American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer from Carson, California, Hykeem Jamaal Carter Jr., known professionally as Baby Keem put out his debut album the melodic blue in September and it got a pretty good response, with fans and critics noting his versatility.
The final track of his debut album, 16 sees Baby Keem describing a tender yet crumbling relationship between himself and an unnamed woman with an unfortunate and impoverished upbringing. The track also happens to be the 16th song on the final album, matching its title.
This track was first mentioned by name on merchandise Baby Keem had sold on pop-up shows, months before the release of the album, and has made appearances on multiple early tracklists pre-album release.
This afternoon, Keem revisits the album and puts out a video for a mellow cut called ’16’ which is produced by DJ Dahi. It’s the album’s closer. The video is directed by Jonas Lindstroem and you can check it out below.
He has produced for the likes of ScHoolboy Q, Jay Rock and Beyonce and is affiliated with pgLang.
In an 2021 interview with Apple Music Keem spoke about how he came up with idea to call himself “Baby Keem”:
It started with me hearing a beat from someone I was a fan of for a long, long, long time — Cardo, and when I heard the beat I had a newfound confidence, I just felt like calling myself “Baby Keem”. I always joke around like “this is my name”, I always make fake nicknames for myself and things like that but, when I heard that beat it just sounded right, so I made a song called “Baby Keem”. After that that’s what it was.
He started gaining attention in 2018 with his projects Hearts and Darts and The Sound of Bad Habit. He got even more attention with his 2019 mixtape DIE FOR MY BITCH and his breakout single “ORANGE SODA” which went platinum.
In 2021 he released The Melodic Blue, his debut studio album with features from Kendrick Lamar, Travis Scott and Don Toliver.
He is Kendrick Lamar’s cousin and Keem is also part of Kendrick’s company pgLang.
Quotable Lyrics:
- Fuck you mean? Bitch, I’m Baby Keem
- Two phone Baby Keem, fuck me if you want, ay
- Yes, I like you, girl, I don’t want to front
- Lay you in the bed, bae, let’s cuddle up, uh, yeah