Hykeem “Baby Keem” Jamaal Carter Jr. is an expert at the element of surprise. The Las Vegas MC released his first studio album, The Melodic Blue, to nearly universal acclaim. With a contagious sense of swagger and spontaneity, the bold artist took the media’s attention like a thief in the night. He’s also changed rap for the better.
Born in Carson, California in 2000, Keem was surrounded by musical talents from a very young age. It was an interest that stemmed particularly from his aunts and uncles, who Keem says were making music in their 20s–and taking him with them to the studios.
“They was all like in their 20s and I’m following them around–four years-old–just to get out of the house and they in the studio till four a.m,” Keem said in a 2021 interview. “They was probably making…I don’t know. I don’t know what they were making.”
Keem got his first computer when he was 15 and quickly started making music in his bedroom. In 2018, he released his very first, self-produced mixtape: The Sound of Bad Habit. Scrappier and inevitably more amateurish than his latest work, The Sound of Bad Habit was a rough-around-the-edges experiment. But the album showcased early signs of Keem’s trademark unpredictability and tonal versatility. It also solidified his well-known nickname as “Two Phone Baby Keem.” No one knows what it means, no one questions it. His name’s Keem, and he’s got himself not one, but two phones.
His second mixtape, DIE FOR MY B*TCH, was released in 2019 with plenty of underground buzz. While it still didn’t put Keem in the superstar spotlight he’s in now, the album further established his knack for disturb-the-peace production and unique beat switches. I’m particularly fond of the confidence that the track “STATS” exudes, whether he’s flaunting his promiscuity or giving himself the title of the “Black Brad Paisley.”
The Melodic Blue is what solidified Keem as one of my favorite artists working today. The album is chock full of headline-worthy features–whether it’s features from Kendrick Lamar and Travis Scott or an uncredited Rosalia chanting, “I’m a hot girl” throughout the first track, “trademark usa.” It’s also his most personal, nuanced work.
“I don’t think music has anything out right now, like this project,” Keem said in an interview with Billboard. “I took my time recording every vocal. I was going through a lot during that process, just becoming a man.”
Referring to The Melodic Blue, Keem’s quote may just sound like a 21 year-old who’s high on a new sense of ego and stardom–but personally speaking, he’s 100% correct. No one is doing it like Keem right now. He has cited Kendrick, Frank Ocean and Drake as obvious influences, but the work is less of a homogenous mixture of established talent than a mishmash of past inspiration and oddball creativity.
What I think lies at the center of The Melodic Blue’s power is its frequent tonal shifts. Keem starts the album off with a bang. Well, sort of. The first 30 seconds of “trademark usa” is a quiet, moody freestyle that quickly gets abolished. Keem, who’s credited with producing 14 of the 16 tracks (including “trademark”), turns the bass up all the way after the intro–chanting “LLC the glock and I LLC that b*tch” among other caption-ready obscenities with a thunderous beat in the background. Keem’s greatest strength here is the plethora of feeling his music imposes on listeners; “trademark” is fast, aggressive and pumped with an infectious adrenaline. It’s something you’d blast with the windows down speeding on the highway.
By the second track, “pink panties,” Keem is still introducing listeners to this chaotic world he’s created. Grounded in a hazy, ethereal beat accompanied by an overwhelming sense of atmosphere that feels drenched in cold, sterile water–it’s paced much slower than “trademark.” It’s not until “scapegoats” that the title card drops. It’s a one-minute track that concludes with a French woman’s voice that sounds just like Bruce Willis’ girlfriend in Pulp Fiction. She welcomes listeners into The Melodic Blue: a coming-of-age story. It’s unfiltered, versatile–an often uneven conversation between the mellow and the intrusive, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
It’s obvious that Keem is at his best when he’s leaning into his mosh pit-like energy with tracks like “trademark,” “family ties” and “range brothers.” He’s clearly still going through the motions when it comes to his slower, more personal tracks–and that’s okay. The album is so unpredictable and fresh that it’s impossible not to appreciate. Despite its inevitable messiness, I’m glad that Keem is comfortable with going too far. He’s an undeniably impressive new artist that made achieving musical stardom look easy. He’s 21, nabbed a Grammy just this year, and according to the man himself–he’s not done for a long time.
“Jeez,” Keem said in an interview with the Grammy Awards . “I’m just still working. Who knows until the music’s done?”
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