After falling in love with The Melodic Blue and a lot more Ca$ino listens, i was so wrong.
Baby Keem is one of the most promising artists in music currently. Not to be "hot take-y" but i think he has the potential to be the next Kanye-like figure in hiphop. His lyricism, his singing, his experimental production and beat selection, his humor, and most importantly how personal and confessional his music is. The 2 are super similar as artists. Anyways, his unique modular production has already had visible influence on artists like matt proxy, and hes been hugely influential on modern Kendrick. I think he helped Kendrick be more experimental with his music and vocals specifically.
Anyway, with all that said: CA$INO.
Ca$ino is an maturation of everything Keem has done prior. Hes still favoring lavish, expensive left-field trap production, and gorgeous samples but now hes leaning more into boom bap drums and playing with entire different genres at points. Keems voice and lyricism have evolved the most of anything. His flows are much snappier and more varied, and hes more willing to play in his mid-range vocally, and quick voice cracks that Kendrick and Carti love to play with.
the tracklist is incredibly varied. with hard hitting emotional boom bap cuts like no security, i am not a lyricist, and no blame. wild, moshpit trap bangers like ca$ino and house money. rnb tinted grooves like birds and the bees and good flirts. as well as a few wild cards like $ex appeals bouncy club energy, and dramatic girls dreamy dance pop.
overall: ca$ino is a diverse, hard hitting, emotional journey. i do prefer the melodic blue as an album, but ca$ino shows much more diversity and maturity, and hints at much better work in the future. im extremely excited for anything new he releases.
favorite track: ca$ino
best performance: i am not a lyricist
best feature: kendrick lamar- good flirts