Baby Keem Hits Jackpot with Hard-Hitting Return ‘Ca$ino’

There were 1,624 days between Hykeem “Baby Keem” Carter Jr.’s last two albums. “The Melodic Blue,” released Sept. 10, 2021, was Keem’s last full album before “Ca$ino,” released Feb. 20. After over four years of fans waiting, the album came with little buildup before the release.

Many speculated Keem’s return after he was announced as a headliner for New York’s annual Governors Ball Jan. 6. The official announcement of his new album came Feb. 10 in an Instagram post, just 10 days before its release. 

To re-enter the rap game and ignite hype for the album, Keem released a set of three documentaries titled “Booman” after his childhood nickname. The series primarily features old childhood clips taken on his aunt LaConnie “Connie” Govan’s camcorder.

Part one shows a deeper, emotional side of Keem’s childhood, where he shared a one-bedroom apartment in Long Beach, Calif., with five family members. 

Keem’s second cousin, 27-time Grammy winner Kendrick Lamar — who helped Keem win his first and only Grammy on their 2021 song Family Ties — is first cousins with Keem’s mother, Janice. In the documentary, he speaks about the tough living conditions they grew up in.

“Section 8, welfare, general relief, AFDC [Aid to Families with Dependent Children],” Lamar said. “This is a story of a warfare environment and a warfare psychologically, trying to change our generational curses, right?”

Parts two and three of the documentary cover the namesake of the album, “Ca$ino.” Keem moved from Long Beach to Las Vegas when he was four years old. From there, a custody battle ensued between his mother and grandmother, Sharon. Both experienced struggles with gambling in the Sin City, including being evicted for losing their rent money, hence the name “Ca$ino.”

“Ca$ino” wasn’t always the title Keem planned for the album. At a Feb. 19 listening party, the 25-year-old rapper opened up about the original name he had in mind.

“When I made this album, it was originally named after my mom,” Keem said. “I was trying to find that pocket. But then I realized that was just unfair in a way. There’s so many people that helped me become who I am today.”

The album itself is by far the most real and personal project of Keem’s career. The opening track, “No Security,” starts with a slow, melodic rap over a sample from Natalie Bergman’s “You Can Have Me.” In the song, he tells all about his mother’s struggles.

“I’m a product to the world, it’s some things that I aint told / Like when my mama walked me ‘round with no shoes in the cold / When I was dyin’ for my bitch, my ma’ was sleepin’ in a tent / Goin’ back and forth to jail should I bail? Where can I vent? / Fuckin’ up my credit card when I tried to pay her rent,” Keem converses.

These lines set a tone of openness for the album. Keem goes into the financial struggles of his mother, from not being able to afford shoes to being homeless when Keem released his 2019 album “DIE FOR MY BITCH” to him bailing her out of jail and the troubles he put himself in to cover her rent.

Keem returns to his trap production roots on the second song, title track “Ca$ino.” He flexes his wealth and status as a millionaire rapper in the first verse before once again getting more personal in the second, revealing to listeners the death of his grandmother, Sharon.

“When grandma died, I hit the 95 to get some closure / I wouldn’t say I took it well, I walk around bipolar / I think I cried a million times, I’m human fuck it, sue me,” Keem rapped.

“Birds & the Bees” and “Good Flirts” both take a slower melody, focusing on young love and hook-up culture. The second of the two songs has Keem’s first features of the album with Momo Boyd and Kendrick Lamar, marking the cousins’ first collaboration since their 2023 track “The Hillbillies.”

“Good Flirts” takes a very different tone from their previous songs, sounding similar to Lamar’s “Father Time” off “Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers.”

“House Money” is the Keem fans are used to — heavy piano and bass, back-and-forth rapping with Lamar and aggressive vocals similar to that of “Family Ties.” If you’re looking for old Baby Keem, this is the closest “Ca$ino” gets.

Song six, “I am not a Lyricist,” ironically brings Keem back to the lyricism of the album’s opening. 

“Mama called me bipolar, grandma called me ‘Booman’ / Drugs in my baby stroller, needles in the playgrounds sand,” Keem spat.

He even explores the “Ca$ino” name along with his upbringing in the opening verse.

“That slot machine that nobody held [n****] gamble with they life, scared to bet on themsеlves / My grandma gave me a kеyboard when I was twelve / Connie got me out the group home when I was six,” Keem said.

The following track, “$ex Appeal,” features West Coast rap legend Too $hort, highlighting club life and fame, again hinting at Keem’s troubles with hook-up culture, saying “she only like sex and pills.”

“Highway 95 pt.2,” a follow-up to “Highway 95” off “The Melodic Blue Deluxe,” the song tells the story Keem mentioned on “Ca$ino” about driving highway 95 after the death of his grandmother. He takes an introspective look at his childhood, his mother’s troubles with money, his inability to trust his aunts and uncles and the abusers he grew up around.

The song proves to be a touching tribute to his grandmother, who had a major impact on his music career and primarily raised him as a child when he didn’t have parents to trust.

“Circus Circus Free$tyle” is definitely the most unique song on the album. Keem mixes up beat switches with seven separate voices throughout the song, showing, as he said, “Baby Keem ain’t playin’ no more.”

“Dramatic Girl” is a love song — a real one, not just a critique of the rapper’s love scene. In it, Keem hints at a hidden love “hidin’ in the open” as he opens himself up.

“I know we haven’t spoke in so long, I’ve been writin’ love songs,” Keem said.

This openness shows a vulnerable side of the artist who wants more in life than fame and yearns for a deeper love he’s missing or may be hiding.

The last song on the album is “No Blame,” a love letter to his mother, accepting her for her faults and failures throughout his childhood, repeating “I don’t blame you mama” consistently throughout.

It features by far the most haunting line of the entire record.

“I was seven years old, waitin’ on you in pajamas / You said you would come home, should’ve never made that promise / How could I blame you mama? / I ran from you that day, I’m not numb to those encounters / I’ve seen you in the worst way when the police say they’ve found you / Grandma told me you died, how am I gon’ live without you?” Keem rapped.

Keem’s mother is luckily still alive after the overdose described, but the line remains a testament to the drug abuse he was raised around and the lack of parental figures he had in his younger years.

Keem took a big risk with this album — only 36 minutes long — composed of deep personal stories and struggles he’s battled rather than rattling off trap hits as he has in the past. 

But it hit, in a big way. 

Baby Keem relaunched himself as a deeper storyteller and producer with the potential to continue putting out future classics like “Ca$ino.”
“Ca$ino” is out now, available to stream everywhere, with tickets for his eponymous tour selling out already.