Which just leaves that much more room for Keem to dance across octaves, drop into a whisper, deadpan, shift to double-time, and sing, all of which he does over the course of just “trademark usa.” One song into his debut and Keem has unloaded a display so excessive that a forward-thinking manager might ask him to save something for a deluxe version. The album’s only other guests are Travis Scott (“durag activity”) and Don Toliver (“cocoa”). He’s hilarious, even when he’s trying to get a point across (“I must confess, I am a mess, I cannot fix it/Lil baby thick, Margiela sweats, look at my dick print,” he raps on “vent”), and he switches flows so often you’d think he had some kind of tic. But keeping up with Keem is no easy task. In fact, it is Lamar who sounds like he’s doing his best to keep up with Keem over the course of their The Melodic Blue collaborations (“range brothers,” “family ties”). They likely aren’t cousins with Kendrick Lamar either, but if Lamar’s scarcity between projects tells us anything, it’s that he’s not stepping to the mic for just anybody. What other emergent MCs don’t have, however, are Keem’s dedication to airing out multiple flows over the course of a single song, his gift for spellbinding non sequitur, or the fearlessness with which he approaches song-making. Across his debut album The Melodic Blue, 20-year-old Vegas native Baby Keem sounds firstly like a combination of his biggest influences (Kanye West, Kid Cudi, Kendrick Lamar), but also, maybe more notably, like he could be from anywhere, because that’s what an emergent MC sounds like in 2021. No matter the topic, Keem thrives comfortably in his pocket, locked into a dynamic aesthetic that has set him apart since he began.What does an MC from Las Vegas sound like? It’s a funny question to not have an obvious answer for in 2021, but one that seems that much sillier when you consider who it is that will likely become one of the city’s first reference points. His 2020 double single release furthered his musical modus operandi: The pensive, piano-driven “hooligan” showcased Keem’s ability to look inward and reflect, while the trappy, bass-heavy “sons & critics freestyle” found the rapper casually flexing on his contemporaries. On his debut mixtape, 2018’s The Sound of Bad Habit, Keem’s delivery expands and contracts, fluctuating between high-pitched and even-keeled on songs like the gutsy, dark intro “Wolves.” He settled confidently into his free-flowing style on his breakthrough 2019 followup, DIE FOR MY BITCH, which was led by the flippant “ORANGE SODA,” a stream of consciousness single where he rapped amusingly about his arbitrary dating parameters. By his late teen years, he had already leapt ahead of his peers-his eclectic production methods and introspective songwriting led to contribution credits with some of the biggest names in the industry, notably pop supernova Beyoncé and rap luminary Kendrick Lamar (his rumored cousin). artist first began creating music at age 13, borrowing money from his grandmother to buy used equipment off of Craigslist. Baby Keem’s vocals are as animated as they are downplayed-an intentional pairing that makes for an unmistakable approach to rap.
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