“Real Spill” by Lil Baby
“Real Spill”, most simply explained, is about Lil Baby’s come-up, or perhaps more specifically we can say the mentality that comes along with him, all things considered, now being a successful musician and businessman.
For instance, at the beginning of the first verse, he acknowledges that people who have known him from his pre-fame days will now say that he’s “acting different”. These people might see him as acting conceited, snotty or what have you.
But the rapper clarifies that in the name of achieving his goals, he had to adopt a different mindset. For example, he “can’t be thinking simple”. Put simply, he can’t behave like the average ‘hood resident kinda way, so to speak, by regulating his activities to criminal behavior.
Instead, the implication is that he realized there’s a brighter future to be found in going legit and remaining focused. And now that Lil Baby has reaped the benefits of such, let’s just say he isn’t shy about going back to his roots and flaunting his riches.
In Conclusion
So yes, “Real Spill” can be read, to some degree, as your standard drug dealer turned successful rapper type of song. But there is some impressive lyricism going on here.
Whereas Lil Baby does engage in more than enough braggadocio, the vocalist clarifies that he’s not doing so just for bragging’s sake. Instead, the vocals conclude along the lines of hammering the idea home that Baby is exceptional.
He is exceptional not just in terms of talent or even intelligence per se but rather in that he didn’t accept a less-than-ideal street life. He opted to “go hard” in the name of achieving his legitimate goals.
And relatedly, he also puts forth that listeners need to be similarly dedicated if they too want to achieve greatness.
When was “Real Spill” released?
“Real Spill” is the opening track/song on the playlist of “It’s Only Me”, Lil Baby’s third solo studio album. The album was made public on 14 October 2022. This is the follow-up to the rapper’s sophomore studio album, 2020’s “My Turn”. However, in between now and then, he dropped a collaborative project with Lil Durk called “Voice of the Heroes” (2021).
4 Pockets Full, aka 4PF, a label Lil Baby founded in 2017, backed the release of this song, as did the more-established Motown Records and Quality Control Music.
Credits
L. Baby wrote “Real Spill” with Sade Adu, Ben Travers and the track’s producers, Kaigoinkrazy and G1. Sade Adu is of course the long-standing late 20th century soul musician (who recently started recording new material). The reason why she is acknowledged as a writer in Baby’s “Real Spill” is because it samples her 2018 outing “The Big Unknown“.
