Five years after his debut studio album “The Melodic Blue,” American rapper Baby Keem sounds a little older, a little less brazen and, ironically, a little more melodic in his latest project, “Ca$ino.”
Released on Friday, Keem’s second studio album reflects on his family’s dynamics, his Las Vegas childhood and dealing with grief.
The album opens on a serious note with “No Security.” Keem recalls the difficulties of the past five years, including the passing of his uncle. At 25, his voice has deepened and lost some of the cheeky, insolent quality that characterized his previous work.
The album’s eponymous track opens up with slot machine noises. The rambunctious, heavy beat is a sharp contrast to “No Security,” though they have similarly somber themes.
Even after the beat switches to an absurd, carnivalesque loop, Keem’s lyrics get more vulnerable, and his delivery even more raw. “I watched my grandma die in the house I bought,” Keem raps. “I’m livin’ my truth.”
The juxtaposition of chasing short-term pleasure with its harmful long-term effects is a recurring theme of the album. In “I am not a Lyricist,” Keem unpacks how living in Las Vegas cultivated addiction in his family with lyrics such as “Drugs in my baby stroller, needles in the playground sand.”
The next track, “$ex Appeal (feat. Too $hort),” takes the opposite perspective. Keem glamorizes the vices of Sin City over a sleazy beat, with lyrics like “When I’m with this b—h, I feel every endorphin / She got sex appeal / ’Cause she only like sex and pills.”
“Birds & the Bees” and “Good Flirts (feat. Kendrick Lamar & Momo Boyd)” offer a lighthearted respite from the casino motif with bouncy production and unserious verses. On the latter track, Lamar, known for conceptual masterpieces such as “To Pimp a Butterfly,” spits humorous bars like “Been missin’ your booty, lovin’ on your booty / Kissin’ on your booty, crushin’ on your booty.”
These songs are enjoyable listens, but on such a short album, they take up space that distracts from Keem’s more engaging reflections on his youth.
My favorite tracks on the album are undoubtedly the final three. “Circus Circus Free$tyle” features dynamic beat switches and an aggressive delivery that gave me full-body chills, while “Dramatic Girl (feat. Che Ecru)” has an infectiously catchy production and flow.
The final song, “No Blame,” attempts to resolve Keem’s anger at his upbringing. His choked-up delivery on lyrics like “You said you would come home, should’ve never made that promise / How could I blame you, mama?” and the constant refrain of forgiveness despite his mother’s failings create a compelling conclusion to the album.
Keem has demonstrated considerable development as a lyricist, producer and creative risk-taker on “Ca$ino.” Aside from a couple of thematically incohesive tracks, the album’s deeply personal tone carries emotional weight while still being sonically pleasing.
Still, I wish Keem had included more music on this album to fully flesh out its theme. In that respect, “Ca$ino” mirrors the cycle of gambling: The songs had me hooked, but the 37-minute album left me craving more.
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