What's Next For Baby Keem?
Illustration by: Mira Dandiker
By: Money Mesbah
After dropping his debut album, Die For My Bitch, Nevada native Baby Keem seemingly disappeared. Two pressing questions then arose: where did Baby Keem go, and what’s next for him? For the average fan, they credit his recent placement on the XXL 2020 Freshman List as a cause for his reemergence. But to be honest, what came out of the 2020 XXL connect left his fans somewhat confused. With only an individual cypher as an offering—and essentially skimping us on a verse from the group cypher—I, at least, was left wanting more. Based on what Keem did give us in the individual cypher, we received a very ominous and antisocial vibe. He never looked at the camera, he was hoodied up and delivered with a deadpan tone. It felt reminiscent of the energy on Earl Sweatshirt’s I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside from his posture to mannerisms. His bars even reflected his stand-offishness, with Keem rapping: “I don’t go outside no more, I stay remote.” As someone anxiously waiting for the next Baby Keem drop, it was safe to say I wasn’t expecting that.
Then on September 18th—nearly a month after his XXL freestyle— Keem gave us a two-pack of songs, “Hooligan” & “Sons & Critics Freestyle” which is reportedly set to appear on his next project. A complete vibe switch, Keem provided us with an acapella freestyle that didn’t equate or compare to either previously released tracks. Once again, he proves his ability to seamlessly make every beat perfect for him, allowing his unique voice to create two tracks that are essentially great pitches for a home run of a project.
We need to also talk about how, alongside his own Baby Keem LLC and Columbia Records, pgLang was also listed as a distributor of the two tracks. PgLang is the mysterious “label” launched by Kendrick Lamar, who is also cousins with Baby Keem, alongside former TDE president Dave Free. The label also dropped a “visual mission statement” starring Keem back in March, insinuating his partnership with the multilingual, artist-friendly service company. He later confirmed this involvement with the pgLang in a press release stating, “Astronaut ideas. That is what I call the shit that I know I want but that stand alone. You know? Like, not everything has to ‘make sense’ to me in a rational way. This is how my mind stays fresh, by letting myself have my astronaut ideas and developing them even though it might confuse anyone else.” The familial pairing of Kendrick and Keem also graced the recent cover of i-D Mag, essentially pulling Kdot out of a similar unseen abyss. The cover story itself entails a personal and organic interview done by Kendrick on Keem, discussing a lot about their musical history, music-making ethic, and they even threw a question regarding pgLang in it at the end, saving the best for last.
With that being said, what’s next for 2 Phone Baby Keem? What will his musical shift (if one occurs) give us? What does pgLang have in store for him and vice versa? Seems like we need to keep our eyes on him both on and off the mic because he’s only coming back with more shots to make.
