Baby Keem brought all the energy to his back-to-back Phoenix shows, transforming the Van Buren on May 6 and May 7 with his “Ca$ino” stop in the Valley of the Sun.
Hykeem Jamaal Carter Jr., known as Baby Keem, was born in Carson, California, but raised in Las Vegas by his mother and aunts. His passion for music started early. At 13, he borrowed money from his grandmother to buy recording equipment, which he used to produce music in his bedroom.
Early on in his career, Keem worked on projects for artists such as Schoolboy Q, Jay Rock and even his cousin, Kendrick Lamar. His breakthrough, though, came in 2019 with the release of his mixtape “Die for My B—,” featuring the major hit “ORANGE SODA.” “ORANGE SODA” has accumulated over 876 million streams on Spotify, not counting the views on YouTube or Apple Music. However, Baby Keem’s most popular song is “family ties” with Kendrick Lamar, which has over 1.1 billion streams on Spotify and won a Grammy for Best Rap Performance in 2022.
“Ca$ino” is Keem’s second studio album, released on Feb. 20, 2026, through pgLang and Columbia Records. Keem originally signed with Kendrick Lamar and Dave Free's company, pgLang, in a joint venture with Columbia Records in early 2020.
The 11-track, 37-minute album serves as the follow-up to the album“The Melodic Blue” and explores themes of growing up in Las Vegas, addiction and personal loss.
The 25-year-old rap star’s extensive experience in music production and writing puts him on a level above other rappers. His performance in Phoenix truly showcased his skills. Keem's ability to ignite the crowd and then, with a single switch, pull them into their feelings was executed flawlessly.
At his May 6 Phoenix show, Keem performed his hit songs from “Ca$ino,” but also his old hits like “vent,” “trademark usa,” “ORANGE SODA” and “family ties.” These tracks paved the way to the scale of Keem’s success.
It’s rare to have such a lively audience in every show, but Keem’s Phoenix audience showed out. From the moment the lights dimmed, the crowd soared. Fans seemed to know every lyric, and it was evident that Keem was feeding off the crowd’s excitement.
One of the standout moments from the night was Keem’s performance of “family ties.” The audience came to life at the first few notes of the song.
It’s evident that Keem has grown as an artist and an individual. He’s no longer labeled as a “one-hit-wonder” or simply “Kendrick Lamar’s cousin.”
He’s Baby Keem, and he’s still proving it to us.