It was only a matter of time before DaBaby did his own take of the WizKid and Tems summer hit “Essence”. The “Suge” rapper addressed the continuous fallout from his homophobic remarks about HIV/AIDS at the Rolling Loud Miami festival in July in the freestyle which dropped on Tuesday (Aug. 31).
(579) DaBaby – “Essence” Freestyle (Official Video) – YouTube
“I just feel like, you know, when situations like this present themselves, man/ And people try to, you know, assassinate your character, man/ And assassinate who you are, man/ And everything you put that hard work in for, man/ Sometimes you gotta demonstrate, you know, that’s how I came here/ And I don’t mind demonstratin’,” the MC says in a spoken word interlude in the video, in which he goes shoe shopping, hangs with his daughter and flexes in front of a private jet.
The freestyle — switches up the tempo on the more relaxed original and is centered on DaBaby bragging about unnamed people trying to bring him down in lines such as, “Tell me how the f— it feel to follow behind a followin’-a– n—a on a computer, n—a/ All of y’all some sheep-a– n—as, these n—as gullible.”
DaBaby has been the face of controversy following a homophobic rant in which he made ignorant and misinformed statements about HIV and AIDS. “If you didn’t show up today with HIV, AIDS, or any of them deadly sexually transmitted diseases that’ll make you die in two to three weeks, then put your cellphone lighter up,” he said. “Ladies, if your p—- smell like water, put your cell phone lighter up. Fellas, if you ain’t sucking d— in the parking lot, put your cell phone lighter up.” He has since attempted to correct his wrongs and has met with nine HIV organizations in order to better inform himself on what the reality is of living with HIV and AIDS. Have you heard the Essence freestyle yet? What are your thoughts on it ?
