Following “WHAM,” Lil Baby has a chance to turn renewed interest into lasting excitement with “FRESH.”

Lil Baby is calling his next album FRESH, and I’m hoping the title tells us something about the music. Arriving November 6, the project includes Future, Young Thug, and Rylo Rodriguez among its announced guests.

Is this one of his most important releases? I think so. Personally, I was still fully rocking with Baby around the It’s Only Me days. Since then, the releases haven’t consistently given me that same feeling. The talent is there; I just want more songs that stay in rotation.

WHAM certainly had the ingredients. Its tracklist included “Dum, Dumb, and Dumber” with Future and Young Thug, “Stuff” with Travis Scott, and “By Myself” with Rod Wave and Rylo Rodriguez. It also opened at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 140,000 equivalent album units. Commercially, that’s impressive. Personally, the album didn’t have much staying power.

“Dead Fresh,” produced by Pharrell, makes this rollout more interesting to me. If that song points toward the energy Baby is bringing, my ears are open.

Still, seeing the same collaborators again doesn’t exactly scream fresh. I understand sticking with people you trust, but I’d love a surprise or two. Baby doesn’t need to become a different rapper. He just needs to remind me why I used to run his music back so much.

Quincy

Quincy is the creator of Ratings Game Music. He loves writing about music, taking long walks on beaches, and spaghetti that fights him back.