Posted by Vince Staples recently collaborated with Lil Baby on a song called “East Point Prayer” for his Ramona Park Broke My Heart album. During an interview with Big Boy, the Long Beach rapper revealed Baby recorded his verse free of charge after meeting at a Motown Records event.
“He did it for free,” he said. “And I don’t believe in asking nobody to do nothing for free. I believe in whatever you charge – you gotta feed your family, and he did it for free. And you already know, he can charge whatever he wants. It’s funny because I met him at a Motown thing. We was cool and we ain’t really talk like that. And I was like, ‘Lil Baby would sound good on this.’ And I was tryna get it so where we could talk about it. He said, ‘We don’t even have to talk, I’ma do it.’ He just went and did it … he looked out.”
Lil Baby previously revealed he was charging $100,000 per verse in June 2020, although the price may have increased since. Staples also talked about his mindset when it comes to collaborations, admitting the process has to be organic.
“I gotta hear it, man.” he explained. “It gotta make sense for the song, ’cause the music comes first. You can’t [work with artists you don’t want to work with]. I feel like at this point in time, the fans can tell if it’s organic or not. If it’s not an organic feature, it ain’t gon’ work. And I’m happiest that way because I appreciate it. I got some good names, some big people to work with me, so I’m grateful.”
Lil Baby and Vince Staples are both signed to Motown Records, with the Atlanta rapper coming through with the second verse on the Kenny Beats and Reske-produced “East Point Prayer.”
“I took big risks, now I’m a big fish,” he raps on the song. “A billion dollars at the top of my to-do list/Buy a villa in Saint-Barts, maybe a cruise ship, well, really a yacht/Just to say that I got it, product of my environment.”
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Vince Staples previously spoke to HotNewHipHop about why he wanted to put Lil Baby on the track.
“[It] just sounded right,” he said. “It wasn’t much past that. Just thought it would sound good. That’s pretty much my only reasoning to ever do musically is ‘cause I think I’ll like it. He’s a good dude and a good artist and a very, very, very, very hardworking person. Everybody likes Lil Baby. I think that’s self-explanatory but just sounded like it would be a good pairing. Just trying to put the music first.”
His latest album Ramona Park Broke My Heart was released in April and peaked at No. 21 on the Billboard 200 chart – revisit “East Point Prayer” below.