Last month, rapper Lil Baby’s trip to Paris, France, hit a snag after the “We Paid” emcee found himself in police custody for allegedly having marijuana in his possession. Cannabis for personal use is still illegal in the French country, which is said to have some of the harshest weed laws.
The “Yes Indeed” rapper, whose real name is Dominique Armani Jones, opened up about the incident, the support he received from friends and fans and the most important lesson he learned following the whole ordeal. While hanging out at Icebox, a luxury diamond and watch dealer in his hometown, Lil baby divulged some more details about the incident. He said that he was flooded with calls and text messages regarding his well-being after news broke that he was arrested — though he was released that same day and ordered to pay a fine.
“I’m talking, the whole world’s texting, DMing me and sh-t,” the rapper explained. “But I’m like, I know y’all see me going to jail, they like, ‘You good?’ Like nah n-gga, I’m not good! I’m in this motherf-cker tripping! I went to jail a lot of times, right? But they speak English.”
A lot was going through Lil Baby’s mind while in custody, including whether he’d make it to his show, seemingly the prime reason why he was there in the first place. “I got locked up like, Thursday night, and I had a show Saturday. I’m like, if I don’t get out Friday, I’m gonna get out Monday. I ain’t tryin’ to miss my show on Saturday,” the rapper said. Furthermore, he was reportedly “moving for two days” while still in police custody. He claims he was given “a bowl of rice with milk,” but he declined despite being hungry.
Yet, the Atlanta native told Billboard for his cover story that a huge lesson was gained in all of this. “The whole Paris experience let me know I got to get bigger overseas,” he said. “Not saying to not go to jail for breaking the law, but for the police to know who I am.”
It appears that the emcee will now take note of this moment as he continues to shape out his legacy. With two young children already, Lil Baby says everything he does moving forward is for them. “I want more kids than I got because once you get older, you start to look at life differently,” he expressed. “Where I come from, I’m the only one, so I have to build the generation up and keep the family going,” Baby added. “I need more children to continue the legacy.”
