Baby Keem

Born Hykeem Carter in Carson, California, during 2000, Baby Keem began crafting original material by the time he turned fifteen. After issuing early recordings under his given name, the artist adopted the Baby Keem alias in 2018 upon unveiling the Midnight EP. That same year, while based in Los Angeles, he joined Kendrick Lamar’s Black Panther: The Album as co-writer and co-producer and supplied additional work to Jay Rock’s Redemption, a project that later earned a Grammy. Two further 2018 releases followed: the summer EP Hearts and Darts and the fall mixtape The Sound of a Bad Habit.

In 2019 the rapper added production to several ScHoolboy Q tracks and contributed a song to the soundtrack The Lion King: The Gift. His second mixtape, the fourteen-track Die for My Bitch, appeared in July and moved through melodic rap, trap rhythms, vintage beats, and the woozy synth textures that defined the breakthrough single “Orange Soda.” The year closed with “France Freestyle” and “Orange Soda,” while 2020 brought the brooding “Hooligan” and “Sons & Critics Freestyle.”

The 2021 collaboration “Durag Activity” with Travis Scott preceded the Kendrick Lamar-assisted “Family Ties,” both of which previewed Baby Keem’s debut studio album The Melodic Blue. Released in 2022, the set entered the Billboard 200’s Top Ten, showcased another Lamar appearance, and secured the Grammy for Best Rap Performance for “Family Ties.” The partnership with Lamar continued into 2023 with the release of “The Hillbillies.”