Lil Baby says Young Thug paid him to leave the hood to become a rapper

Rap is a genre that usually pushes MCs to beef, but new artist Lil Baby says it was actually fellow rapper Young Thug who inspired him to leave the streets and pursue music instead.

While shooting his latest interview with XXL, the entertainer returned to his old Atlanta neighborhood of Oakland City, where he spent much of his time before Young Thug gave him cash to move on.

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“Young Thug, he gave me all the jewels,” the “Drip Too Hard” rapper shares. “He literally paid me to leave the neighborhood. [He said], ‘Bruh you can rap, you got it. You could be next. You gotta leave the ’hood… I’ma pay you to come to the studio.’”

But it appears the 24-year-old may have always been destined to be a star when he recounts that time he posted a snippet on Instagram of one of his earlier songs, and Gucci Mane commented, “I’ma sign him,” noting, “And Thug was like, ‘He already signed to me.’ And then from then on, I just start like every day, I ain’t stop. I’m here now”

Having two successful men in the game calling dibs on him is all it took for the father of two to put all his focus on music and he hasn’t looked back since.

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“My ultimate goal is my son, and a lot of other kids, to not have to grow up the way I grew up,” he explains. “I just give them a different outlook on something. I want to let them know they can have this much fun by doing something legal like me rapping for instance. Not just being able to show them a negative lifestyle [but] just to show them the positives.”

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“I want to be a superhero dad to where my kid feel like everything I do is nothing wrong,” he continued. “He just wants to not be like me, but he so much like me that he becomes better than me. I just want to be that to my children. The ultimate father. Even if I didn’t have the money, or whatever, you know what I’m sayin’, I still want to be Superman to my children”

Statements like these are why so many people are rooting for the Drip Too Hard rapper. Check out the full clip above.