Baby Keem has shared why he stepped away from music for five years after releasing his debut album, The Melodic Blue.
The rapper, who dropped his second album, CA$INO, in February, told Highsnobiety that a health issue from the past forced him to put his career on hold just as he was beginning to break into the mainstream.
“I’ll never be super public about what it was because I don’t want that to be the narrative,” the 25-year-old said. “Going through that was the hardest setback for me. You have all these [moments] where you’re like, ‘Damn, I really won’t make music ever again.’”
Keem also revealed that he deleted his X account to avoid the constant speculation surrounding his absence and the pressure from fans asking for new music.
“I didn’t need to see people telling me to release when I physically could not make music for a year,” he said. “I had to learn how to do it again. It really fucked me up to where I didn’t want to go outside at all.”
Although Keem chose not to disclose the exact nature of his health issues, the pgLang artist previously opened up to The New York Times in April about growing up in a group home and being raised by his late grandmother, who became his legal guardian while his mother battled drug addiction.
In 2022, a year after releasing The Melodic Blue, the Grammy-winning rapper joined Kendrick Lamar’s Big Steppers Tour as a supporting act. Earlier this April, Keem made his return to the stage with his third headlining trek, The CA$INO Tour.
