“The Melodic Blue” (Deluxe) – Baby Keem
Rating: 6.5/10
October 28th, 2022
Where do I even start with this? Hykeem Carter (you see where he got his name from now) is most famously 2 phone Baby Keem, as well as the cousin of one of the most prolific and significant poets of our generation, Kendrick Lamar.
Now, what’s interesting is that Baby Keem hid his relationship to Lamar for ages, but when rumors broke that they were cousins… both of them just sort of ran with it.
Their familial ties led them to create one of the most fun collabs of last year: coincidentally named: “Family Ties”. This song brought Kendrick Lamar out of his slumber, and was the start point for the album rollout for “Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers” (review incoming).
So going into the “Melodic Blue”, I was excited. Keem was quite literally bringing everything he could, having these hard beats mixed with a really tasteful beat switch. I heard the leak of “range brothers” too, so I was excited for even more Kendrick Lamar.
What we got was somewhat disappointing. The album just felt like it was going on and on and on, and frankly, the beat switches just began to become unnecessary. “Family Ties” remains to be one of the highlights of the album, as well as “trademark USA”. The album also brings in some more introspective pieces like “16” and “issues”. My favorite song continues to be “Hooligans” (added onto the album at a later date). Some songs were just a drag like “south africa”, “gorgeous”, and “scars”. Some other songs just missed the mark, like “lost souls” and “cocoa”, which just felt like there was something off (whether it was the vocals or production). Then some songs were at points painful: “pink panties”. I thought, as the first real major release, this was just painfully average. I would’ve rated this a 6 if I ran this website at that time.
I heard about the deluxe version coming out roughly 3 hours before from Keem’s Instagram. I was not that excited but I still listened when it came out. I’ll be completely honest, I should have just listened to Westside Gunn’s new HWH tape.
The production is a slight improvement. I always noticed that his production was top notch, even though his lyrics can be comically bad at times. I respect Baby Keem because he does everything (FOR THE MOST PART) himself.
7 new songs were added, which for a lot of the Keem fans seems like a blessing, but a lot of his songs are really hit or miss for me. While they might sound good, when you listen to them close enough, you’re like “hold up, what am I listening to”. Keem has some of the weirdest lines, and some of the worst bars I have ever heard, but his delivery and his feelings make it feel like its some of the most thought provoking things ever. I was at the Kendrick Lamar concert and Keem was performing and I heard everyone singing “vent”, specifically the “Ice-cream, booger colored piss, Sub-Zero” line. Nobody stopped and paused to think: “what did I just sing”.
If I were to pick a favorite track from the additional seven, it would be “life of pain”, but “hooligans” is still a better song in general. The song with Don Toliver and PinkPanthress just feels unfinished and unrefined, and the Panthress feature is just her giving backing vocals. “Patience Interlude” and “naked freestyle” were just unnecessary, and again, didn’t feel finished (a general theme of this deluxe).
It felt like he had these beats finished, and nobody to give them to. “Fine China” is just forgettable, and then we reach “highway 95”. Keem tweeted out “Thank you Ms. Hill”, so it sparked a little excitement, like “oh shit, Lauryn Hill is going to be on this album?”. Nope. He sampled her song, in the worst way possible. It did not feel right, and the song just did not mesh correctly. His delivery was off, and it felt like one of the weakest performances I heard from him. I was immensely let down by that track, and felt like we needed more justice for Lauryn Hill’s sample (you can’t chop it up and massacre it like that).
The final song, “bank account”, is meh, but incredibly funny. Lil Uzi Vert starts the song off with the line “violate that bitch”, which is quite concerning (let’s try not to promote this type of speech guys!). Uzi litters the track with some “doot doot doots”; I could not take myself seriously when I listened to that song for the first time.
“The Melodic Blue” (deluxe) is the definitive version of this project, but I hope Baby Keem can use the mistakes and critiques from this project to create a better next album. I know Keem has the potential to do so. He has incredible and refreshing production, and his delivery is filled with this youthful spirit that not many people have these days. Let’s just hope for the next time.
Boquafious
Yours Truly
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