DeeBaby

DeeBaby expresses his struggles and triumphs from the streets of Houston with plain-spoken verses and hooks that ache even when they’re boastful. Active since the tail-end of the 2010s, the Mexican rapper expanded his audience in 2021 with “Marz,” a grim track he soon followed with his first album, The Black Sheep. Within two years, he returned with the charting Junkie Mode, titled in reference to his insatiable need to write and record.
The rapper born Jesus Martinez caught the bug early, at the age of five, when he started freestyling with his uncle. Three years later, he recorded three songs with his uncle in a local recording studio, and grew only more determined to develop a distinct identity while deeply immersing himself in the study of hip-hop. DeeBaby’s first commercial tracks arrived across 2018 and 2019. Most popular was the confrontational “2 AM.” Singles throughout 2020 fared consistently well and primed DeeBaby for a breakthrough the next year with the casually cold-blooded and laser-focused “Marz.” Mere months later, DeeBaby was showcased throughout the Be Someone: HoUSton Population compilation and issued his debut full-length The Black Sheep, featuring the more aggressive “ShootOut.” Anticipation for DeeBaby’s second album was built with “Hottest in the City” and “Top Down,” tracks followed by “Junkie Mode (Intro),” which pointed the way toward the rapper’s wiser and more emotionally open Junkie Mode. The album entered Billboard’s Heatseekers chart immediately after its April 2023 release. ~ Andy Kellman