance. “$2,500 for a new pair of tennis shoes/The same price, I could make them youngins come and finish you,” Baby raps cavalierly. The only time he’s excitable is when he brags he’s scored a Drake feature. In this way, “Yes Indeed” is pretty much Lil Baby’s wide-eyed introduction to the big leagues.