Lil Baby previews new song ‘Dark Mode’ in Beats By Dre commercial with Ja Morant

Lil Baby has shared a tease of new music – a fiery, headstrong tune titled ‘Dark Mode’ in a new advert for Beats By Dre.

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The ad itself – helmed by the Baltimore creative outfit ILLIMITEWORLD – aired during Game 3 of the NBA playoffs yesterday (May 8). It stars Lil Baby and Memphis Grizzlies member Ja Morant in a montage of monochromatic, stylised shots. It acts like somewhat of a music video for ‘Dark Mode’, with the track itself seeing Lil Baby riff on his success and rapping prowess with an impressive string of basketball metaphors. 

Over a bed of sharp beats built around soundbites of boots stoping and squeaking on a basketball court, he raps: “Twelve to twelve, I’m tryna bust a clock, the Ja Morant flow / I get in that zone, I get to callin’ it the dark mode / Love the fans so much, I hear ’em screamin’, ‘Pipe me up more’ / Call me what you want, but if you know, then call me young GOAT.”

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Have a look at the ad below:

In a press statement shared with the ad’s release, Lil Baby described Morant as “one of [his] favourite players to watch”. “We’ve been locked in,” he said of his friendship with the basketballer. “This is not my first time partnering with Beats, but we took it up a notch with this original song. The world gets to experience ‘Dark Mode’ for the first time in a way that’s crazy.”

‘Dark Mode’ follows on from Lil Baby releasing three of his own singles last month: ‘Right On’ and ‘In A Minute’ on April 8, and ‘Frozen’ on April 29. Earlier this year, the rapper featured on two songs with Nicki Minaj – ‘Do We Have A Problem?’ and ‘Bussin’ – as well as Hylan Starr’s ‘Don’t Make Me Beg’ and Rob49’s ‘Vulture Island V2’.







Last month also saw Lil Baby drop a remix of Ed Sheeran’s ‘2step’, with all royalties from the record being donated to the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal.

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‘Dark Mode’ marks the second time in as many months that an artist has used a Beats By Dre ad to preview as-yet-unreleased new music. Last month saw Diddy preview a new single, which features The Weeknd, in a Beats ad starring college footballer Kayvon Thibodeaux.