DaBaby’s latest album, BLAME IT ON BABY, dropped amidst growing backlash to the rapper often using the same flow on his songs. In a new interview with The Breakfast Club, the North Carolina native claimed that he was versatile enough to make a conscious album like J. Cole or Joyner Lucas, but maintaining his popularity means branching out more gradually.

“As far as switching the flow, I have no problem running circles around any one of these n*ggas,” DaBaby said. “I couldn’t find myself entertaining that. I could joke about it just like I joke about everything else… I’ll make a conscious album right now, I’ll record the whole sh*t today. On some J. Cole vibes. Joyner Lucas vibes. I can get in there too.”

The rapper continued by explaining why he can’t make any sudden change to his style. “At the end of the day, I understand what’s going on. You gotta milk the game,” he said. “You gotta take advantage of it. If I switch it too quick, you ain’t gon' like it. You gon' be like ‘Damn Baby, I wanted you to turn me up.’ When you got something going, you would be a fool to step on your own toes and go left with it.”

Instead, there has to be a gradual pull of listeners into different directions. “You can never let anything else control this sh*t that don’t put the work in and don’t study the game,” he concluded.

It’s worth noting DaBaby once pointed out that J. Cole’s music goes over some people’s heads on the first listen. However, the two rappers collaborated in 2019 on “Under the Sun,” the opening track from Dreamville’s Revenge of the Dreamers III compilation.

After previously brushing away criticism about his flow on last year’s “BOP,” DaBaby addresses it directly on “BLAME IT ON BABY,” rapping:

They be like ‘Why you switched the beat​?’ Because my flow neat, n*gga

‘I thought he couldn’t switch the flow, how the hell he switchin’ the beat up?‘

They don’t know who they f*ckin’ with, do this sh*t with my feet up

Yawning on these n*ggas, sit back, go to sleep

On “SAD SH*T,” he takes it a step further by singing. In a recent Complex interview, the rapper’s close collaborator DJ K.i.D pointed out this stylistic change was nothing new. Instead, DaBaby was actually bringing back a sound from his early days after “dumbing down his music” to gain popularity.

Watch the interview above, and read all the lyrics to DaBaby’s BLAME IT ON BABY on Genius now.