The album The Melodic Blue by Baby Keem, while not a perfect album, is a very accurate representation of who Baby Keem is and sets him up for a successful career.

The album was released in September of 2021 and was issued by Columbia Records and pgLang, two years after his second mixtape Die for my B**ch which showed how he doesn’t need any features to be a successful rapper. Throughout the whole album Keem acts as a writer, rapper, and executive producer. 

The most popular song off the album is “Family Ties” featuring his cousin Kendrick Lamar is divided into two parts. The first part starts out with powerful horns that make you want to get out of your seat and jump, followed by deep bass hits, and a basic yet very effective drum beat. Before you hear any lyrics you already know how the song is going to be a banger. Over this beat Keem delivers a barrage of bars ranging from topics like his childhood experiences and how nobody believed in him when he started rapping, to weighing “the pros and cons of this next check” and how Kendrick has influenced him. The second part is delivered by Kendrick Lamar announcing his return to rap after his almost 5 year hiatus. Stating that he is the greatest rapper of all time and people are disrespecting his name, he also has a line “new flows coming be patient brother” hinting at his release of his next album within the next year. Other songs with hard hitting bass lines and rapid fire rapping about similar themes include “Trademark USA”, “Range Brothers”, and “Vent”. 

When not delivering the songs mentioned previously on this album, we get to see more of Keems introspective side. Most notably on the song “Issues”, Keem reflects on how his past haunts him and sometimes he can’t even look at himself. In this reflective state he explains his almost losing fight between his inner demons and how he wants to run away from his past. Similarly the song “Scars” Keem asks God why he made his life so hard. Seemingly, everything Keem does always ends up with him hurt either physically or emotionally. Another song with the same tone is “16”, where he speaks about a love story when he was 16. All of these tracks are accompanied by gentle pianos and touches of 808’s which complement the subjects of the songs beautifully.

The clashing topics of this song brilliantly show the wide range of topics and emotions Keem displays and through his experimental beats shows his eagerness to try new things. Though this album has some flaws through lyric choice and some of the beats being a little bit too experimental, it has easily been my favorite album to come out of 2021.