It’s been a long return to grace for DaBaby after his controversial comments at 2021’s Rolling Loud. He started picking up steam again with “SHAKE SUMN” and its Sexyy Red-assisted remix. Then, in September, the North Carolina rapper unveiled his first body of work in over two years, HOW TF IS THIS A MIXTAPE?

On Friday (Oct. 4), during an interview with “The Breakfast Club,” DaBaby discussed his comeback and the “cloudy” nature of playlisting and more. “That s**t is controlled. Somebody pressed the button,” he said of being removed from festival lineups. “I gotta navigate my way through that however I navigate through that.”

“In terms of everything else, when it comes to press or how I go about marketing my music, I really got in a space where I was falling out of love with the art of creating music and putting music out because of the politics and everything else that came with it,” DaBaby further explained. “[It was like], ‘This ain’t even something I enjoy doing at this point.’ I go from being an artist to a politician overnight.”

HOW TF IS THIS A MIXTAPE? spanned 14 songs and contained zero features. Its standout cuts included “Gimme A Reason,” “Carry It On,” and “Reesha Roulette (Teach Me)” — a nod to Yung Miami’s drinking card game for “Caresha Please.”

Elsewhere in the conversation, DaBaby opened up about his fallout with Stunna 4 Vegas. “He took a different route with his journey. I’m happy for him because whatever you’re doing, that’s what you’d rather be doing,” the KIRK creator said. “It ain’t no n**ga that want to see him win the way Baby wanted to see him win.”

The two artists previously collaborated on tracks like “Billion Dollar Baby,” “Animal,” “Ashley,” and “No Dribble.” Since parting ways with DaBaby, Stunna’s career hasn’t entirely slowed down. He released 4Ever earlier in the year and recently dropped “Passenger Princess (Jibbitz)” with Monaleo, who’s also the mother of his son.