Baby Keem - The Ca$ino Tour

A ‘00s baby growing up in Vegas, Hykeem Carter couldn’t be any less interested in a City of Sin devoid of a hip hop scene.

But, maybe, it was that very boredom that fuelled the budding Grammy Award winner’s hunger to explore new horizons; working on his craft largely under the radar; purposely not reaching out or revealing his connection to his cousin – a one Kendrick Lamar – until he reached at least an adequate level of prowess.Baby Keem’s debut album, The Melodic Blue, came in 2021, a forceful, mostly self-produced statement of intent from the burgeoning artist.

Trap bangers high on ‘durag activity’ with the likes of Travis Scott pierced through wistful, cinematic moods akin to indie song-making, all the way to number five on the Billboard 200.

The now LA-based rapper also had the confidence to stand proudly beside Lamar.

Enter ‘family ties’, a combative, horn-laden showstopper of a track from the album, and the cousins’ first official collab.

Nominated for two Grammy Awards, the single won them Best Rap Performance the following year.While shedding the layers to allow a new vulnerability shine through, Baby Keem bolstered his resume with high-profile collabs on either side of his first studio release: he got production credits on Beyoncé’s The Lion King: The Gift, Jay Rock’s Redemption and Schoolboy Q’s Crash Talk.

He joined Kanye West’s ‘Praise God’, alongside Travis Scott, on the chart-topping Donda in 2021, and Lamar’s conscious hip-hop opus Mr.

Morale & the Big Steppers in 2022, winner of Best Rap Album at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards.Still in his early 20s, a break for this life-long student of hip-hop was long overdue.

But, even away from the spotlight, Baby Keem is always writing his next chapter.

Hear him roar.