Hip-Hop Lives Here
Hip-Hop Lives Here
When you and yours are cut from the same cloth, you make that sh*t known. Real-life cousins Baby Keem and Kendrick Lamar join forces for Keem’s new single and music video for their high-powered collaboration, “Family Ties.”
Directed by Dave Free via Free and Lamar’s creative company, pgLang, the cinematic visual kicks off with a moshpit of Black men, rocking black bombers and shades with Keem and Lamar standing out in their orange attire. Keem re-introduces himself in Scene 1, rapping about his life journey, where he’s been, being underestimated, and where his undeniable success is sure to take him.
“Put that on my mama, nigga, ate in the process / Ni**as tryna tippy-toe through the progress,” he raps. “Tongue-tied when the truth is an object / What’s the pros and cons of this next check? Wasn’t nobody ’round, I was independent / In the ’90s, sittin’ bum with the windows tinted.”
In Scene 2, Lamar reminds everyone he’s still here. Yeah, he’s been away, but don’t get it twisted; Nothing’s changed. K-Dot is still a hip-hop King. He’s back and ain’t takin’ no prisoners.
“I am the Omega, pgLang, Rollie gang, açai / Don’t you address me unless it’s with four letters, bi**h,” he spews before making it clear he’s back to take no prisoners. “I thought you’d known better I been duckin’ the pandemic, I been duckin’ the social gimmicks / I been duckin’ the Overnight Actavis, yeah / I’m not a trending topic, I’m a prophet / I answer to Metatron and Gabriel.”
At the tail end of the video, singer Normani makes a cameo in a stretch limo SUV, before the rappers make their last proclamations. Watch the music video filled with Black ballerinas and more.
“Family Ties” is Keem’s third single of 2021—hear “No Sense” and the Travis Scott-assisted “Durag Activity”—and will appear on his forthcoming album, The Melodic Blue. The track is produced by Keem himself alongside Cardo, Outtatown, Roselilah, Jasper Harris, Frankie Bash, and Deats.
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Kid Cudi’s Man on the Moon: The End of Day, as many fans know, revolves around his dream of becoming a success. The album is also remembered as a moody, reflective, and emotional listening experience. Its hit lead single, “Day ’n’ Nite,” sets that tone with themes of isolation and addiction.
What some people may not know, however, is the personal story behind this defining track in Kid Cudi’s career. In an interview with Complex, the Cleveland native shared that the song was connected to a falling out with his uncle.
“We were actually beefing because he forced me out the house when I didn’t have another situation set up, so I was bitter. I never apologized for it, and that kills me,” he admitted. But it was not just the conflict that shaped the record.
“[He] passed in 2006,” Cudi said. That loss became fuel for him, both as a way to prove himself and as a tribute to the uncle who helped him in his early days. “That’s why I wrote ‘Day ’n’ Nite.’ If he weren’t there to let me stay with him those first few months, there would be no Kid Cudi. It fcked me up watching him go, but it was like, ‘I have to fulfill this destiny now for sure.’ Things were moving, but they weren’t solidified yet. I had ‘Day ’n’ Nite,’ we were just getting started, and I was like, ‘This sht has got to pop off.’ I wasn’t taking no for an answer.”
The rest, of course, is history. Kid Cudi went on to become one of the most influential figures in hip-hop, with “Day ’n’ Nite” standing as the spark that started it all.
Quotable Lyrics:
'Cause day and night
The lonely stoner seems to free his mind at night
He's all alone through the day and night
The lonely loner seems to free his mind at night, at, at, at night
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