There’s a black-and-white scene in the video for Kendrick Lamar’s “N95” where he and Baby Keem hobble down a prison hallway—then Keem gives him a surprise peck on the cheek, and he turns around like, why’d you do that, bro? Every collaboration between the two rappers is bound to turn heads, not just because it’s cousins showing out. Freed from their conceptual boxes, they get silly with each other, buds play fighting in the hot summer sun.
The duo’s latest single, “The Hillbillies,” keeps up the shenanigans. Produced by Surf Gang’s Evilgiane, who combines Jersey club drums and a ghostly sample of Bon Iver’s “PDLIF,” it feels like a sequel to The Melodic Blue’s “range brothers,” complete with tag-team rapping and ridiculous adlibs. (Try not laughing at Kendrick responding to Keem’s “That’s a deep deep deep deep deep ocean” by shouting “That twat!”) This time, Keem and Kendrick riff for longer, comparing themselves to Messi and Neymar Jr. and bragging about buying land in Europe. In the lo-fi video—presumably shot on off days during last year’s Big Steppers Tour—they shimmy on airplanes, play Playstation, and goof off at Dodger Stadium with Tyler, the Creator. It’s the most relaxed and loose they’ve seemed in years.
