Most frequent collaboratorJonathan Kirk · 76 tracks
GenresHip HopSouthern Hip HopTrap
Complete Artist
100%
Authorship
Holds writing credit on 76 of 76 tracks
Does DaBaby write his own songs?
Yes. On the published track credits for Baby on Baby, Kirk, Blame It on Baby and Be More Grateful, his legal name, Jonathan Kirk, sits first in the writer column of every song. The other names printed next to his are not ghostwriters. They are the producers who composed the instrumental and the featured rappers who wrote and performed their own verses. "Suge" credits Kirk with Tahj Morgan and Darryl Clemons, the two men who produced it as jetsonmade and Pooh Beatz. "Rockstar" credits Kirk with Rodrick Moore Jr., who raps on it as Roddy Ricch, and Ross Portaro IV, who produced it as SethInTheKitchen. That is how rap credits are assembled: a producer earns a share of the composition for the music itself, so a track can carry four or five listed writers and still be one rapper's words. Charles Holmes of Rolling Stone described the result as a staccato, precise and brutal rapping style delivered with such forward momentum that it often gives the illusion he starts rapping before the beat begins.
By the Numbers
5
Studio Albums
76
Tracks Credited
100%
Self-Written
12
Years Active
251
Collaborators
Authorship Breakdown 76 / 76 self-written
Who wrote the songs?
Across all 76 tracks: how many DaBaby wrote alone, how many they co-wrote, and how many were written by others. The bracket marks every track they hold any writing credit on.
DaBaby has a writing credit100%
100%
Sole author0tracks0%
Co-written76tracks100%
Outside writers0tracks0%
Role Fingerprint how they contribute
DaBaby's roles across the catalogue
Share of all 76 tracks where they are personally credited, by role.
Lyricist (words)100%
Composer (music)0%
Producer0%
Performer100%
Authorship Over Time writing credit per album
DaBaby's writing credit per album, in release order. Hover any bar for the album.
avg 100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
2019Baby on Baby
2019Kirk
2020Blame It on Baby
2022Baby on Baby 2
2026Be More Grateful
Early · 100% written
Late · 100% written
Authorship by Decade track-weighted
100%
2010s
Baby on Baby, Kirk
100%
2020s
Blame It on Baby, Baby on Baby 2 +1 more
Authorship Spectrum pure performer to complete author
Where DaBaby sits on the scale from a pure performer (0%, sings songs written by others) to a complete author (100%, writes everything). The bright marker is their catalogue authorship score, plotted against other artists on the site.
DaBaby
Other artists on the site
Reference artists spread across the scale, closest by genre and era.
Bubble size = tracks worked on together. Showing the 150 most frequent of 233. JK Jonathan Kirk · DK DJ K.i.D · J jetsonmade · TM Tahj Morgan · SD Sean Da Firzt · AM Anthony Mosley
The Authorship Story
Data Insight
DaBaby has a writing credit on all 76 tracks and not one of them is his alone. That is trap-album arithmetic: the rapper writes the verse, the producer writes the beat, both names go on the song. His co-writers are producers almost without exception, led by DJ K.i.D on 18 tracks, jetsonmade on 17, Sean Da Firzt on 14 and KayoTheWizard on 11. The shape does not shift across five albums. Be More Grateful in 2026 runs 23 tracks and credits them exactly the way Baby on Baby did in 2019, and no track anywhere in the catalogue has an undocumented writer.
Quick Facts
Own labelHe founded Billion Dollar Baby Entertainment in 2017, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, with Stunna 4 Vegas, DJ K.i.D, Rich Dunk, KayyKilo and Wisdom on the roster.
Breakout mixtapeHis thirteenth mixtape, Blank Blank, arrived in 2018 through a short-lived distribution deal with Jay-Z's Roc Nation and proved to be his breakout.
Chart run in 2019He closed 2019 having 22 entries on the Billboard Hot 100 for the year, the most of any artist that year.
Kirk on the Hot 100All 13 tracks from Kirk charted on the Billboard Hot 100, and the album debuted atop the Billboard 200.
Biggest single"Rockstar", featuring Roddy Ricch, spent seven non-consecutive weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached number one in the United Kingdom.
Grammy nominations"Suge" was nominated for Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song at the Grammy Awards in 2020, and "Rockstar" was nominated for Record of the Year at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards.
Creative Fingerprint
Across the published track credits for Baby on Baby, Kirk, Blame It on Baby and Be More Grateful, Jonathan Kirk leads the writer column on every song, and the names printed beside his belong almost entirely to the producers who built the beat and the guests who rap their own verses.
The Story
DaBaby is an American rapper and songwriter, born Jonathan Lyndale Kirk in Cleveland, Ohio in 1991 and raised in Charlotte, North Carolina. He put out fourteen mixtapes before Baby on Baby reached the Billboard 200 top ten in 2019, and Kirk and Blame It on Baby both entered at number one inside the following year.
Awards & Recognition
Best New Hip Hop Artist, BET Hip Hop Awards (2019), won
Best Male Hip Hop Artist, BET Awards (2020), won
Best New Hip-Hop Artist, iHeartRadio Music Awards (2020), won
Hip-Hop Song of the Year for "Suge", iHeartRadio Music Awards (2020), won
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Song for "Suge", ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Music Awards (2020), won
Winning R&B/Hip-Hop Songs for "Baby Sitter", ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Music Awards (2020), won
Top Streaming Song for "Rockstar", Billboard Music Awards (2021), won
Top Rap Song for "Rockstar", Billboard Music Awards (2021), won
Song of Summer for "Suge", MTV Video Music Awards (2019), nominated
Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song for "Suge", Grammy Awards (2020), nominated
Album of the Year for Kirk, BET Awards (2020), nominated
Record of the Year, Best Melodic Rap Performance and Best Rap Song for "Rockstar", Grammy Awards (2021), nominated
Best Rap Performance for "Bop", Grammy Awards (2021), nominated
Best Duo/Group with YoungBoy Never Broke Again, BET Hip Hop Awards (2022), nominated
Frequently Asked Questions DaBaby
Does DaBaby write his own songs?
Yes. On the published track credits for Baby on Baby, Kirk, Blame It on Baby and Be More Grateful, his legal name, Jonathan Kirk, sits first in the writer column of every song. The other names printed next to his are not ghostwriters. They are the producers who composed the instrumental and the featured rappers who wrote and performed their own verses. "Suge" credits Kirk with Tahj Morgan and Darryl Clemons, the two men who produced it as jetsonmade and Pooh Beatz. "Rockstar" credits Kirk with Rodrick Moore Jr., who raps on it as Roddy Ricch, and Ross Portaro IV, who produced it as SethInTheKitchen. That is how rap credits are assembled: a producer earns a share of the composition for the music itself, so a track can carry four or five listed writers and still be one rapper's words. Charles Holmes of Rolling Stone described the result as a staccato, precise and brutal rapping style delivered with such forward momentum that it often gives the illusion he starts rapping before the beat begins.
Why do DaBaby songs list so many writers?
Because the writer column in rap covers the beat as well as the words. On Kirk, "Toes" lists Kirk alongside Dominique Jones and Demario White Jr., who rap on it as Lil Baby and Moneybagg Yo, plus the people behind the Kenny Beats and Queen Sixties production. "Nasty" on Blame It on Baby lists Ashanti Douglas and Megan Pete, both of whom perform on it, next to London on da Track and the writers whose earlier work the record draws on. Strip out the producers and the guests and Kirk's own name is what remains.
Who produces most of DaBaby's music?
Three producers recur across his catalogue. jetsonmade built "Suge", "Goin Baby", "Carpet Burn" and "Tupac" on Baby on Baby and returned for "Bop", "Vibez" and "Gospel" on Kirk. SethInTheKitchen produced "Best Friend", then "iPhone" and "Really", then "Rockstar". DJ K.i.D produced "Intro" on Kirk and handled "Pick Up", "Sad Shit", "Find My Way", "Jump", "Champion" and the title track on Blame It on Baby, and the Be More Grateful notes still call him a longtime collaborator.
Did DaBaby write "Rockstar"?
He is credited on it with Rodrick Moore Jr. and Ross Portaro IV, and the song page says it was written by the two rappers, with Portaro, the North Carolina producer SethInTheKitchen, co-writing as well as producing. Kirk later added a separate verse for the Black Lives Matter remix released in June 2020, which opens with his own account of police abuse and the George Floyd protests.
Who are his most frequent collaborators?
On record, his own signee Stunna 4 Vegas turns up on "Joggers", "Really" and "No Dribble". YoungBoy Never Broke Again features on "Jump" and shares the writer credit on the Blame It on Baby title track, and the two made the Better than You mixtape together in 2022. Behind the camera, his videos are usually made with Reel Goats, and Complex writer Jessica McKinney noted their videos always have comedic and fun elements to them.
How did his guest verses fit into his own writing?
Through 2019 and 2020 he wrote verses onto other people's records at a pace that shaped his reputation as much as his albums did: Megan Thee Stallion's "Cash Shit", Post Malone's "Enemies", remixes of Lizzo's "Truth Hurts" and Lil Nas X's "Panini", the Jack Harlow "Whats Poppin" remix, "For the Night" with Pop Smoke and Lil Baby, and the "Levitating" remix for Dua Lipa. Billboard, Complex and HotNewHipHop all ran rankings of his 2019 features, and Complex called his verse on Dreamville's "Under the Sun" a defining breakout moment for a new rap superstar.
Did the 2021 controversy change what he put out?
It changed where the writing could go. After remarks at Rolling Loud in July 2021 that were widely regarded as homophobic, his Lollapalooza slot was cancelled and he was removed from the Governors Ball lineup, then cut from Parklife, Day N Vegas, Austin City Limits, Music Midtown and the iHeartRadio Music Festival. Radio stations switched to a version of the "Levitating" remix without his contribution, and his credit came off the Billboard Airplay charts on August 9. The run of high-profile guest verses that had defined the two years before it did not continue at the same rate.
What did he write about on Kirk?
The album is named for his surname, and the cover is his father holding him as an infant. His father died in 2019, shortly after Baby on Baby came out. Kirk is the sole lead writer on all 13 tracks, working with DJ K.i.D on the opener and jetsonmade on "Bop" and "Vibez", and the record debuted atop the Billboard 200.
What does Billion Dollar Baby Entertainment do?
It is the label he founded in 2017 and runs out of Charlotte, North Carolina, distributed through the Interscope Capitol Labels Group. Stunna 4 Vegas, DJ K.i.D, Rich Dunk, KayyKilo and Wisdom are on the roster. Kirk has said he will not be rapping in five years and will be creating other superstars instead.
How does Be More Grateful compare with his earlier writing?
He announced it in January 2026 and said it would be a reflective album taking on more sensitive topics such as family and growing up. His daughter Twin appears on "Don't Insult Me", and Coi Leray and Hunxho guest elsewhere. Sean Da Firzt and DJ K.i.D carry most of the production, and Kirk again heads the writer credit on every track. The album debuted at number 25 on the Billboard 200, and its single "Pop Dat Thang" peaked in the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100.
DaBaby