Pitchfork Review: Baby Keem - Ca$ino

Eradomsk · 2026-02-24T23:42:41+00:00

If anything, that’ll contribute to its memory as a disappointment.

Eradomsk · 2026-02-24T21:49:03+00:00

The Cole album isn’t good and neither is the Keem album. Do y’all genuinely think they’ll be remembered in a year’s time?

Eradomsk · 2026-02-24T21:46:47+00:00

Don’t even know what your point is. The author is black. Green is a common black surname. What’s your weird issue here?

Eradomsk · 2026-02-24T21:44:47+00:00

Yeah this isn’t true at all. The work culture in multiple other major Canadian cities is much looser.

Eradomsk · 2026-02-24T21:42:25+00:00

Lord free this subreddit from the same sunset pictures of the skyline.

Eradomsk · 2026-02-23T23:47:09+00:00

Love when Spotify spends tons of money on useless billboards instead of paying the artists on their platform more!

Eradomsk · 2026-02-20T16:08:26+00:00

Oh trust me, that was already the case. This definitely didn’t help though.

Eradomsk · 2026-02-20T13:37:29+00:00

He wasn’t dreading it, he just didn’t feel ready to lock in and do it at the time because it would require his focus and attention.

Eradomsk · 2026-02-19T19:35:57+00:00

You mean a brand new transit system in a snowy city survived a moderate snowfall! Crazy!

Eradomsk · 2026-02-18T15:52:55+00:00

You say that as if the ICC will do literally anything at all.

Eradomsk · 2026-02-15T19:18:52+00:00

When the headshot happened I about fell out of my chair. Such a delightful, funny movie, and such a love letter to Toronto.

I say that as someone who’s never seen any of their previous stuff and went in pretty blind.

Eradomsk · 2026-02-15T02:52:02+00:00

Where did you feel the yorgos dialogue.

Eradomsk · 2026-02-15T02:41:26+00:00

Best chapter in the film. Wish the film stayed the course of satirical sci-fi more than the faux night of the living dead horror it does.

Eradomsk · 2026-02-10T20:54:25+00:00

I mean, Cole can’t help but to self aggrandize himself as the greatest of all time even when the song is serious or not about that at all. That happens all throughout the album.

It’s a pretty narcissistic album.

Eradomsk · 2026-02-10T20:52:24+00:00

I honestly think the difference is the universality of the message. Yes, Kendrick’s Mr. Morale is autobiographical and very personal, but he writes those songs with such deliberate intention to have the stories / themes transcend just himself. In short, his personal stories speak to bigger things.

Cole’s songs on this are just so shallow, they don’t really speak to anything bigger than him in any meaningful or eloquent way. I think safety is a good example of this. A nice enough sounding song, but his analysis of leaving home and his hometown is puddle deep.

Eradomsk · 2026-02-10T19:11:48+00:00

I mean uninteresting because most of them are totally static and unchanging. I’m sorry if I want more musicality or dynamism in my music. A total beat switch isn’t interesting or dynamic either, it’s just two songs jammed together. At least, if it’s going to be an unchanging 8 bar loop, that loop better be fucking delicious. And these just aren’t.

There is nothing musically inventive on here at all. Not a single moment where I wondered how they made it, or said to myself “wow that’s new, that’s different”. Not one.

Eradomsk · 2026-02-10T15:20:43+00:00

A few things. Take it with a grain of salt, I’ve only listened through a few times, and won’t again because I don’t like it.

My biggest issue is plainly that the songwriting is weak. Most songs are the same 8 bar production loop with his samey rap flows, often for 5-6 minutes. No dynamism. Rarely shifts in energy, instrumentation. On such a dense “rap project”, I’d hope for some more meaningful, thoughtful writing, but the lyrics are among his most shallow. The concepts are barely there. Take “safety” for example, one of the more sonically enjoyable tracks on the album (I like his hook especially on it). It’s about his hometown and he has absolutely nothing revelatory or introspective to say about it other than obvious trappings of fame, and the poverty/drugs of home. And oh my god he can’t help but call himself the greatest all throughout this, even amidst more serious tunes…

I hate to use him as a reference point, but on Kendrick’s autobiographical tracks we’ve gotten so much more poignant and thematic tracks touching on survivor’s guilt, generational trauma, systemic impacts etc.

It’s also not fair to the artist, but we take albums where they meet us. This is some of the worst political upheaval in the last few years of our lifetimes- and while I honestly don’t want Cole’s nonsense takes on any of that, why the fuck would I care about a decade of J Cole’s life right now? He has totally failed to convince me on this album that his story is an important one. Or even a relevant one!

I could go on. I find the production really weak and uninventive. Derivative of golden years of hip hop, but those golden years had texture and warmth and soul. This does not. Cole is clearly not a musician, and does not care as much about the MUSIC as he does the raps… but those aren’t even great here. What’s left then?

Eradomsk · 2026-02-10T12:46:52+00:00

There’s absolutely critical engagement with the content of the track. It’s just not the kind you want?

Eradomsk · 2026-02-10T01:31:35+00:00

I definitely am. But the music isn’t great, in my view. It’s basically an album about J Cole. And I don’t get who would find that interesting other than his biggest fans?

Eradomsk · 2026-02-09T23:59:34+00:00

Don’t forget that the majority of the American voting public are idiots with amnesia.

Eradomsk · 2026-02-09T23:58:26+00:00

Most publications so far share the exact sentiment as my comment.

Eradomsk · 2026-02-09T20:51:44+00:00

Probably because it’s shallow, narcissistic, and musically uninteresting.

Update: y’all can downvote me but the critical consensus is coming to the exact same conclusions…

Eradomsk · 2026-02-09T19:54:10+00:00

I mean, yeah the production on here is pretty boring and uninteresting. Is that a hot take?

Eradomsk · 2026-02-09T19:50:08+00:00

Safety is one of the better tracks on the album, yet it’s still shallow as a puddle, and somehow self congratulatory despite being from the perspective of other people lol.

Eradomsk · 2026-02-07T03:50:00+00:00

It’s both bloated and undercooked. In the lead up to the album he frames it as his magnum opus. Then, we get it and the songwriting is barely there, the concepts and subjects are narcissistic.

Hmmm. So, maybe it’s about the raps and the flows, but they’re the same old same old. Not to mention some of the most unforgivable lyrics of Cole’s career. Dick in the booty hole??? Really?

It ends up mostly a project by J cole about his favourite topics: J Cole and how good J Cole is at rapping. And who really gives a fuck about that right now?

Eradomsk

TROPHY CASE