Baby Keem - The Melodic Blue ALBUM REVIEW

ouch ouch ouch ouch that he knows tando here the internet's busiest music nerd and it's time for a review of this new baby keem album the melodic blue this is the debut full-length album of singer rapper songwriter and producer baby keem in a relatively short amount of time the melodic blue has become one of the most anticipated hip-hop records of the year a lot of that anticipation following his recent appearance on kanye west's donned a record along with a couple of hefty co-signs from his cousin kendrick lamar this record even comes out in part through kendrick's pg lang company but keep in mind prior to this keem has proven that he can drop complete projects and viral tracks develop a unique delivery as well but being familiar with that leg of keem's catalog didn't make the run up to this record any less confusing for example recent singles like no sense and do rag activity were incredibly underwhelming and seem to betray the wild and eclectic style that keem had been bringing up until that point then the song family ties was kind of teased in a way where a lot of fans were led to believe we were anticipating more of a kendrick track than a keem track regardless the track brought substantially more energy to the table and got rave reactions from fans for its beat switches and zany chemistry between keem and kendrick but then after this track i was left wondering is this going to be the direction of the album and even though now the whole thing is out and i've heard it multiple times i'm still having a hard time summing it up or really pulling a coherent direction out of it one of which being this project is noticeably rough around the edges there are some notably bum mixes on some of these tracks especially ones that don't really complement keem's yelpy vocal style think like two minutes into the song pink panties and there are some beats here whose perks and sequences do border a little bit on the type of thing that you'd hear if you hit up youtube and typed in like royalty free b but with all that being said keem does carry the bulk of this project on his own it's not too overloaded with features and he does a lot of the production too he's kind of building himself up here to be a jack of all trades artistically and that's kind of exciting cause even with the rough presentation on these tracks and a lack of overall thematic or aesthetic focus there are still some really great highlights and ideas here like the killer opener trademark usa which kicks off with a forlorn intro where keem is laying down some internal thoughts i can't help but feel neglected changing up the schedule your calendar refreshing time pass and we move on nobody says how i'm supposed to act when my morals ain't respected how you supposed to act when your feelings ain't protected i'm cashing checks just to get some neck and some necklaces what next warren turbulence praying on this plane success got a taste of it never was the same so he says all of this before launching into this totally absurd but authoritative flow and series of bars over a grimy and droney beat the whole thing is sinister it's flashy it's competitive it's a stellar and very attention-grabbing opening verse for the whole record especially as keem is going into things that he's sick of rappers sort of inflating their wealth and their net worth people not being willing to take risks artistically then there's another wild beat switch in the mix where um for a few moments we have the vocals of rosalia uh popping in a bit okay a lot of what keem is doing here in a way reminds me of like those kind of experimental and progressive moves that travis was making on a rodeo when a lot of his great ideas that he was kind of hammering out on his early work came to fruition there and saw their full potential but in the case of keem on this record i still think he has a little bit to go going deeper into this track we hear bars about keem's father eviction spirituality i don't think i could have asked for i guess a better character portrait of who keem is and what is driving him creatively on this record he is someone who's not afraid to let his freak flag fly he is somebody who is in total control of what he's doing he's somebody who's ambitious not afraid to experiment not afraid to get introspective either so the bangers in the track list continue on to pink panties which is a kind of tongue-in-cheek attempt at a club track or just a sex anthem the hook on this one is absolutely nutty there are some hilarious bars in between from keem there are just some moments where i think either the humor is not fully landing or the fact that the mix is a little messy is holding it back just a tad then we have range brothers with kendrick lamar which is the second track with a lengthy kendrick feature on it and yes i do kind of prefer it to family ties i think keem lyrically and vocally has a stronger and more consistent showing in the first half he pushes his odd vocal inflections a bit further i also love the introduction of these epic and grand string sections and background vocals even if they are a little too faint in the mix while the beats keem produces and chooses on this project are far from perfect there is something kind of unique about them even in this rough state the way he throws samples into his tracks can be kind of disorienting the way that he sequence some of the rhythms in his beats can be chaotic too there's definitely an offbeat vibe to the production on this record that i hope keem is able to maintain as he continues to hone his sequencing and mixing abilities on later projects so still talking about range brothers keems and kendrick's lyrical trades on the back end of the track are exciting and at this point do i even need to go into the you know the top of the morning portion of the track i've seen a lot of reactions to this song especially in regards to kendrick's appearance on it about how you know it's not as deep or as profound as we expect all of his work to be but i think for an artist of his mainstream status teaming up with somebody who he's close with and trying to break the weird barrier together is a challenge that's worth accepting the track south africa has one of the most solid choruses on the entire lp2 even though the piano lines on this track as well as the rhythms are very simple they are effective though there are some bars from keem that kind of fall flat on their face the pooty tang bar the booby lifted bar the diabetes in a jar bar as shown by previous features and singles keem can give an awkward performance from time to time or maybe struggle to find a balance between being absolutely absurd and deadly serious coco featuring don toliver has easily one of the most insane instrumentals on the entire project with these totally out there flute samples flying in every direction along with horn hits and plucky lead melodies too there's a lengthy hook that mostly goes over okay i think my biggest issue with this track is that keem's verse on it doesn't exactly bring a whole lot to the table lyrically or flow-wise too it's sort of missing something it's like there's never a whole lot of momentum built with came here boo man is another moment where i'm loving the unique beat here the group vocals the horn lines the pianos are all pretty gorgeous and hard hitting plus i love the way the high hats on this track drag a little bit too it has a supremely woozy groove to it that keem locks into lyrically pretty well there aren't as many stunning lines on this song as there are like let's say on the track scapegoats but there is a weirdly visceral energy to this one i can't deny then the song vent is packed with pure rage features an epic synth intro a threatening refrain from kendrick lamar that gets the blood boiling then we have keem flying off the handle with this totally manic energy he is putting as much madness into his bars about dermatology as he is his bars about rats and honestly i can't get enough so those are some of the bigger and more hard-hitting pockets of the lp but keem offers more than hype on this project though there are some beautifully introspective tracks that i think go over incredibly well ones that pull pretty big influence from like kanye's 808s and heartbreak namely issues where keem sings about being haunted by these nagging memories wanting to run away from maybe his past or his family or his obligations over these throbbing beats and glistening pianos then there's the song scars which even samples kanye west's love lockdown which is absolutely stunning with even more chilly pianos and a galloping beat keem crying out about his confused heart emotional scars wondering why god has made life so difficult it's a powerful moment the song lost souls does get a little stale in the second half but keems bars about wanting to find a girl that no one knows is kind of cute there is something kind of quaint about the synth lines on this track too that i like a lot and first order of business i do wish this track had a stronger progression to it or chorus or something but i gotta admit that this is one of the more lyrically compelling moments on the album for keem it's almost like a quiet internal monologue where he kind of reframes his priorities in life and the closing track 16 while it may not be my favorite cut on the entire record i do like the somewhat glitchy 80s inspired beat and keem's singing on this song actually sounds a lot better than some may expect given some of his wild and off the rails vocal inflections when he's rapping so look overall i felt like this project was pretty good but in some ways it feels a little unfinished and i think keem still has a ways to go before he's doing something that's both unique and well executed i alluded to travis scott's music earlier in the review and i will do that once more because not only is it clear that baby keem pulls a lot of influence from his music but i am reminded a little bit on this project of travis's days before rodeo because there are some ways in which the melodic blue feels like keem is just kind of hitting upon an idea and he hasn't quite dug far enough to the point where he's striking gold but you know the the concepts the blueprint is there and all he really has to do is continue to build on it to really get it to where it needs to be he's most certainly doing something different he's getting some good results i guess all i can hope for is what's here being more cleanly and creatively directed the next time around feeling a strong six to a light seven on this one tran position have you given this album a listen did you love it did you hate it what would you rate it you're the best you're the best what should i review next hit the like if you like please subscribe and please don't cry hit the bell as well over here next to my head it's another video that you can check out hit that up or the link to subscribe to the channel anthony fantano baby keem forever

Channel: theneedledrop

Views: 897,618

Keywords: album, review, music, reviews, indie, new, lyrics, listen, track, concert, live, update, the needle drop, anthony fantano, vlog, talk, discussion, music nerd, song, baby keem, melodic blue, kendrick, features, travis scott, durag activity, family ties, rap, hip hop, trap, comedy, alternative, r&b, pop, west coast, pglang, production, producer, rapper, reaction

Id: fDo6TzAIaAE

Length: 10min 59sec (659 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 15 2021