Fat Tony & Taydex "Will Make a Baby in This Damn Economy"

A month from now, Houston, Texas underground rapper Fat Tony and Los Angeles producer Taydex insist that they Will Make a Baby in This Damn Economy. And now that the obvious lead is out the way, allow me to say that this has become one of my most-anticipated records of the rest of 2023 in recent months. Whilst this album cycle has been my first exposure to both, Baby marks the second full-LP collaboration between the pair, following on from 2020’s Wake Up. And Fat Tony himself has a full decade in the game, including prior collabs with A$AP Rocky, Das Racist and Heems, and even black midi’s 2020 live album. The time feels to be right for a level-up attention-wise, and these singles definitely back that hunch up.

The latest is the partial title track and penultimate number on the album, “Make a Baby.” Compared to prior singles, opener “Spectacular” and the B L A C K I E collab “Don’t Tap In/Confusion,” which were full-force hype machines designed to get parties jumping (and soundtrack a Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater game we’re seemingly never going to get), “Make a Baby” is laidback. Sparse yet summery, centred around a bouncy bassline, like a Thundercat number. The Thundercat comparisons extend to the lyrics which can often be as cheeky (“My spirit been tryin’ me/It wants to impregnate five women and start a dynasty”) as they are sweet (“I could cry when I try to picture tying little shoes.”).

In a statement, Fat Tony elucidated on his inspirations for the song’s sound:

My inspiration was the production of Bad Boy Records’ songs in the late 90s; that jiggy sound. The Diddy and Mase song “Been Around the World” (Remix) with Carl Thomas was my guide for this song. I love how Carl adlibs vocals throughout their entire song, so I had the same thing done for this track. The Prince song “Let’s Have a Baby” was a big inspiration for me too.

Watch the video for the single,by Jimmy Whispers, plus that of “Spectacular,” below.