DJ Akademiks Explains What’s Missing From Lil Baby’s New Album, “Wham”

DJ Akademiks went off on Lil Baby and his new album, Wham, during his latest livestream, labeling the project a bad release. Baby dropped the project as his fourth studio album on January 3, 2025. It features collaborations with Young Thug, Future, GloRilla, Rylo Rodriguez, Rod Wave, Travis Scott, and 21 Savage, but has been receiving mixed reviews from fans.

Ak began by describing the project as “garbage,” explaining that it, “didn’t sound good, didn’t look good.” He continued: “This Lil Baby album didn’t sound sonically well. It didn’t sound like he’s back. It sounded like a man without a country, a man trying to make things happen. And, I’ll go into a qualitative review if you guys want me to, but it wasn’t a good album.” He added that the bar is high for Baby because he’s previously received comparisons to Lil Wayne.

Akademiks continued to suggest that the project is propped up by features and argued that it lacks “originality,” “a cohesive message,” and “soul.” He added that Baby needs to find himself to figure out what people want out of his music and noted that “Dum, Dumb And Dumber” is a stand-out from the tracklist, but it’s because of the appearances of Future and Young Thug.

Despite the disappointing reviews for Baby’s latest project, his 2020 album, My Turn, recently ranked as the highest rap album on Billboard’s list of the “Top Billboard 200 Albums of the 21st Century.” The list reflected chart success for albums released between Jan. 1, 2000 and Dec. 28, 2024. Check out DJ Akademiks’ latest thoughts on Lil Baby’s Wham below.