Baby Keem and Kendrick Lamar Drop New Single “Family Ties”
The two cousins come together for the first time
West Coast newcomer Baby Keem treats listeners with his latest single “family ties”, the song is expected to appear on his debut album The Melodic Blue slated for release sometime soon. First teased at a private concert last week, the song is a trap-heavy banger filled with Keem’s melodic vocal styles and cadences. The track also sees the return of Kendrick Lamar AKA Keem’s cousin, who's been keeping silent for some time as he finishes his upcoming album. Both the song and music video dropped yesterday, the latter you can watch below.
The title “family ties” could refer to the literal family ties that both Baby Keem and Kendrick share, as well as their involvement with Kendrick’s service company PgLang. Whose real purpose is still up in the air?
The song is split into two parts, the first is dedicated to Baby Keem. He’s braggadocious about the success he’s achieved thus far and a little too cocky for his own good with lines like: (“The girl of your dreams to me is a fan,
I netted ten million and did a lil’ dance, I’m fuckin’ the world, I unzip my pants.”).
However, he quickly humbles himself for the opportunity his older cousin gave him with this short bar: (“I’m grateful to Man-Man, he opened up doors
And bung’ on the tour bus to come and compose, I reach to the stars on my tippy toes.”).
“Man-Man” being the nickname K.Dot’s parents gave him when he was younger. Baby Keem first started off songwriting for Kendrick and other TDE artists before breaking through on 2019’s Die For My Bitch, so this little nod to Kendrick goes a long way.
Keem does an excellent job riding the song’s beat, when it comes to flow and melodies he’s already proven time and time again that he’s an expert at this. The rest of his verse is spent on his come-up, lack of attention from being independent, and just overall hype. It’s a fun verse with a few nuggets of humility.
Now for the talk of the town, Kendrick Lamar. In the 2nd half of the song the beat switches to a hypnotic instrumental full of throbbing sub-bass, claps, and snares. Kendrick’s become one of the decade’s most acclaimed rappers, and he’s ready for all the smoke as he declares he’s “smokin’ on your top five tonight”. It’s been a while since we last heard from the Pulitzer Prize winner and does he have a lot to say.
K.Dot knows he’s considered the GOAT and makes it clear that you call him as such (“ Don’t you address me unless it’s with four letters.”). He’s been gone but for good reason, doing his best to avoid everybody whether it be because of social distancing or otherwise. (“I been duckin’ the pandemic, I been duckin’ the social gimmicks, I been duckin’ the overnight activists, yeah, I’m not a trending topic, I’m a prophet.”).
In typical Kendrick fashion, he raises his pitch when he’s really trying to get his point across such as on this line: (“New flows comin’, be patient, brother
Show my ass and take yall to class I can multitask like Megan, brother.”). He knows his fans want new music but he’s demanding them to be patient, being a rapper and managing a company like PgLang among other things isn’t easy. Comparing that he can do both similarly to Megan Thee Stallion, who balances both being a full-time rapper and a University student.
And Kendrick knows how badly hip-hop needs him right now, declaring that he’s the vaccine that the game needs to survive. He doesn’t care what music his competition put’s out (“motherfuck that album, fuck that single, burn that hard drive”.) He’s going to remain his Compton-born and raised self no matter what (“Yeah, Kanye changed his life but me, I’m still an old school Gemini.”).
Overall “family ties” is a great single. Baby Keem has been killing it with his lead singles for The Melodic Blue. This year he dropped “no sense” and “durag activity” featuring Travis Scott (my personal favourite song of the summer!) and with what we’ve heard so far, we could expect The Melodic Blue to be a stellar album.
Stream “family ties” below
