After firing a few warning shots over the past year and change, Baby Keem has dropped a missile by the name of "family ties" — with some help from his big cousin, Kendrick Lamar.
The first part of the song is dominated by a horn loop that's sure to be played on HBCU football fields this season. Before Keem gets to rhyming, he peppers the track with catchy one-liners, then proceeds to go off until the song's first beat switch. He stays in pocket, but ethereal flutes shift the song into cruise control for a few bars.
Then, it's Kendrick's show. Oklama, fresh off of his big announcement, spits a verse with enough flows and quotables to make your head spin: "Smoking on top fives"; "I'm not a trending topic / I'm a prophet"; "Burn that hard drive." Then there's the Megan line. Keem hops back in and the duo goes line for line to close it out. No hook.
"family ties" is delivered in three different zones, establishing two different notions: Baby Keem is the future and Kendrick Lamar is the best rapper rapping today.
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