HOW TF IS THIS A MIXTAPE?

When it comes to addressing controversy, DaBaby has repeatedly shown himself to be more than willing to respond on record. After onstage remarks in front of a music festival crowd back in 2021 led to considerable national backlash, the Charlotte, North Carolina, rapper spoke on the matter and the impact on his own life and livelihood that same year on Kanye West’s “Jail pt 2” as well as on subsequent projects of his own. Coming two years after his last album *Baby on Baby 2*, this relatively brisk 14-track effort finds him boasting of resilience as he once again draws upon the skill set that brought him fame and success in the first place. Opening *HOW TF IS THIS A MIXTAPE?* with the defiant “In a Minute,” an introduction that curiously doubles as one of its longest songs, he essentially shrugs off the past couple years while embracing his family and explicitly promising a return to chart glory. On “Gimme a Reason,” he offers a blunt explanation as to why this *isn’t* an album despite its runtime similarities with his chart-topping full-lengths *BLAME IT ON BABY* and *KIRK*. Still, with returning producers including Sean Da Firzt and Charlie Heat behind the boards, songs like “I’m Outside” and the clubbier “PHAT” nonetheless feel like prime DaBaby material. All the while, he thematically maintains a defensively righteous stance, his man-against-the-world mindset wholly evident on “Carry It On.” He directs no small amount of his ire at the media, but reserves some of the tape’s most pointed criticism at those in his circle that didn’t stand by him, via “Ain’t That a Bitch.” Elsewhere, he shifts his focus towards the ladies he desires, making his proclivities known on “Hate a Nice Chick” and “Hollywood Freak.”