Baby Keem released his debut album, The Melodic Blue, on September 10, 2021.
It was both a critical and commercial success, debuting in the top five of the Billboard 200 and landing at No. 13 on our year-end albums list. By winter, he was accepting the Grammy for Best Rap Performance.
And then Keem went quiet.
Aside from a handful of appearances and loosies, he largely stepped out of the spotlight, leaving rap pages wondering what happened to Kendrick Lamar’s rising protégé.
This of course changed last night, when Baby Keem released his long-delayed sophomore album, Ca$ino (sorry for those anticipating Child With Wolves.) At 11 tracks, slightly under 40 minutes in run time, and appearances from only Kendrick, Too $hort, Momo Boyd and Che Ecru, the album is slight in scope and doesn't have the same level of ambition as his previous pieces of work. But what the rapper does is provide a level of vulnerability on the album that we haven’t seen from yet.
It starts with the rollout, which included a documentary and a livestream where he premiered the album. During the listening event, which took place in Los Angeles, the rapper hinted at why he had a five-year delay. As he explained, he's been dealing with "real life shit." The album was originally named after his mother, who has suffered from drug abuse, and her trajectory still sits with him. During the event, he talked about getting the call that his mother had left rehab right after he performed at Coachella.
The album puts that darkness at the center. In some ways this is Keem's Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers. It's full of stories—mostly personal—detailing the struggles within his family and the trials and tribulations he's been through (at one point he mentions a vaccine almost killing him). It's easily the most intimate project of his career, and because of that, it doesn't frontline some of the “Keem-isms” we've grown accustomed to over the years—like the jolting production switch ups that has become his signature.
It’s still early, but it’s already one of the best albums to drop this year. Was it worth the five-year wait, though? We answer that and more. Here are our initial takeaways from Baby Keem’s Ca$ino.
For all of the storytelling, the production is the star of the show.
Prior to releasing the album, Keem dropped a documentary that helped shed light on the project's origins. In the third part of the documentary, called Booman, Kendrick talked about Keem's talent for production, mentioning that it was his beats that first really caught his attention. And for all of his talents as a rapper, Keem is still very much a producer—one with credits all over Ca$ino.
The album finds a nice balance between nostalgic, soul-sampling East Coast-inspired production and beats that are more forward-thinking and progressive. The title track, partially produced by Cardo Got Wings, is a perfect example—featuring an off-kilter sound with weird 808 hits and cycling, droning synths. It's a beat that both Kendrick and Playboi Carti would sound comfortable on.
"Birds & the Bees" expertly flips Canadian artist Feist's "Honey Honey," making for something bouncy but light-footed, with vocals and melodies that are straight ear candy. And "I Am Not a Lyricist" might be the most understated song on the album, sampling "Tha S' Agapo" by Greek artist Dimitra Galani for a track that's more boom-bap inspired. —Antonio Johri
“Circus Circus Freestyle” will be the smash of the album.
When you think of Baby Keem, two elements come to mind: his frantic, almost helium-sounding flow and the numerous beat switches that have dominated his songs. Both of those factors are still in play on Ca$ino.
They take center stage on “Circus Circus Freestyle,” which at first sounds like a knockoff of Kanye West’s No. 1 hit “Carnival” before completely switching into something triumphant and rowdy, driven by a wild string- and horn-laced trap beat.
And just when you think that’s it, the beat switches for a third time—the vocal chops disappear, and the final movement turns minimalistic and menacing, built around droning strings and what sounds like distant voices. What a fucking banger. —Antonio Johri
The casino theme has a dark meaning.
Given that Keem is from Las Vegas—the gambling capital of the world—the title pays homage to his hometown. But the symbolism runs deeper than that. In The Booman Documentary, Keem reflects on how the environment of Las Vegas damaged his family, as his mother’s gambling addiction cost them their rent money. This context helps reframe a statement he made during the album’s release event, when he said: “I named it Ca$ino because that’s where I went through the things I went through. That’s what shaped me to be here today.”
Keem’s difficult upbringing and tragic family history are recurring themes throughout the album. On “I Am Not a Lyricist,” he raps, “I wish we never came to Vegas from Long Beach / On the Strip with them demons and they all plotted on me / Everything ’bout that dirty desert took you away.”
Then there’s the closing track, “No Blame,” perhaps the most powerful song on the album. A slot-machine audio clip opens with the phrase “Better luck next time,” and Keem recounts—in excruciating detail—his struggles with his mother, while making clear that he does not blame her for his hardships. The casino motif functions here as a metaphor for family: the idea that who raises you is a gamble you never get to make. It’s a clever and resonant conceit, one that Keem executes with enough lyrical precision to feel earned rather than forced. —Antonio Johri
Baby Keem is in his grown voice era.
In a lot of Baby Keem's earlier work, his influences wore clearly on his sleeve—a blend of Playboi Carti's baby-voice era and Kendrick Lamar's lyrical dexterity.
On this project, however, you can hear Keem experimenting with something different: his natural voice, a pretty commanding baritone. On the second beat of the aforementioned "Circus Circus Freestyle," he leans into it fully, dropping into a deeper, more sinister register—his voice taking on the tone of a conniving villain, underscored by ominous chuckles in the background.
On "I Am Not a Lyricist" and "No Blame," he goes even further, adopting a more spoken-word approach and simply talking in his normal voice. The effect is sobering. With his natural tone anchoring these tracks, and the subject matter—addiction, abuse, familial struggle—matching that weight, it reads as a sign of genuine maturity. Keem is no longer masking himself behind an affected style; he's letting his actual voice carry the hardest things he has to say. —Antonio Johri
Kendrick and Keem throw a curveball
Anytime Keem and Kendrick link on a track, we get a banger. For this album, though, they flip the playbook. "Good Flirts" is maybe the most romantic song on the record—an interesting mix of yearning and spite. The first verse features Keem almost mocking an ex for leaving, while Kendrick's verse is more playful and romantic, written as someone trying to coax a lover to come over. (It also includes the hilarious “Shit, I gossip with my bitch like I'm Young Thug too” line.) Given how epic their past collaborations have been, it's kinda cool to see their chemistry translate to something more intimate and lighthearted. —Dimas Sanfiorenzo
‘Ca$ino’ proves why quality will always matter more than quantity.
It took Keem over 1,200 days to return to music after The Melodic Blue. It's clear the time was well spent. On this album, he dove deeper into his childhood trauma—his grandmother's passing, his mother's struggle with addiction—and managed to convey these raw, intimate, and at times deeply personal stories in a succinct 38 minutes.
Baby Keem's obsession with perfection is evident throughout. This is seen in the detailed, idiosyncratic production choices (don't sleep on those fleeting ad-libs from Denzel Curry). The album just prove that an intentional, cohesive body of work will always outlast projects rushed out to chase hype. We're only in February, but it's hard not to see this as one of the best rap albums to drop this year. —Jon Barlas