NAME DaBaby
LABEL Interscope
On Jan. 23, Interscope, in partnership with South Coast Music Group, signed 27-year-old rapper DaBaby. Formerly known as Baby Jesus, the Charlotte, N.C., native started rapping at the end of 2014 and dropped his first mixtape online at the start of 2015. In 2016, South Coast CEO Arnold Taylor, who has had a yearslong relationship with Interscope, signed him to his group and by summer 2018 was shopping DaBaby to the majors.
By the time Interscope executive vp urban operations Nicole Wyskoarko and executive vp Joie Manda met him, DaBaby had five mixtapes out and breakout song “21” on the way (which has since garnered 5.4 million on-demand U.S. streams, according to Nielsen Music). “His energy was infectious,” says Wyskoarko. “It matched the music and…
