Baby S

Raised on the West Side of Los Angeles, Baby S is a gangsta rapper whose primary influences include DJ Quik, Snoop Doggy Dogg, and late N.W.A. member Eazy-E. Baby has a rapping style that is unmistakably California — the minute he starts to flow, one can easily tell that he is from the West Coast. The L.A. resident started rapping when he was in grammar school; that was in the ’80s, and his desire to rap was inspired by popular hip-hop films like Krush Groove and Beat Street. Those movies were released at a time when New York still dominated rap, but in the late ’80s, the Big Apple’s position as hip-hop’s capital was seriously challenged by the West Coast — and Baby, like many Southern Californians, came under the influence of the gangsta rappers who were coming out of South Central L.A. and Compton, CA. He was a major fan of N.W.A.’s seminal, ultra-influential Straight Outta Compton album of 1989, and after that, he was influenced by Compton’s DJ Quik and Long Beach’s Snoop Doggy Dogg. Those gangsta rappers not only influenced his twangy flow, but also his lyrics (which are full of gangsta/thug life imagery). Along the way, Baby met various West Coast hip-hoppers who helped him out, including producer Battlecat (known for his work with Snoop and tha Eastsidaz) and veteran L.A. rapper King T (who was among Southern California’s first hardcore rappers and used to go by King Tee). In 1998, T featured Baby on “Squeeze Yo Balls,” one of the tunes on his Thy Kingdom Come album. Later that year, Baby appeared on rapper Kurupt’s hit single “We Can Freak It,” which Battlecat produced. In 2001, Baby recorded his debut album, Street Fractions, for Blast Entertainment/Ruthless Records (distributed by Epic/Sony). ~ Alex Henderson