Changing Our Narrative
By: Keshon Brown
Musical phenomenon Drake name-dropped up-and-comer Baby Keem in his most recent interview stating that Baby Keem had the best album of the year, Die For My Bitch.
Now me being a music enthusiast I decided to check this Keem guy out. What I heard was very similar to music I heard back in 2017. Baby Keem is a close affiliate of record label TDE, home to superstar Kendrick Lamar.
Now upon first listen I heard very similar flows and cadences. Similar to what, you ask? Songs from Kendrick Lamar’s Damn album and also Schoolboy Q’s (also a TDE recording artist) single “Yum Yum Juice.” Now the song “Stats” from Baby Keem’s album gives me vibes of Kendrick’s “Humble” and Keem’s “Honest” gives me vibes of Kendrick’s “Pride,” really good music BTW, I would definitely recommend it.
Where does Drake tie into this? Well, the recent lyrical spar that Drake had with rapper/activist Meek Mill stemmed from accusations of Drake having “help” making records, specifically Drake’s If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late album.
Now my theory is that Drake released this info passive-aggressively to start a conversation regarding ghostwriting/collaborating on records.
The genius behind this spill of information is that the music itself is actually good (my opinion) and it’s tough to knock an artist of Drake’s caliber for shooting a look at an up-and-coming artist like Baby Keem. Also there are many people, like me, who speculate and let their minds create scenarios and stories which can drive this narrative a bit further than if Drake blatantly stated that Kendrick seemed to have had help creating the masterpiece body of work that is Damn. And if no one bites the bait there’s no harm done. Drake may actually be honed “good guy” for his frequent of shining superstar light on up-and-coming talent.
In final, I believe Drake subtly dropped a theoretical bomb that could heat up 2020 right out the gate. Shrewd move, Aubrey.
