Baby Keem Ca$ino Review

For as much of a commercial success as it was, Hykeem “Baby Keem” Carter’s 2021 album The Melodic Blue was considered by many to be flashes of brilliance paired with a lot of filler. While fans and critics raved about the project’s high points like ‘family ties’ featuring Keem’s cousin Kendrick Lamar, they also generally agreed that the album was not without its forgettable cuts.

For this reason, I was encouraged by the rollout of Keem’s newest album, Ca$ino, which featured the 3-part YouTube docu-series titled ‘Booman’ and other PGLang style promo. Upon the release of the album and my learning that the project’s run-time was a tight 36 minutes, I was even more excited with Keem’s vision.

While I’m not going to sit here and tell you that Ca$ino is an entirely focused and driven masterpiece, I will start off this review by saying that I believe that the album has a coherent message and does a good job at conveying it. To instantly set the tone, Keem delivers a heartfelt message about his family struggles and Vegas vices on No Security. At the end of this track, we hear the sound of a slot machine spinning. Then, to open into the titular track, Ca$ino, we can hear a jackpot sound. As this relates to the project broadly, this sort of imagery instantly puts the listener in a Vegas perspective. Being Keem’s hometown, Vegas ends up playing a focal point in the thematic core of this record.

Right off the bat in the song Ca$ino, Keem wastes no time showing that he still has his trap chops. A track pushing 5 minutes, Ca$ino almost feels like it could be Keem’s trap-banger magnum opus. From ultra-catchy flows to strong production with beat switches, this song is everything you want from a Baby Keem hype cut. On the record’s third track, Birds & the Bees, Keem delivers a 2-minute pop-inspired melodic performance. While this song isn’t heavy from a substance perspective, it’s definitely one of the catchier songs on the LP with a hook that will get stuck in your head.

On track 4, Good Flirts, we get the project’s sole credited Kendrick Lamar feature, as well as a melodic contribution from Momo Boyd. In what is one of the most R&B-esque songs on the album, the three artists sing sincerely (if a little tongue-in-cheek) about love, situationships, and complicated relationships. For as good as the song is, though, I can’t help but feel like Kendrick’s feature would’ve been better utilized on a high-energy banger like family ties or a collaborative showcase like The Hillbillies. Still, Kendrick at least provides a fun hook on the album’s next track, House Money. In this song, Keem continues to lay the foundation for the eventual emotional climaxes of this album with lines like “my mama so petty, she left me in back of the stash house.”

As House Money comes to a close, we’re instantly signalled that we’re in for a treat on track 6, I am not a Lyricist upon hearing a more somber, low-key beat. And I would argue that this track is not only the best lyrical performance on this LP, but Baby Keem’s best lyrical performance ever. There’s definitely some irony there. Ultimately, I’d argue that I am not a Lyricist is Ca$ino’s turning point. While the first half of the album spent a lot of time discussing the party aspects of Vegas, the project from I am not a Lyricist onwards delves more into the negatives of growing up in ‘sin city.’

With lines like “drugs in my baby stroller, needles in the playground sand”, and “they don’t call it Sin City for nothin’, either you jumpin’ off a building ’cause you’re broke or you’re fuckin'”, Keem paints a sincere picture of what life was like growing up lower-class in Vegas. If this wasn’t enough, at the end of verse 2, Keem downright says that he wishes his family stayed in Long Beach. After an emotional verse breaking down the shortcomings and vices of most of his parental figures, this hits especially hard. Between the lyrical content, creative refrains, and the third verse’s spoken-word vibe, I am not a Lyricist is perhaps the most creative that Baby Keem has ever been.

Right after this standout performance, Keem gets right back into his trap bag with the retro-G-funk inspired $ex Appeal featuring Too $hort. I’ll give this song the award for catchiest performance on the album and a favourite to become a club banger. After this, though, we arrive at another pillar of the LP’s thematic core with Highway 95 pt. 2. On the hook of this album, Keem explores more of the concept of familial trauma and his struggle to not make it generational. On the expansive verses, Keem, for lack of a better phrase, raps his ass off about his experiences with poverty in Vegas. In what is sonically disguised as a fun rap song, Keem excellently levels with the listener about his upbringing.

The third and second-to-last songs on the album, Circus Circus Free$tyle and Dramatic Girl, respectively, while not bad by any means, seem like they could’ve been replaced by better cuts. The former, while having some fun lines and some further exploration of the themes of the album, drags on for a little too long. The latter, while catchy, both comes at a weird point and is simply just the weakest melodic cut on the LP.

As Ca$ino’s final track, No Blame, begins, we can hear (presumably) a slot machine say “better luck next time.” No, this is not a groundbreaking metaphor. But especially as it relates to the gradual tonal shift of the album (especially in juxtaposition with the jackpot sound early in the album), Keem’s experiences, and the content of this song, I think that this is a brilliant stylistic choice. In No Blame, though, Keem effectively ends the cycle by forgiving his mother. The track is especially fascinating because it is essentially Keem listing off ways that his mom wronged him, but understanding the reasons why and forgiving her for it all. Honestly, to me, No Blame stands out as sort of Mr. Morale-esque, both in its sound and in its exploration of familial themes. In fact, it very closely mirrors the song Mother I Sober off of Mr. Morale, a track in which Kendrick mentions Keem’s mother by nickname.

Overall, No Blame nicely wraps up the themes of Ca$ino, themes that the world is better off for having heard. I don’t think that Ca$ino is the ceiling of what Baby Keem is capable of, nor do I think that it is as good as it possibly could’ve been, but I still believe it’s a very solid addition to his catalogue. To me, it’s his best album to date. I’m excited to see where Keem goes from here; I just hope we’re not waiting another 5 years for his next album.

8.5/10

Favourite tracks: Ca$ino, I am not a Lyricist, No Blame

Least favourite tracks: Circus Circus Free$tyle, Dramatic Girl