Lil Baby’s star-studded concert is a long — too long — love letter to Atlanta

For nearly two hours, Lil Baby churned out a set list of roughly 30 songs, while celebrating Atlanta culture.

The rapper, dressed in all black with an Atlanta Braves hat and donning a huge diamond chain across his neck, hit the stage at 9:45 p.m. He started the show with “Listen Up,” “Free Promo” and “Stiff Gang,” tracks from his recent album “WHAM” (an acronym for “who hard as me”).

The album, released in January, boasts features from rap mainstays GloRilla, 21 Savage and Travis Scott, and debuteddebuting at No. 1. But it’s far from his best work. The project fails to show any real growth from the artist, sounding more like an EP released to appease yearning fans.

Credit: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

Credit: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

That became even more clear when the album is performed live — as the crowd seemed more excited for his older hits.

For early-career songs like “Baby,” “My Dawg” and “Southside,” many fans recorded themselves on their phone while rapping along to each word. Quavo graced the stage for “Legends,” a new collaboration with Lil Baby that finds the pair rapping about their respective success in Atlanta and beyond.

Throughout the beginning of his set, Lil Baby showed no signs of slowing down. He performed nearly 15 songs without any break.

The Oakland City native simply stood on stage and rapped the lyrics, while the fans repeated it back to him. The crowd’s intense engagement became the show’s own character, compensating for Lil Baby’s underwhelming set design and lack of showmanship (the stage didn’t have any props, outside of visuals shown on the screen).

After his performance of “We Paid,” Lil Baby introduced another special guest of the night: Pluto. The Atlanta breakout rapper took the stage for her viral hit “Whim Whamiee.” The song, released this spring and featuring fellow Atlanta rapper YK Niece, has dominated TikTok this year.

On May 30, Pluto released a remix with Sexyy Red, who surprised the audience when she joined Pluto on stage and performed her own hit “Looking for the Hoes.”

That wasn’t the end of the night’s surprises. In true Atlanta fashion, Lil Baby shared the stage with Yung L.A., Young Dro and YFN Lucci. YFN Lucci stunned the audience with his hit “Heartless,” marking his first major public performance since his prison release in January after pleading guilty to a gang charge.

The showcase of Atlanta talent young and old made the concert often feel like a tribute to the city.

For the latter half of the show, Lil Baby made better use of the stage. During the performance of his more heartfelt songs, “Close Friends” and “So Sorry,” he went into the crowd and handed roses to eight women, whom he invited on stage. For “Dum, Dumb and Dumber,” the lone standout on “WHAM,” which features Young Thug and Future, the crowd went wild.

Lil Baby ended the show with his classic “Freestyle,” which he started by performing a cappella before fans joined in.

Credit: Robb Cohen for the Atlanta Journ

Credit: Robb Cohen for the Atlanta Journ

Some of the concert was tainted by an inflated set list that felt too long for its own good.

By 11 p.m., keeping up with the show’s momentum felt tiring, though Lil Baby still had a dozen songs left to perform.

But the night’s many special guests, most of whom were Atlantans, saved it — proving that Lil Baby’s unyielding love for his hometown is just as strong as his hometown’s love for him.

It’s unclear whether Lil Baby will release any more new music this year. Since January, he’s teased a “WHAM” follow-up, the self-titled “Dominique.”

The rapper recently told Complex that the new album, which doesn’t have a the release date, will be “more heartfelt, more direct when talking about certain subjects.”

In February, Atlanta police claimed that the rapper was responsible for the gang-related deaths of two Atlanta teens, stemming from a Lil Baby music video shoot in 2024. Through an attorney, Lil Baby has denied any involvement.

Atlanta was the third stop of the WHAM World Tour, which is that’s slated to end in Japan in October.