Baby Keem refers to the Bon Iver-sampling song as a “Sticky Dub,” a reference to Drake’s 2022 single “Sticky”
It’s been just over a year since Kendrick Lamar and his cousin Baby Keem last joined each other on a track. Their Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers deep cut “Savior” was a weighted examination of idol worship, but their latest single, “The Hillbillies,” is the product of both rappers being in a silly, goofy mood, as evidenced in its accompanying Neal Farmer-directed video.
“We gon’ fuck up the world (Here right now)/Excuse me, but is that your girl? (Here right now)/Didn’t mean to possess your girl/Baby, I’m high-profile, don’t ever tell ’em you met me, girl,” Lamar raps on the chorus, which features a sample of Bon Iver’s 2020 single “PDLIF.”
The rest of the record follows a similar thread: Kendrick and Keem are out of reach but revel in their desirability. While everyone clamors for them, they’re buying land and knocking out levels on Playstation games. Still, the video finds them exploring malls and hotels, dragging semi-confused front desk staff members into their shenanigans.
“The Hillbillies” arrives as a surprise drop from the two rappers. Baby Keem tweeted out a link to the song referring to it as a “Sticky Dub,” in reference to the Drake single that it interpolates on its refrain. The flow from the 2020 Honestly, Nevermind single appears on “The Hillbillies” with a playful flip. On it, Keem offers up “Messy, get them girls off the stage, ’cause somebody’s gonna get taken” in connection to Drake’s “Ayo Eric, bring them girls to the stage, cause somebody’s getting paid.”
The song marks Baby Keem’s first release since sharing the deluxe edition of The Melodic Blue in October 2022. Kendrick, meanwhile, appeared on a remix of Beyoncé’s “America Has a Problem” earlier this month chanting: “Go, Stink, fuck it up, go, Stink, fuck it up.”