The West Coast’s favorite cousins continue their collaborative chemistry as Baby Keem and Kendrick Lamar reunite and return with their first new single in almost two years, “The Hillbillies.” Over a bass-led, Jersey Club-inspired beat that samples Bon Iver’s “PDLIF,” the dynamic duo trades cheeky bars about their favorite subjects: girls and clothes. In the grainy, low-fi video accompanying the release, the cousins galivant through LA’s Beverly Center Mall (get it? “The Hillbillies?”) and get a private tour of Dodger Stadium.
Tyler The Creator also makes an appearance toward the end of the video, hanging out with Keem and Kenny at the Dodger Stadium entrance, where he reveals (via a button on a T-shirt) that his Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival is returning to the venue in 2023 after being away since the pandemic. Since he’s revealing it in their video, presumably the pgLang boys will be involved somehow — either as investors or performers.
People are wondering if Kendrick Lamar and Baby Keem are related. Kendrick Lamar is one of the biggest names in the music world. People who don’t listen to rap know who he is. People that dismissive of most current rap approve of him. Whenever the greatest rappers of all time are discussed, they bring his name up. For many people, he is the epitome of what it means to be an artist – not just a rapper. Many audiences universally celebrated and acclaimed him. His album, To Pimp A Butterfly, has been praised by many for its innovation. His most recent album, Mr. Morale and The Big Steppers, has been praised for its vulnerability. Kendrick has done multiple collaborations throughout his career. Overall, one of the most prominent ones was with Baby Keem.
Baby Keem is a rapper from California. He built a buzz for himself around singles before dropping a full length project. The cover art for his singles became instantly recognizable. One of the first ones he released was called “FRANCE FREESTYLE”. The cover art for this single looked like a dark blue paint swatch. Many people saw this as aesthetically pleasing. He used the same template for a single called “ORANGE SODA”. But, this time used an orange paint swatch. He continued this for three more singles. Often, he could simply post the artwork and people would know it meant a new single was coming. However, his single titled “family ties” departed from that format. It featured a family photo with almost all the members’ eyes covered by a black bar. This was the artwork for his single with Kendrick Lamar.
They Have Made Music Together
Baby Keem’s most recent project is titled The Melodic Blue. One of the singles for it was a song called “family ties”. Before the song was released, there was quite a buzz surrounding it. For many people, the interest in it came from the Kendrick Lamar feature. Before this point, Kendrick had not dropped a project since DAMN. in 2017. Within the video for the song, there was someone holding a pgLang flag behind Kendrick. PgLang is the collective that Kendrick Lamar started with Dave Free. Before this, Kendrick had only released a teaser advertisement for it. Many listeners were not sure exactly what it was. However, they did know it could be seen in the copyright information during the title card in the song’s music video. The fact these two artists had a song together was very exciting for listeners.
There was another song on The Melodic Blue that had a lot of people talking. This song was called “range brothers”. This was another song on the album that had a Kendrick Lamar feature on it. A portion of Kendrick’s verse leaked before the album was released. Song leaks are not uncommon these days. In fact, there are some places that specialize in finding and sharing them. The portion of Kendrick’s verse that leaked confused many listeners. Out of context, it seemed very odd and yet humorous. People were parodying it quickly and discussing what its purpose could be. Others concluded it was someone doing an impression of him. Once the song was officially released, listeners learned it was real and the entire verse was unique. Still, the memes and parodies of it continued.
Baby Keem and Kendrick Lamar Know Each Other
Baby Keem and Kendrick Lamar are related. In fact, they are cousins. But, many people did not become aware of this until recently. Kendrick Lamar is older than Baby Keem and put out music before he did. However, the two of them have been working together for years. In fact, one of their earliest connections is on the song “Redemption Interlude” from the Kendrick Lamar and TDE helmedBlack Panther Soundtrack. Baby Keem, who is credited by his government name Hykeem Carter, has production and writing credits on the song. Baby Keem did not use his connection to Kendrick to jumpstart his music career. In fact, he produced for other TDE artists like ScHoolboy Q and Jay Rock before officially making a song with Kendrick.
Many people have tried to decipher how far back Kendrick and Baby Keem’s relationship goes. The cover art for “family ties” presents them with a very clear indicator. In it, Kendrick can be seen looking very young and Baby Keem looks even younger. This shows that they were truly around each other back in the day. In an even stronger confirmation, Baby Keem refers to Kendrick as “Man-Man” in his “family ties” verse. Kendrick’s family members were the only people who called him that. To see where they are now is a success story for both of them. Also, it’s even more impactful that Baby Keem is signed to Kendrick Lamar’s label, pgLang. The two of them have stuck by each other to the point that they have both made waves in the music world together and separately.
With the inclusion of Grammy Award-winning singer and producer Baby Keem into its creative community, Converse has announced the extension of its creative roster to include up-and-coming voices in music, sport, and culture.
Keem will partner with Converse on original experiences with the Converse All Stars, the brand’s creator community that gives up-and-coming talent access to mentorship, experiences, and opportunities, for his first brand partnership. Keem will explore various Chuck Taylor All Star dimensions through his creative vision.
Keem created and produced a short film honoring his passion for music and the “iconic and ageless” Chuck Taylor All Star to announce the collaboration.
A video by @babykeem for Converse starring the Chuck Taylor All Star
Keem starts his work with Converse as a part of the company’s continuing Create Next initiative, which aims to provide creatives from all over the world and across disciplines a platform to create Converse’s legacy.
In addition to pgLang, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Natasha Cloud, Alexis Sablone, and Tyler, the Creator, Keem is the newest voice to join the Converse roster.
One of the absolute worst things that can happen to you on a night out is losing your phone. Especially somewhere crowded like a concert, your hopes for getting it back fall dramatically from “very low” to “practically nil.” But sometimes, some nice stranger actually does the nice thing and helps your phone find its way back to you. For one fan at a recent Baby Keem show, though, the person who returned their phone happened to be the artist they went to see.
The fan posted a video on TikTok explaining, “I lost my phone at a Baby Keem concert and found these on it months later.” “These” turned out to be a series of videos apparently recorded by Keem himself. Mushing his face right up into the camera while standing backstage, the Vegas rapper taunts, “Why the f*ck you throw your phone on the homie’s stage? Now your phone mine. Yeah, n***. Now your phone is mine.” Keem keeps the troll going in another video, asking, “How was you planning to get home, my n****? Why you throw your phone on the stage, bro? Stop throwing stuff on the stage, bro. Now you can’t get home ’cause I got your phone.”
In a third video, he admonishes the alleged phone tosser again, saying, “CJ, n****, you played, bro. Them n****s down there listening to [Chief Keef’s] ‘Faneto’ and you don’t have your phone to experience it, n****. I’ma give your sh*t back, and when you see this bro, don’t ever do this sh*t again, alright? That was really dumb.” True to his word, he somehow got the phone back to CJ, who in the caption of the TikTok refuted Keem’s accusation about throwing the phone onstage. “And no I did NOT throw my own phone up there,” the user wrote.
Either way, now they’ve got a fun story and a viral TikTok out of the situation, so win-win for everybody, right? But, because it probably bears repeating, please don’t throw things on stage at shows — especially not your phones. You might not get them back.
You can catch Baby Keem on tour with his big cousin Kendrick Lamar on the Big Steppers Tour.
Making a rare appearance on Twitter, Kendrick Lamar briefly shared an update from his “Big Steppers” tour. During his short bout on Twitter, Lamar expressed some kind words about his “Family Ties” collaborator, labelmate, and cousin, Baby Keem.
In a Tweet, Lamar praised Keem’s craft, simply posting, “baby keem musical genius.”
For years, there have been rumors about a joint album between Keem and Lamar. In an interview with the Recording Academy, Keem didn’t rule out the possibility.
“It could happen and it couldn’t, I don’t know,” Keem said. “It just really depends on a lot of factors that I don’t have control over. So, it’s just what the world wants. The world wants it, then it can have it.”
Keem previously spoke on his relationship with Lamar with Complex, saying that his cousin is one of the people he greatly admires.
“Whenever I need anything regarding, like, life, and if I need some wisdom, then that’s who I go to,” Keem said. “That’s one of the first people I look towards, him and Dave Free.”
Lamar’s latest album, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, marks his last album on Top Dawg Entertainment. He is currently working on building his multi-disciplinary creative collective, pgLang.
starring the Chuck Taylor All Star 
@BabyKeem 