“The Melodic Blue” by Baby Keem is a debut studio album with a 16 song tracklist, and he produced 14 of those 16 songs on the album. Only a select few in the industry are skilled enough to produce their own music. 

It was one of the best rap albums of 2021. It received gold certification and ranked number 5 on the billboard top 200. It was in consideration for a Grammy nomination as well. All while using a lot of unconventional sounds and beats. 

He even tried to reflect his unconventional sound in the cover art for his album. The water represents his high-pitched sound and the rainbow that he is sitting on depicts his vision to explore new melodies and sounds. 

Even the features matched his pitch, Don Tolliver, Travis Scott and Kendrick Lamar. Keem cemented himself as one of the most creative rappers in the industry after just one album.

“My 3 favorite songs on ‘The Melodic Blue’ were ‘Trademark USA’, ‘Range Brothers’ and ‘Pink Panties’..” said William Jewell, CK senior. “My least favorite songs were probably ‘South Africa’ and ‘Cocoa’. I just felt like they were a little bit played out. I feel like the production was probably the worst that it had been on the album. I just feel like they weren’t super creative. I think that he uses his voice really well and aside from those two songs, the production was really good.”

“My favorite song on ‘The Melodic Blue’ was ’16’ because it has a really good flow, said CK senior, Garr Commbe. “My least favorite song was ‘South Africa’. I just wasn’t a fan of it.”

“My favorite song on ‘The Melodic Blue’ was ‘Issues’ because I liked the production and his voice,” said Tristan Ratuita, CK senior. “My least favorite song was ‘South Africa’ because his voice sounds weird and his flow is bad.”

Even in songs that people didn’t enjoy as much as others. Keem was still very good at using his own unique sound.

His main vision for the album was to be very unique with his production and sound and he accomplished that. While having little to no filler songs throughout the entirety of the album.

“South Africa” was a song that was not enjoyed by the people interviewed. Not because it was necessarily bad, but because it was different. His flow over the beat was a little bit hard to understand and listen to and the production was just overdoing it. It wasn’t a generic track.

All and all the album is very good. It is an 8/10. It has everything that a good album has. Great production, great lyrics, deeper meaning, great cover art, great flow, and little to no filler songs. Every song flows well from one to another. Every song is very unique and embodies what he wanted the audience to interpret from the tracks. 

Keem has cemented himself as an important figure in the industry because of his creativeness in his work and his cover art.