After teasing his fanbase for almost six months, popular Atlanta rapper SahBabii finally released his long-awaited album, “Do it for DemoN” on Oct. 27. In a promotional video posted on SahBabii’s Instagram the day before the release, he explained that  this album is dedicated to his childhood friend, Demetrius Lanier (Demonchild), who passed away in late 2020 due to gun violence. The two were extremely close. Demonchild lived with SahBabii for a period of time and the two even referred to each other as cousins. SahBabii mentioned in the promotional video that,  before he passed, Demonchild told Sahbabii  to get back to rapping about his past and the struggle that they experienced together. SahBabii took his late friend’s advice on this album and it shows, as it has a much more dark and serious feel than SahBabii’s other work. 

Gaining popularity in early 2017 with the release of his hit song “Pull Up Wit Ah Stick,” SahBabii was frequently compared to popular Atlanta rapper Young Thug. Since then, SahBabii has done a nice job carving out his own lane, especially with the expansion of his sound on this album. “Do it for DemoN”  is easily the most introspective album of SahBabii’s music career, noticeably elevating his level of descriptiveness when it comes to his story-telling. In the song “Rewind,” Sahbabii goes into his past, describing his desire to do things over with his late friend “Demon,” wishing he could have done more to pull him out of the street life singing: “I know you in the clouds, probably lookin’ down (Lookin’ down) Like / ‘Damn, Sah, why I didn’t listen?’ (I didn’t listen) / I’m just reminiscing ’bout the times we used to kick it (Yeah, the times we used to kick it).”

SahBabii expands on his grief for his friend, his regret for having not done things differently and, to some degree, is improperly, but understandably, placing blame on himself for the death of his friend. Continuing to reminisce, SahBabii describes some of their memories together, “We was stealin’ out the store / you took a whole box of Snickers (Whole box of Snickers) / That’s— still make me laugh / I can’t lie (I can’t lie) / Remember that high speed chase / I thought we was gon’ die (Yeah, die) / I’m lookin’ up at the sky, askin’ / ‘Why?’ (Askin’, ‘Why?’).”

SahBabii’s lyrics prove that he took serious measures to step up his songwriting and lyricism on this album. On the track “Bad Thoughts Mixed with Weed,” SahBabii delves into his self-medication with marijuana and its effects on his mental health singing: “Bad thoughts mixed with weed / I’m sittin’ in a dark room (Bad thoughts mixed with weed) / Blowin’ back to back trees (Back to back) / hope the ones I love never leave (Never leave) / I’m up / paranoid / no sleep (No sleep).”Using marijuana coinciding with the death of his friend, there were notable effects on SahBabii’s mental health. 

It is clear from this album that while he is definitely in a good place musically, processing the death of his close friend has been a great ordeal for SahBabii. While he will have something to celebrate after the success of this album, one hopes that SahBabii will take the necessary measures to make sure he processes this death fully and in a healthy way.