While The Melodic Blue is indeed flecked with more intimate writing than usual, it isn’t exactly a confessional. He publicly embraced his relationship with Lamar, signing with Lamar and Dave Free’s pgLang collective and releasing the tag-team track “family ties.” The album’s trailer is soundtracked by “scapegoats,” a brief but somber reflection on family that hits a bit closer to home (“Flowers on my uncle’s tomb, thousands to my auntie’s, too/I’m used to taking backstreets, last week was nothing new”) before drawing the curtain back again. Nepotism or not, the rollout (or, according to former TDE president Dave Free, the “ well-executed plan”) for Keem’s debut studio album The Melodic Blue telegraphed a more personal, or at least less secretive, direction for him. Rumors swirled that Keem was actually Kendrick Lamar’s cousin and merely benefitted from rap nepotism, but as Keem’s popularity and mystique grew on the heels of his 2019 breakout project Die For My Bitch, he kept his distance and mostly let his boisterous music speak for itself. Even after revealing himself, he remained tight-lipped, but that didn’t stop eagle-eyed fans from noticing his name in the songwriting and producer credits of Top Dawg Entertainment albums like the 2018 Disney collab Black Panther The Album and Jay Rock’s Redemption. Personal details in his music and interviews were scarce, and Keem outright hid his face until he began promoting his 2018 project, The Sound of Bad Habit. His voice on the mic is distinctive, a high-pitched whine well-suited to jokes and boasts, but Hykeem Carter, the man behind the persona, often receded from view. Up until recently, Baby Keem chose to be an enigma.

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