Beatbox Beatdown

2.22.21

DaBaby

DaBaby has been a problematic artist since he first really made waves in the hip-hop industry, mostly getting in trouble for fighting or punching someone. It should not be a surprise that DaBaby would be make a shocking or concerning comment in a song, but this one has people in a complete uproar. While he claims that his word play went over our heads, DaBaby is under fire for appealingly dissing Nickelodeon actress, JoJo Siwa, in his Beatbox Remix Freestyle.

Beatbox has been the track of the Internet lately, with numerous hip-hop artist going viral for doing the “Beatbox Challenge.” DaBaby definitely wanted a go at the hard beat, and came out with this freestyle, including a visual music video to go along with it. In the video, DaBaby wears the Stüssy x Nike insulated pant and pullover jacket, with the ‘Pine Green’ Nike Dunk Low Off Whites to match. The video looked good, and the freestyle sounded good, too, except there is this one line that has people shaken.

In the song, DaBaby says "Turn me up, you gon' see why, you a b****, JoJo Siwa (B***)." Though DaBaby has definitely made it clear he meant to harm or hurt by the comment, he does pull up a photo of the young actress on his phone and point to it, in the music video, as he recites this line. He did something similar with T.I. in a couple bars prior, suggesting he has a strong vocabulary like T.I.

JoJo Siwa is just seventeen years old, and has a massive career in children’s acting and entertainment. On top of this, JoJo has very recently shared her coming out story, sharing with all of her followers that she currently has a girlfriend that makes her extremely happen. This is definitely a major moment in the young girls life, so probably not such great timing for the questions DaBaby bar to come into play. Her fans, and people all over the internet have certainly had their choice of words for DaBaby using her name and b**** in the same sentence.

DaBaby had to clear the air and shared a direct tweet to JoJo, stating:

“@itsjojosiwa my 3 year old princess is your number 1 fan. I bought her every product you have out. She think she you. Don’t let em trick you into thinking id ever have a problem with you. My word play just went over their heads. All love on my end shawty, Keep shinning!”

So, DaBaby makes it clear that he does know JoJo and her work because his daughter is such a big fan, and did not mean anything malicious. He does state that it is just word playing going over everyone’s heads. He continues to joke on Twitter saying “I don’t siwa they mad.”

According to an Entertainment Tonight article, the word play was shortening DaBaby’s real name, which is Jonathon, to JoJo, and using Siwa to be see why. It is a bit of a stretch, but sure it makes sense. He probably just got done watching some JoJo with his daughter and thought about in when he was freestyling.

So far, it does not seem like JoJo has responded to DaBaby’s Tweet. This is though, not her first time being ridiculed by an older name in the industry. A few years back, Justin Bieber commented on a post of JoJo Siwa featuring her own, extremely colorful car, saying “Burn It.” Justin was of course made to apologize for the statement, and JoJo excitedly accepted to apology, and asked for a performance at her birthday party in return. I am not sure DaBaby will be performing at JoJo birthday party anytime soon, but hopefully she is not offended by the comments made.