2026 is shaping up to be a ridiculous year for hip-hop, not least because of the multitude of high-profile comeback albums we’ve been treated to so far: alongside the likes of ‘Don’t Be Dumb’ and ‘The Fall-Off,’ a new record from Baby Keem has been theorised over to no end. After five years, the follow-up to 2021’s ‘The Melodic Blue’ is finally here, and it’s been met with scores of praise from across the community— that response to ‘Ca$ino’ is, at least to us, absolutely baffling.

If the off-centre parental advisory sticker on its cover hadn’t clued you in, we’ll reaffirm that this is hardly the most polished or refined listening experience of the year: Keem abandons the ‘Ca$ino’ theming of his new album near-immediately, putting together a collection of tracks that feels more like a mixtape than a continuous album experience. The record certainly crams its fair share of ideas into a meagre 36-minute runtime, extending into everything from conscious rap and mainstream hip-hop to club music and pop rap— it doesn’t do many of them particularly well, though, and perhaps that’s because Carter Jr. is spreading himself too thin. Even in its opening minutes, ‘Ca$ino’ is throwing sh*t at the wall, praying that something will stick. The murky guitar sample and understated delivery on intro ‘No Security’ cuts awkwardly into the grimy beat of the title track: though it must be said that the production in that moment works well, the same cannot be said for the painfully irritating beat switch the song goes on to employ though, accented by all of Baby Keem’s most loathsome vocal inflections.

‘Ca$ino’ leaves you asking a damning question: can Baby Keem actually rap, and if he can, why does he frequently refuse to? Looking at the stunted flows that make up the second verse of ‘House Money’ or the plodding ‘Birds & the Bees,’ one really has to wonder whether or not we’d even be listening to the rapper if he weren't so closely linked with Kendrick Lamar— in a market so oversaturated with talent, Keem is hardly the cream-of-the-crop. The rapping across ‘Ca$ino’ varies between passable highs and utterly baffling lows, in which Carter Jr. regularly tries to cram too-many syllables into his bars (and lacks the confidence or the experience to work it out on the fly): it’s ironic that ‘Circus Circus Free$tyle’ features one of the strongest performances on the album, as it’s the remainder of the tracks here that appear made-up on the spot. In a way, weak flows become a central hallmark of ‘Ca$ino,’ as both guest features Kendrick Lamar and Too $hort deliver some of the worst verses of their careers. We have to assume the latter was chosen solely for the dollar sign in his name: as for Lamar, it’s bewildering to see one of hip-hop’s most universally praised artists dumbing himself down to this level.

There are highlights to be found here, we suppose, but that statement comes with two caveats— these are highlights only by Baby Keem’s standards, and even then, they’re few and far between. Despite its title, ‘I am not a Lyricist’ is probably the most thought-provoking cut on the record, affirming Carter Jr.’s purpose in using his voice to uplift and inspire those who come from a similar background as him: it’s a sweet sentiment delivered over a strong beat, even if Keem undercuts the moment by thrusting the listener straight into the sleazy club music of ‘$ex Appeal’ directly afterwards. ‘Ca$ino’ is littered with non-serious moments— just look at Kendrick Lamar’s “loving on your booty” refrain on ‘Good Flirts’ for proof of that— but never manages to commit to that (or any) tone. The cave-man noises on ‘Circus Circus Free$tyle’ might be funny in a different context, but they’ll only wind you up as part of a record with so little else to offer: at least that particular track manages to survive, marching through a genuinely exciting selection of beats.

Just like a real ‘Ca$ino,’ you’re much more likely to lose than you are to win here. ‘Birds & the Bees’ is a sickeningly drab cut, comprising of a melodic beat ten-seconds in the making: it’s impressive, really, how ineffectively Baby Keem approaches themes of indulgence throughout the project, completely ruining a cut like ‘$ex Appeal.’ So many songs just feel thrown-together, an especially disconcerting thought after a five years gap between albums. ‘Highway 95 pt.2’ and ‘No Blame’ have some heart to them, sure, but their lethargic tempos and uninspired production choices do them no favours: much the same could be said of the strange inclusion of ‘Dramatic Girl,’ which could’ve been ripped straight out of a PBS or CBBC show. We have to ask once again: would we actually be listening to Baby Keem if Kendrick Lamar weren’t involved in his career? Surely no other rapper could blow up on the back of cuts like ‘House Money’ and ‘Good Flirts.’

Hip-hop listeners have just been treated to J. Cole’s ‘The Fall-Off,’ an album absolutely deserving of its decade long wait: ‘Ca$ino’ may have been made in half that time, but its a minuscule fraction of the quality. Baby Keem has risen to be a bonafide star in the rap game, but his latest project does little to justify the level of discussion and attention he’s curated. He is not a lyricist, he is not a producer, he is not a songwriter: what, then, does Carter Jr. actually bring to the table?