It has been a few weeks now since Baby Keem’s sophomore album titled “Ca$ino” that was published on the 20th of February and I just have two words to describe it is just perfect. The way the songs were put together and how well they all sound as well as the backstory to each and every one of them. With this being the second album after his last hit album “The Melodic Blue” he’s definitely made another hit album once again. Even though he has been sort of relevant after the release of his freshman album, his fans have been achieving to see the drop of Ca$ino for the longest. Leading up to the release of Ca$ino he’s been seen on other popular albums and songs such as Kendrick Lamar’s “Mr Morale & The Big Steppers”, “The Hillbillies” which he and Kendrick Lamar collabed again, and as well as Kanye West’s “Donda” album.
As mentioned before, Hykeem has released three separate videos titled “Booman I, II and III” which are a few ten minute long documentaries that show how Hykeem’s life was before and leading up to his fame as a music producer and rapper. It first starts in Long Beach, California where he was first raised before he later moved to Las Vegas, Nevada. We see in Booman,that Hykeem obviously didn’t grow up in the best living conditions and is family related. His aunt Connie who was the one who documented all three Boomans shows that Hykeem barely grew up with a mom and mostly spent his time with her whenever his mom was out and did whatever she could. The first two Boomans are just Hykeem when he was a small child but Booman III is where we see the potential that everyone saw in him when he was younger. We actually see him as a young adult and he tells us that he used to just produce music that he liked and didn’t care about anyone else’s approval just as long as he liked it. At this point Hykeem dropped out of school and only focused on his music career and only that, this is where Kendrick Lamar who is actually his cousin had noticed the talent that Hykeem possessed and actually came out to see Hykeem and what he could do. Kendrick admits that he also knew that Hykeem was talented but didn’t realize how much talent he really had until he heard his music that Hykeem had produced and Kendrick even said “What I was surprised at was when he started rapping. I was like “Damn, you actually good at this too.” That threw me for a loop, because he understood melodies and patterns more than any young car that I’ve heard.”
Moving past the Booman documentaries we finally get into what that all led up to, which was Ca$ino. We start off with the first song of the album, “No Security”. When I first heard this song I immediately knew that this album was going to be an emotional one. He starts off how he doesn’t need security and that he has always been with his homies and how all of this fame has him reflecting on everything that led up to it and after it. He talks about how his mom used to walk around with him in the cold and that his uncle had died and regrets that he didn’t do anything to help since he didn’t have the money and resources to. He also mentions that his mom looks at him like she’s going to the bank so she basically sees him as an ATM more than a son.
After “No Security” we have the name of the song next, “Ca$ino”. The song has an immaculate transition into the song (unless you have an ad right before Ca$ino like I did then it doesn’t sound as good) which just sounds as good. Ca$ino really changes the tempo that we just had on No Security and it really leans towards the whole heavy rap feeling. Baby Keem may not seem like he may be talking about anything deep but he really is especially in the second part of the song. The beat switched up and is honestly just a work or art and still matches the whole vibe of the song which really just makes it a perfect masterpiece. Baby Keem is still talking about how he can connect with others by describing his feelings about his grandmother, listeners, and other relatives. The song just really couldn’t get any better if it could be changed.
Moving on from “Ca$ino” we got the “Birds & the Bees”. Let me just tell you that this song really is just another peak song on the album. The beat is repetitive but catchy and at the same time it is combined with those soft but heavy lyrics at the same time. I think this song has full potential to become a radio hit just like “Ca$ino”. We have a lot of great songs in this album that can compare to “Birds & the Bees” in beat and rhythm but I personally love this song.
Now we get to our first featured song called “Good Flirts”, his song is similar to “Birds & the Bees” but different when it comes to the moments and overall the energy of the song. “Birds & the Bees” added a more heavy and heavy and aggressive tone while this song is more romantical and softer. Keem and Momo Boyd have the perfect vocals to pull off their verses but Kendrick Lamar’s verse really is something different that we haven’t seen much of. His voice is more calm and softer than we usually hear it as and we never really got to see much of a romantic side of Kendrick either in any of his albums.
Jumping into “House Money” we start off heavier than any of the other songs we have heard so far. Baby Keem starts with talking about a certain girl being unloyal to him and then calling out some guy for being lazy and irresponsible. This song also features Kendrick Lamar again as a hidden feature, but his verses honestly hit hard with the bass and all. Keem’s verses really are just aggressive and in a sense are just mean. Nothing really noteworthy about the rest of the song.
“I am not a lyricist” comes right after “House Money” and let me tell you, it’s pretty deep and this is not even the last song of the album. Keem starts off with a verse describing his early life as a baby and how his family was so different and addicted to drugs and drinking. In his upcoming verses he talks about how he hated moving and that moving from Long Beach,California to Las Vegas, Nevada. At the end of the song he says that this song was made for foster children, runaways, underworld and the underpaid repeatedly.
Coming off of “I am not a Lyricist” we got “$*x Appeal” which features Too $hort. I personally love this song too. The beat, the verses, and just the overall vibe of the song is just immaculate. I also enjoy Too $hort’s verses that match the whole song completely and it’s better to just hear a different voice other than Keems for this song. The song is really like a 9/10 but really because there’s still another song on this album that we haven’t talked about yet that I love the most.
Slowing down the vibe from “$*x Appeal,” we got “Highway 95 pt. 2.” The cool thing about this song is that the first “part” of the song is in Baby Keem’s first debut album called “Melodic Blue.” This song goes back to talking about Hykeem’s recent troubles and concerns he has about his family. He talks about his childhood and how he was abused and how he ran away from his home. He also talks about his nieces not acknowledging him as an uncle. Keem talks about how it’s really hard for him to live, especially at a young age as he didn’t necessarily enjoy being at home as he didn’t see his mother that much and would sometimes spend his nights sleeping in ditches or under highways.
Brightening up the mood off “Highway 95 pt 2.” moves us down to “Circus Circus Freestyle,” which I think is the top three songs on the album by far. “CCF” really has the whole audience just leaning righting out their chairs asking for more. It really just pieces together more and more of Hykeems’ past which leaves us with an almost completed picture of what he wants the audience to know should be fully completed. We know most of Hykeem’s problems and trials as a young kid in Las Vegas but we still don’t know that full story but soon we will.
“Dramatic Girl” seemingly doesn’t really have any deep meaning to it and sounds more like just a vibe instead of a mystery. We don’t really need to decode anything except the fact that Baby Keem has been involved with a certain “dramatic” girl. He talks about how he feels like he’s not getting enough out of the relationship and that he doesn’t just want the same events every time. This girl seems to be emotionally unavailable as she has been distancing herself from her family and close friends. Baby Keem sings how maybe this relationship is too risky and unhealthy for each other. Although there’s some implications to emotional withdrawal from the “dramatic” girl, Keem just wants her to talk to him.
Finally, we have the last song of the album and honestly this is the most heavy and deep meaning song out of any of the previous ones. “No Blame” really slows everything down from beginning to the end as Hykeem explains how he doesn’t blame his mother for anything that has happened in their life. Although he doesn’t blame her for anything he still can’t forgive her for what she had done like coming home intoxicated or under the influence. He also doesn’t blame her for always smoking as he states “Smokin’ cigarettes in that house made it haunted Skeletons in the closet, spent my birthday running from it.” This can all mean that smoking calmed his mother down from all the trauma and anxiety to which she had put “skeletons in her closet” which means her traumas are buried. Hykeem saying that he spent his birthday running from is probably referencing the fact that his birthday is in October which fits with the whole scary theme he put into that verse.
Personally, I think the whole album was at least an 8/10. It has its good moments and bad moments too like all albums. No hate on the album at all.
