Baby Keem

Baby Keem is the professional name of Hykeem Jamaal Carter Jr., an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer from Carson, United States. He grows up in Carson, California, and is associated with hip hop, trap and west coast hip hop. His label credit is Hykeem Carter Pub Designee.

Career

He begins releasing music under the Baby Keem name after deciding to pursue his own musical career in 2014. He works with producer Cardo on the mixtapes The Sound of a Bad Habit and Die for My Bitch, both of which help establish his profile.

His second mixtape, Die for My Bitch (2019), includes “Orange Soda”, the track that brings him wider recognition and reaches number 98 on the US Billboard Hot 100. He later releases “Hooligan” and “Sons & Critics Freestyle”, then “No Sense”.

Collaborations and releases

Keem collaborates with Travis Scott on “Durag Activity” and with his cousin Kendrick Lamar on “Family Ties”, which reaches the top 20 of the Hot 100. He also appears on Kanye West’s album Donda on “Praise God”, alongside Travis Scott.

His songwriting and production credits include work on Kendrick Lamar’s Black Panther: The Album, Jay Rock’s Redemption, Schoolboy Q’s Crash Talk and “Nile” from The Lion King: The Gift.

His debut studio album, The Melodic Blue, is issued by Columbia Records and pgLang. It includes “Durag Activity”, “Family Ties”, “Issues”, “Cocoa” with Don Toliver, and the tracks “Vent” and “Range Brothers”. He performs “Issues” on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

Recognition and other activity

In March 2020, Keem appears in the visual mission statement for Kendrick Lamar and Dave Free’s company, pgLang. In August 2020, he is named in XXL’s Freshman Class. He has also been active on YouTube under the name AllMightyModz, with his Minecraft account known as hykeemc; his channel later becomes inactive and points to his SoundCloud.

Keem cites influences including Kid Cudi, Ye, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Eminem and 50 Cent, and identifies with the Mike WiLL Made-It and Metro Boomin generation.