The Hillbillies
by Baby Keem (featuring Kendrick Lamar)

Album: released as a single (2023)
Charted: 93
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • "The Hillbillies" is a lively drill-infused anthem by Baby Keem and Kendrick Lamar that playfully delves into their extravagant lifestyles, fashion sense, and fame. The talented cousins intertwine their verses, cleverly drawing comparisons to soccer superstars Lionel Messi and Neymar.
  • The reasoning behind the song title is unclear, as the term "hillbilly" is typically used to describe people in rugged clothing who reside in rural, mountainous regions. This song presents us with successful rappers flexing about their luxurious lifestyle.

    One suggestion is it alludes to K-Dot and Keem's lighthearted rhymes and goofy ad-libs.
  • Evilgaine produced the track, incorporating UK drill-style hi-hats and elements of Jersey club bass into the mix. He samples the 2020 Bon Iver charity single "PDLIF," which itself borrows from jazz artist Alabaster dePlume's 2012 song "Visit Croatia." In 2018, Evilgaine founded the New York-based record label and collective Surf Gang, a flourishing force in the underground New York drill and alternative scenes.

    Keem was drawn to Evilgiane's skill for sampling, following the Brooklyn native's production credit on A$AP Rocky and Playboi Carti's unreleased track "Our Destiny / Sights," which samples Destiny's Child's 2004 hit "If." Keem reached out to Evilgiane through Instagram in late 2022, asking him to share some of his beats.
    "I just liked the [Bon Iver] song and I always sample songs that I really f–k with," Evilgiane told Billboard. "The beat was a made a couple months before we connected."
  • The single is the pair's sixth collaboration together, following:

    "Family Ties," "Vent" and "Range Brothers" from Keem's 2021 album The Melodic Blue.

    "Savior (Interlude)" and "Savior" from Kendrick Lamar's 2022 Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers project.
  • Neal Farmer filmed the lo-fi video entirely on a VHS camcorder during the end of the Big Steppers Tour's European leg. It shows outtakes from their time on tour together, including boarding a private jet, clowning around the London Eye and Dodger Stadium, and going on a shopping spree at Dublin's Stephen's Green Shopping Centre.

    At the end, Tyler, The Creator flashes a button to the camera that reads "Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival 2023" before pointing at Dodger Stadium. Could this be an unofficial announcement that Lamar and Keem will headline Tyler's annual LA festival?

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