Lil Baby is sharing his My Turn winnings with his hometown. On Wednesday (March 4), the 25-year-old rapper returned to his Atlanta alma mater Booker T. Washington High School to launch a scholarship program. In partnership with Amazon Music’s Rap Rotation, Quality Control Music, Wolfpack Global and Motown Records, Baby donated $150,000 for the inaugural My Turn Scholarship fund.
“Every year, I’m gonna be giving a scholarship. It’s gonna be the My Turn Scholarship,” he told students while presenting the huge check. “It’s gonna be like the best student in every grade, or something like that. I ain’t really sure how they’re gonna pass it out. But, I’m gonna give out $150,000… This year is the first year. So, hopefully, it can keep getting bigger and better.”
Baby also surprised the high school with a special performance. The scholarship fund will be awarded annually to a selected group of students. In his Instagram Story, the “Sum 2 Prove” artist challenged other rappers to set up scholarship funds at their old high schools.
“Challenge all rappers go to your old school an give out some scholarships,” he wrote.
Baby also spoke about what returning to his high school alma mater meant to him during an interview with Atlanta’s Channel 11 News.
“I didn’t think I could go far. So for me to come back here, it’s not even so much about me giving, or what I got to give, or what I got to say. It’s more to me [about them] just seeing me and just seeing that it’s real,” he told the outlet. “That y’all gonna see me on TV later, and on the Internet, and in this kind of car, but you also see me at this kind of school, live in the flesh… It means a lot to me to give a scholarship to a child.”
Last week, Lil Baby dropped off his sophomore album, My Turn. On Friday (Feb. 28), he gave out free copies of the project at Atlanta’s West End Mall to celebrate its release.
See his full speech at Booker T. Washington High School below.