{"id":24914,"date":"2026-03-04T11:59:02","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T19:59:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/?p=24914"},"modified":"2026-04-02T12:02:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T20:02:22","slug":"caino","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/caino\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Ca$ino\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cCa$ino\u201d album cover. | photo from @babykeem on instagram\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

March 4, 2026 | <\/span>Isaac Garcia | Sports Editor<\/span><\/p>\n

After releasing his sophomore album, \u201cThe Melodic Blue,\u201d in 2021 and a subsequent deluxe edition of the album in 2022 following the record-breaking \u201cThe Big Steppers Tour,\u201d where he opened for his cousin Kendrick Lamar, Baby Keem essentially disappeared from the public eye. While that long of a break might be a commercial death sentence for artists as early in their career as Baby Keem, his output has already cultivated a strong fan base, and his album \u201cCa$ino,\u201d released on Feb. 20, consistently delivers from front to back and is the strongest he\u2019s ever been lyrically.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The album opens with \u201cNo Security,\u201d where Keem gets personal about family struggles and guilt with lines like, \u201cUncle Andre just passed, I can\u2019t help but bear blame \/ Wish I got him help when the resources came.\u201d On the title track, \u201cCa$ino,\u201d the beat sounds like something from a video game, and Keem slides over it flawlessly with a flow that somehow sounds desperate and effortless at the same time. The beat switches halfway through to a slower, but still hard-hitting beat, where Keem maintains an aggressive energy. \u201cBirds & the Bees\u201d has easily one of the catchiest hooks I\u2019ve heard recently, and I\u2019ve had so much fun listening to it since the album came out. After a run that includes the relaxed \u201cGood Flirts (feat. Kendrick Lamar and Momo Boyd)\u201d and the abrasive \u201cHouse Money,\u201d Keem comes back down to earth with \u201cI am not a Lyricist,\u201d which ironically is one of the best lyrical performances of his career, diving deeper into some of the personal issues he rapped about on the album\u2019s opener. \u201cHighway 95 pt. 2\u201d is an incredible sequel to one of my favorite Keem songs. On this song, he tells the story of his traumatic childhood, growing up around drug abuse and legal troubles. His performance is both powerful and depressing, and it\u2019s difficult to find a single line that truly encapsulates the emotional nature of the song.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDramatic Girl (feat. Che Ecru)\u201d is the most different from the rest of the album and contains a more alternative sound, and is easily my favorite of Keem\u2019s attempts at making music in that kind of genre. Even for people who aren\u2019t typically fans of Keem or of hip hop in general, I highly recommend giving this song a listen.<\/span><\/p>\n

The album concludes with \u201cNo Blame,\u201d a song dedicated to his mother, who he\u2019s mentioned struggling with addiction among other things multiple times in his music. Again, every line is heart-wrenching as Keem talks about the problems they went through as a family. I don\u2019t think any words outside of the song fully encapsulate quite how strong the lyrics are. In one line, he says, \u201cI was seven years old, waiting on you in pajamas \/ You said you would come home, should\u2019ve never made that promise.\u201d Ultimately, he explains that he understands the trauma his mother was dealing with herself and that he doesn\u2019t blame her, ending the album on an extremely emotional note.<\/span><\/p>\n

This album is, to me, without a doubt, the best Keem has made so far. It has high-quality production, catchy hooks and sharp verses with a combination of both fun and emotional tracks. There are a couple of moments I could do without, but I\u2019ll still listen to them when I go through the album for the millionth time. It\u2019s been a stacked year for music, and while it\u2019s still early, this is the album of the year for me so far, with Brent Faiyaz\u2019s album \u201cIcon\u201d being a close second.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rating: <\/b>8.5\/10<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Contact the author at howlsports@mail.wou.edu<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

March 4, 2026 | Isaac Garcia | Sports Editor After releasing his sophomore album, \u201cThe Melodic Blue,\u201d in 2021 and a subsequent deluxe edition of the album in 2022 following the record-breaking \u201cThe Big Steppers Tour,\u201d where he opened for his cousin Kendrick Lamar, Baby Keem essentially disappeared from the public eye. While that long […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1645,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"\u2018Ca$ino\u2019","_seopress_titles_desc":"Baby Keem returns from his hiatus with \u201cCa$ino\u201d","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[9494,6449,8806,8805,9492,3411,9491,309,9490,6836,683,982,9489,9493,684,39],"class_list":["post-24914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-andre-3000","tag-baby-keem","tag-brent-faiyaz","tag-cardo-got-wings","tag-che-ecru","tag-kendrick-lamar","tag-momo-boyd","tag-monmouth","tag-mr-morale-and-the-big-steppers-tour","tag-oregon-2","tag-student","tag-students","tag-the-melodic-blue","tag-too-hort","tag-western","tag-wou"],"modified_by":"saragerrick","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1645"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24914"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24914\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24919,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24914\/revisions\/24919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}