Photo: Kevin Mares
For the past four years, Noodah05 has made a name for himself rapping alongside one of the rap game's most revered artists Lil Baby. In fact, he names the Atlanta rapper as a central inspiration to his evolution into the artist he is today along with his cousins and beloved grandmother, who gave him his nickname when he was younger.
"People like Lil Baby played a part," Noodah tells iHeartRadio. "I had cousins around me that was doing music too, so a lot of my family was trying to do music. They inspired me to keep trying music."
Noodah's rise as an artist wasn't overnight. He began to put in work from the moment he met Baby back in 2016 when he was still a teenager coming up in Atlanta. As time went on, the rapper and record executive saw something remarkable about Noodah's craft, and formally signed him to his label in 2020.
Baby hopped on Noodah's song "Wild Child" produced by Chi Chi, which is their first major collaboration and the lead single of Noodah's debut project Merciless. Since then, the 23-year-old has worked with the likes of Vory, Lil Zay Osama and his labelmate Rylo Rodriguez, who he considers one of his mentors.
"We handle our work," Noodah says. "So when we get in there and record, it is a vibe, but it's still like you make sure you go in there and kill your part and I'm focus on mine. So it's really like, it's nothing competitive, but you can tell we take our craft very seriously."
Noodah's latest album Bigger Now proves how serious he is about his hustle. The project, which dropped via Lil Baby’s label in September, is a sign of his significant growth over the years as an artist. It comes with 11 tracks including lead singles "Run," "Don't U See," and the album's intro "Making The Money." He called on Baby, Rylo, Rob49 and Lil Double O to contribute as well.
"I took my time with [Bigger Now]," he adds. "It's a lot of different vibes on there that I don't usually do that I'm doing. So I don't try to just put myself in one box. I try to be versatile."
Another stand-out song from the project is "Come Home." Noodah says he "knew it was going to be a classic" as soon as he heard it. He filmed the music video for the record a few months back at a lavish all-white mansion in Miami. The album also has songs like "Old Phone," which samples Drake bridge from "Marvin's Room." He hasn't spoken to Drizzy about the record, but it would be "a dream come true" if they do get the chance to chop it up and work together.
"That'd be some hard s**t right there," Noodah says. "It'd be nice to talk to him. That would be dope."
Following the release of his recent video for "Come Home," Noodah is looking ahead to 2024. He's traveled all around the country as a performer on Lil Baby's "Back Outside Tour" in 2021 and Wham's "It's Only Us Tour," which wrapped up back in September. However, he's looking to go on his own tour soon. In addition to more shows, Noodah also wants to release a new project to follow-up his recent LP before the year ends, and diversify his catalog by working with various musicians.
"I want to work with different artists so I'd say Billie Eilish, Ed Sheeran, André 3000, Post Malone. Very different people," Noodah adds.
Listen to Noodah05's Bigger Now album below.
WARNING: EXPLICIT LANGUAGE