A former staple of the pop ecosystem, the rapper/pop star link-up is essentially extinct.

Lil Baby YouTube/Popcast

What used to be a staple of pop music — the rapper/pop star collaboration — is basically dead. However, Lil Baby is willing to do his part to have the sector be revitalized.

Baby sat down with The New York Times’ Popcast on Thursday for an extensive conversation, which spilled into his aspirations to try stepping outside of his comfort zone for a glossy collaboration with a pop star like Sabrina Carpenter.

“I’m still in that box a little bit, but I’m more open to stepping out of the box,” he said. “The box is bigger. As I step out a little bit, the box gets bigger.

Baby continued: “Even a Sabrina Carpenter — just say, for instance, in my head, I don’t have a song on my hard drive to send to her. But if we sit there and create something, or she sends me something, I feel like I could make it work.”

Pop star/rapper collaborations have become a rarity.…