In an era where hip-hop is yearning for new, fresh stars, Baby Keem stands out amongst the pack. The Las Vegas-born rapper and producer electrified fans by never fitting into one specific bubble but always remaining extremely catchy. The Kendrick Lamar relation certainly helped initial non-believers see him in a new light. But he wasn’t just another new face with a few earworms; Keem could tap into a variety of different styles without sounding tacky.
With his latest album CA$INO out today, Noisey deemed it necessary to anoint the best songs Baby Keem has released to date. For the uninitiated, it shows a rapper who could master the prototype hit song while still providing some curveballs.
Four of the Greatest Baby Keem Songs (So Far)
“Orange Soda”
“Orange Soda” is the platonic ideal for a modern mainstream rap song. Keem knew this himself when he insisted upon his desire to try out new ideas. “I just want to make sure I’m always giving people something new—maybe not what they want to hear, but what they need to hear,” Keem told Billboard in 2021. “If it was up to some people, I’d just make a bunch of orange sodas and call it a day.”
It’s hard not to knock fans for wanting something so sugary. Baby Keem tells a girl and her best friend to ‘shut the f**k up’ will make anyone scoff and check out their own nails. “I hate a bitch that I can’t impress/When you come see the crib, you better die, h*e,” he scoffs in the second verse. The sass is palpable and addictive, the kind of song where any man will feel like one of the Mean Girls.
“Family Ties”
In 2021, hip-hop was dying for a blockbuster single. The effects of COVID plus the general state of rap, fans clamored for a record that felt larger than life. Baby Keem and Kendrick Lamar obliged with “Family Ties”, operating at an IMAX grandiosity. This acted as Kendrick’s grand return after four years since DAMN. in 2017.
As feverish as this fan, it’s Keem’s rabid, unhinged flow that captured the thirst for new Kendrick. “N***as tryna tippy-toe through the progress/Tongue-tied when the truth is an object/What’s the pros and the cons of this next check?” he grunted. It was refreshing to hear a record so bombastic after the malaise of quarantine life.
“Wolves”
Even as a scrappy teenager, it wasn’t hard to see the vision with Baby Keem. On pretty bare bones CardoGotWings production, he skitters through a handful of flows in a tight 83-second window. Keem proves immediately that catchiness doesn’t need to veer into the mind-numbing. Instead, you can cram punchlines into a tight window and rap like a young outlaw. It’s a refreshing take when so many artists instinctually flock to Playboi Carti and Young Thug for influence, to mixed results.
“The Hillbillies”
Baby Keem seemed like the key to unlocking Kendrick Lamar as a fun rapper again. His previous albums were dense, heady, rich projects that rewarded repeated listens. But it’s not often you’d play most Kendrick songs for fun. But alongside his cousin, he loosens up and taps into some of the most invigorating production in the underground today.
On “The Hillbillies”, Baby Keem and Kung Fu Kenny hopscotch through frenetic evilgiane production, where he crushes and digitizes a Bon Iver sample. Kendrick smirks and compares his short height and general greatness to Lionel Messi while Keem swirls around a litany of different flows. As Lamar interjects with zany adlibs, Keem yearns for a woman to turn her back on celibacy.
The post The Baby Keem Mt. Rushmore: Four of His Greatest Songs to Date appeared first on VICE.
