The young rapper Baby Keem has been buzzing for a couple of years, and that buzz has lately kicked into overdrive. Last month, Keem got a showcase appearance on Kanye West’s Donda, and he also released the monstrous single “Family Ties,” which featured the triumphant return of Keem’s cousin Kendrick Lamar. Keem has a couple of mixtapes to his name, but tomorrow, he’ll release The Melodic Blue, his proper debut album. Keem unveiled the album’s tracklist on Instagram yesterday, and it only features two guests, both of whom are on already-released singles — “Family Issues” with Kendrick and “Durag Activity” with Travis Scott. Last night, on Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show, Keem debuted another song, and it’s a personal one.
Keem co-produced “Issues,” the song that he performed on Fallon last night. The track has major 808s & Heartbreak vibes, with Keem singing a sad Auto-Tune hymn over spare electronic percussion-ripples. The song appears to be addressed to Keem’s mother, and it’s truly heavy and vulnerable. The verses are about rehab and eviction. The chorus drives it home hard: “How can I resent you?/ Demons can test you/ Grandma and I missed you/ You don’t know what we been through/ Don’t let the wolves come get you.”
On Fallon, Keem performed the song on a soundstage. He sat on a bike, surrounded by a cloud of dry ice, with projections of mountains on a screen behind him. He looked intense and downcast the whole time. Watch it below.
The Melodic Blue is out 9/10.
