Sophia Michaels
Lil Baby wants you to know that he’s one of a kind. During his latest appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the rapper debuted “Russian Roulette,” the closing track from his newly released studio album It’s Only Me. On the record, the Atlanta native delivers a message to everyone listening: “Don’t compare me to no other rapper, I feel like my shit real.”
The straight-forward track was performed with a full backing band with Lil Baby seated front and center on the stage. Meanwhile, a black-and-white slideshow of childhood images and illustrations of his home city decorated the screen behind him. “Another bloody summer in Atlanta, done lost five friends,” he rapped. “Mama told me that water was cold, I still had dived in.”
“Russian Roulette” appears as the last of 23 tracks on It’s Only Me. Across the album, Lil Baby collaborates with Nardo Wick, Young Thug, Future, Jeremih, EST Gee, Pooh Shiesty, and more.
The album arrives just a few weeks after the release of Untrapped: The Story of Lil Baby, the Amazon Prime Video documentary that chronicles his unexpected rise to superstardom and how he embraced music after spending time in prison — both of which are topics addressed across the album and on “Russian Roulette.”
“I got rich, that’s my life story/I left the streets in a paddywagon, I came back and got right to it,” he offers as a reminder. “Never question my loyalty, if it’s that deep, then don’t do it/Seem to go my hardest when I’m going through it.”
