Upon the release of WHAM Baby appeared in a cover story interview with Complex in which he spoke about the creation of the album.[4] During the interview, he revealed that he begun working on the record in September 2023 in Atlanta and Miami following the completion of his It's Only Us Tour. Baby described the record as his "young nigga street shit", stating that the goal for the album was to prove those who doubted him wrong. When asked about how he experimented with his sound on the album, Baby said:[4]
I definitely experimented with my sounds and flows because, at first, I never thought to even try to change my flow or change my sound. This time, I actually put thought into it. I actually went back this time and redid stuff and tightened stuff up—versus in the past, whatever I recorded, that's how I left it. I just mixed it and that was the end. Now I'm taking more time and going back and changing little words and saying shit in a different pitch or a different tone. Putting more time into the artistry of it, rather than just rapping now.
Baby also spoke about how the listening habits of listeners have changed throughout the years, resulting in him cutting the album down in terms of songs in comparison to his previous albums, My Turn (20 songs), The Voice of the Heroes (18 songs), and It's Only Me (23 songs). When asked about it, Baby said:[4]
I definitely feel like that. I think the attention span of the younger generation is not as long because everything is so short-lived. It’s like TikTok, YouTube, everything be kind of short now. So I feel like the attention span for music be different nowadays. I just don't want to make songs too long, but I still see [comments like], “Damn, these songs should be longer.” So it’s just different crowds. Some people love it, some people don't like it.
Release and promotion
On June 26, 2024, while Young Thug was incarcerated, a post from his Twitter account came out that said: "whateva wham say goes".[5] Following his release from jail, he posted on November 3: "Wham let’s drop one on these rats peter". Shortly after the post, billboards reading "Whatever Wham Says Goes" began to appear throughout Los Angeles, California.[6] On November 11, Lil Baby was seen with Young Thug, Future, and Travis Scott in a recording studio.[7] Five days later, Baby revealed that he got 21 Savage's "hardest verse ever".[8] On November 20, he shared a partial tracklist of the album, teasing several features.[9] On the same day, he took to social media to flex his $2.6 million custom jewelry that said "WHAM" in reference to the album's title.[10] Baby officially announced the release of the album and shared its pre-save link.[11][12] On December 21, he shared the album's official artwork and tracklist.[13] On December 31, Baby shared the album's official trailer before releasing a live performance of "Streets Colder" on the 4 Shooters Only YouTube channel on January 1, 2025.[14][15]
Upon the release of the album, Baby released a music video for the album's third track, "F U 2X".[16] On January 6, 2024, Baby released a music video for the album's sixth track: "By Myself", which features Rod Wave and Rylo Rodriguez.[17]
On January 7, Lil Baby performed the song "I Promise" on The Tonight Show,[18] and released a deluxe version of WHAM. The deluxe version, which features four new tracks, was made available for purchase on the Motown Records website,[19] before being released to streaming services on January 10.[20]
In a positive review, Clash's Robin Murray wrote that the record "distils Lil Baby’s potency down to a thick, unrelenting elixir". Murray continued that on the album, Baby is "continually switching up flows" and that "his trap-leaning sonic thirst has rarely been so unremittingly effective". Murray concluded that the album "feels both eclectic and uniquely defined".[21]
Kyann-Sian Williams of NME praised its production, but said that overall, the album was "nothing to write home about."[22]
Commercial performance
WHAM debuted atop the US Billboard 200 during the chart week dated January 18, 2025, earning 140,000 album-equivalent units (including 50,000 pure album sales) in its first week of availability in the United States. The album earned a total of 119.77 million official streams for its tracks. It is Lil Baby's fourth US number-one album.[23]
