Released October 21, 2016 Genre Hip hop
R&B
neo soul Label Atlantic
Empire | Recorded 2015–16 Length 53:25 | |
Producer Gabe Niles (also exec.)
Ben Billions
Cardo
Charlie Heat
Chris McClenney
Dan Stuckie
Happy Perez
J Gramm
Karl Rubin
LosHendrix
Mike Dean
Nico Segal
Pablo Dylan
Ricky Reed
Roofeeo
Rogét Chahayed
SamTrax
The ANMLS
Yung Exclusive | ||
Big Baby D.R.A.M. is the debut studio album by American hip hop recording artist D.R.A.M. It was released on October 21, 2016, by Atlantic Records and Empire Distribution. The album features guest appearances from Young Thug, Erykah Badu and Lil Yachty, while the production was handled by Charlie Heat, Mike Dean, Ricky Reed and Roofeeo, among others.
Contents
Big Baby D.R.A.M. received generally positive reviews from critics and debuted at number 19 on the Billboard 200. It also debuted at number 12 on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. The album was supported by three singles: "Broccoli" featuring Lil Yachty, "Cute" and "Cash Machine". Its single "Broccoli" received a Grammy nomination for Best Rap/Sung Performance.
Singles
"Broccoli" was released as the album's lead single on April 6, 2016. The song features a guest appearance from American rapper Lil Yachty, with the production that was provided by J Gramm, Rogét Chahayed and Karl Rubin. The song's accompanying music video premiered on July 22, 2016, on D.R.A.M.'s YouTube account. On September 23, 2016, the single was certified double Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
"Cute" was released as the album's second single on July 29, 2016. The track was produced by Charlie Heat.
"Cash Machine" was released as the album's third single on September 9, 2016. The track was produced by Ricky Reed. The music video for the single premiered on October 18, 2016.
Critical reception
Big Baby D.R.A.M. received generally positive reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 80, based on 13 reviews. Neil Z. Yeung of AllMusic said, "Big Baby D.R.A.M. is, at times, odd and imperfect, which is part of the charm." James Kilpin of Clash said, "It's refreshing to hear something different and altogether more interesting from a slighter older but no less exciting name." Michael Madden of Consequence of Sound said, "It'll be interesting to see how those sorts of lyrics sound 10, 15, or 20 years down the line, but at the very least, Big Baby D.R.A.M.'s melodies and instrumentation are enough to ensure people will be listening to these songs for a while." Tim Jonze of The Guardian said, "The Virginia rapper's playfulness is frequently channelled through his talent for crafting delightfully weird pop." Eric Diep of HipHopDX said, "Big Baby D.R.A.M. is presented as a playlist of D.R.A.M.'s best conceptual songs rather than achieve the glory of playing a perfect album from front to back." Christine Clarke of Now said, "The dizzying array of styles and themes always entertain, and D.R.A.M.'s confidence as both a singer and rapper allows him to pull these threads together."
August Brown of Los Angeles Times said, "With Big Baby D.R.A.M. he comes into his own, rapping with verve and sensitivity while fully capturing 2016's loopy, soulful moment in hip-hop. No wonder he's smiling." Jon Caramanica of The New York Times said, "His excellent full-length debut album, Big Baby D.R.A.M., is joyous, clever and moves in surprising directions." Daniel Bromfield of Pretty Much Amazing said, "Big Baby D.R.A.M. makes it clear he's interested in a lot more than just writing breezy radio tunes. The only problem is that's unequivocally what he's best at." Jayson Greene of Pitchfork said, "D.R.A.M. doesn't really have new ideas to pitch into this ball pit, but on his full-length debut Big Baby D.R.A.M., he reminds us that new ideas aren't the whole game." Christopher R. Weingarten of Rolling Stone said, "Love or hate his broken style, he's the Biz Markie for the era where it goes down in the D.M." Scott Glaysher of XXL said, "Big Baby D.R.A.M. does have moments where tracks like "Sweet VA Breeze" and "WiFi" easily blend into each other, sounding a bit too similar. But those middling songs don't really hinder the overall replay value of the album." At the end of the year, Big Baby D.R.A.M. was named the 42nd best album of 2016 by Complex.
Track listing
Songwriting credits are adapted from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).
Sample credits