With the dismissive "hooligan" and the downcast "no sense,"
Baby Keem's 2020s singles gave him a "moment of clarity." On
Melodic Blue we find a self-focused but deeply jaded figure poised atop a mountain of nocturnal hedonism and industry backstabbing. While his debut album doesn't completely follow suit, it's marked by a pensiveness lacking in the rapper's earlier works; "I can't help but feel neglected" runs the opening line of intro "trademark usa,"
Keem's words surrounded by a chorus of disembodied vocals.
The album's strengths manifest at polar extremes, at
Keem's moodiest and at his most outlandish. At the peak of the former is "scars" -- a self-reflection in the image of
Kanye's
808s and Heartbreak -- as well as the Toronto R&B-esque closer "16," which dwells on broken relationships with a candid "won't you think about you and I?" From the other end of the spectrum come some of his most ignorant anthems to date: "south africa" stomps forward with a "Mo Bamba"-style melody, the heavily
Future-like "cocoa" glides with the trap pioneer's effortless flow, and "family ties" is a
Keem-
Kendrick rollercoaster of beat switches and cocky verses.
Keem is a necessary, forward-thinking presence in the rap zeitgeist, and
The Melodic Blue continues to provide his fans with plenty of unique takes on the trap genre. ~ David Crone