pgLang is back in a big way.
As Kendrick Lamar and Baby Keem effortlessly trade verses in their surprise collaboration “The Hillbillies,” a quick-cut VHS-style video, a Tyler, The Creator cameo and wavy production from SURF GANG’s EVILGIANE ultimately steal the show in Keem and K-Dot’s return.
Arriving exclusively on YouTube on May 30 — and all streaming platforms June 5 — cousins Lamar and Keem showcase their untouchable rap synergy, prevalent on past hits like “range brothers” and the chart-topping “family ties.” Produced by new wave wunderkind EVILGIANE, who interpolates the progression on Drake’s “Sticky” and Bon Iver’s “PDLIF,” the pair hop on a private jet from Dodger Stadium, take a pit stop at Nando’s among other spots, while tearing off lines like, “we gon’ fuck up the world, ‘scuse me but is that your girl?”
“We ain’t doing no normal things, do you know what formal means?”, Keem raps, as Kendrick hops in with a simple “Dot” ad-lib — spitting about being the best dressed, keeping focused, new devotions and, of course, taking your girl without you knowing. Perhaps this is an inkling towards a Keem and Dot collab album? Or maybe a pgLang label tape. Time will tell, but “The Hillbillies” is yet another flex of their family ties.
While the track is poised to define the rest of summer 2023, so will Camp Flog Gnaw it seems. Fresh off The Estate Sale, Tyler, The Creator pulls up near the end of “The Hillbillies” visual flaunting his iconic IGOR chain and a pin that reads “Camp Flog Gnaw 2023,” pointing to Dodger Stadium in the background.
A clue worth years of waiting, Tyler’s last Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival was in 2019, which was also at Dodger Stadium, and featured acts like Juice WRLD, 21 Savage, BROCKHAMPTON and surprise guest Drake. His set infamously didn’t go as planned, as the festival halted operations due to the pandemic in 2020 and so on. Camp Flog Gnaw 2023 will convene Nov. 11-12 in Los Angeles. Pre-sale tickets will be available this Friday.
Kendrick Lamar’s Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers won Best Rap Album at the 64th Annual GRAMMYs, among more honors, making Dot the third most decorated rapper in GRAMMY history. Keem’s debut album, The Melodic Blue, has been a cornerstone to the sonic stylings of both himself and Lamar in this next phase of their careers, even reaching pgLang’s Sleepy Solider, Tanna Leone, to some degree. Lamar is also set to perform at Lollapalooza in Chicago this coming August, which follows his global-dominating “The Big Steppers Tour” that concluded earlier this year.
“The Hillbillies” not only reasserts the undeniable tandem of Kendrick Lamar and Baby Keem, but quiets those who believed Lamar couldn’t step into new wave-inspired sounds with ease.
Watch the video below!
