Hykeem Jamaal Carter Jr., better known as “Baby Keem”, is an American rapper/producer born on Oct. 22,  2000. He was born in Long Beach, California and was raised in Las Vegas, Nevada by his grandmother.  He is best known for his songs “Orange Soda” and “Family Ties”. He is also second cousins with Kendrick Lamar through his mom’s side. Baby Keem has produced songs for Lamar such as “N95”, “Die Hard”, and “Savior”. 

On Feb.10,2026, Baby Keem announced his new album “Ca$ino” via Instagram. In the post it had a picture of his album cover with a caption that read “Ca$ino”. The same day he released a documentary called “Booman”, referencing his childhood nickname.It features his upbringing in poverty,growing up in Long Beach and Las Vegas and being raised by his aunts, grandmother and cousins in a village dynamic with a focus on financial struggles too. His cousin Kendrick speaks in the film about “psychological warfare” of their upbringing, referring to their family’s roots as “hillbillies” and trying to break generational curses. It features old home videos of Keem when he was little.  One memorable clip from the documentary even features Keem dancing to one of Ludacris’s songs,an artist Keem would later receive a Grammy.

On Feb. 17,  2026, the second part of “Booman” was released. It focused more on how Las Vegas impacted his life and more about his family dynamic. He used old VHS home videos to create a nostalgic feel for the audience. His father is featured in the film and talks about his addiction and his family’s refusal to fund his habit. Keem includes references to his mother’s gambling addiction and how they “didn’t have much but they had love.” It also included a snippet of “Good Flirt”which was a song on his new album featuring Kendrick Lamar and Momo Bloyd.

Then the third part of “Booman” came out on Feb. 19, 2026. In the beginning, it talks about where the title of his album comes from. “Ca$ino” comes from his real-life experiences when his mother and grandmother would take the rent money to the casino in a desperate, often failing,attempt to make ends meet. It also goes more in depth about the “warfare” environment he was talking about in the previous parts. It paints a picture of a childhood that consisted of extreme poverty and instability, with relatives describing the environment as “warfare” mostly on how they were living,  which was in section eight housing that helps low income individuals,people with disabilities and seniors afford private,safe housing and generational curses. Despite all the hard times in his life,he also reflects on his support system, with his grandmother Sharon being the biggest supporter he had. 

Finally after almost two weeks,the album was released on Feb. 20,  2026. It consisted of 11 songs. Three of those songs features guest artists like Lamar, Too $hort, Momo Bloyd and Che Ecru. Keem received very good feedback on the album. A podcaster that goes by the name of “Professorsky” covered his album and what he thought about it in his video titled “Baby Keem’s sprawling family epic-Ca$ino analysis”.  In this video he talks about how he can tell that Keem can do multiple genres well. He compares him to artists like J.Cole, Kendrick Lamar and Drake. He really focuses on quality over quantity, putting out good music instead of just random ones to make people happy.