On Feb. 20, Baby Keem released his long-awaited sophomore project, CA$INO. This album came after his successful debut album, The Melodic Blue, which included tracks like Trademark USA, Grammy award-winning track Family Ties, featuring Kendrick Lamar, Durag Activity featuring Travis Scott, and many other songs. The album was so highly acclaimed that it would go on to go platinum in 2023, selling more than 1 million and creating excitement for what Baby Keem would create next, but this album would feature tracks that showcase a whole different change of pace from most of Keem’s discography.
This album is more about Baby Keem’s troubled childhood when his family moved from California to Las Vegas, speaking about the things he saw his family members do that affected him as he would grow up and process his own feelings and become more vulnerable, describing life as a casino, where everyone is gambling on something in their lives. During his album listening party, Keem stated that as he was making the album, he was surfing through topics, and these same stories kept coming up. He decided to highlight them because he thought they could be speaking points his listeners could relate to.
“Tonight is a celebration for those who go through things, and I made this album because of that,” said Keem to his fans during the listening party. “A lot of these stories I’m telling y’all, I used to be embarrassed to talk about. But I kind of changed my perspective; it’s not embarrassing, it’s empowering.” =
The opening track, No Security, set the tone for what the album would talk about. From talking about the loss of family members that he confided in, complex family dynamics, and many other issues about Keem becoming established in rap and how he deals with it, this introduction is a perfect start to Baby Keem, letting us into the casino.
We still see tracks where Keem raps in the style that captivated fans with The Melodic Blue, like ca$ino, Circus Circus Free$tyle, and House Money. These tracks showcase the sound that most fans fell in love with, including his fun lyrics. We also get to see Keem use more versatility and range with his voice in songs like I am not a lyricist, Good Flirts, $ex Appeal, and Dramatic Girl. It is definitely refreshing to see Keem use this technique to add more spice to the album and not just make it one voice, showing that he’s experimenting with things and making them work.
But we see more tracks talking about his past, like Highway 95. Pt2, which talks about him being a ‘runaway child’ and being a child he thought no one wanted, along with the poverty he saw his family go through. The fifth track on the album, I am not a lyricist, Baby Keem speaks about his wishing that his family didn’t move from the “City of Angels” to “Sin City” as he talks more about the struggles of his childhood. And by the end of the album on the outro track No Blame, he looks at all the things his mom, Janice, went through and being a present but absent parent, but as the song states in the title, he holds no blame towards her, acknowledging that her situation was difficult.
Despite the album being only 11 songs and 36 minutes of runtime, it offers a deep story into a side of Baby Keem he didn’t let out, and he did an amazing job. Keem’s slew of new flows kept the album entertaining and made you excited from the beginning to the end. From West Coast head-bopping tracks like $ex Appeal, to hype songs like House Money and Circus Circus Free$tyle, and emotional tracks like that leave you deep in thought like No Blame, Baby Keem’s CA$INO is an emotional rollercoaster that leaves you wanting more.
