"Family Ties" (stylized in

all lowercase Letter case is the distinction between the letters that are in larger uppercase or capitals (or more formally ''majuscule'') and smaller lowercase (or more formally ''minuscule'') in the written representation of certain languages. The writing ...

) is a song by American rappers

Baby Keem Hykeem Jamaal Carter Jr. (born October 22, 2000), known professionally as Baby Keem, is an American rapper and record producer. He initially gained major recognition following the release of his single "Orange Soda", from his second mixtape ''Di ...

and

Kendrick Lamar Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (born June 17, 1987) is an American rapper and songwriter. Known for his Progressive rap, progressive musical styles and Social consciousness, socially conscious songwriting, he is often considered one of the most infl ...

. The song was released on August 27, 2021, by

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

and

pgLang PGLang (stylized as pgLang, an acronym for Program Language) is an American multi-disciplinary creative collective founded by Kendrick Lamar and Dave Free. Launched on March 5, 2020, the collective houses a record label, a production company, a ...

. The song serves as the fourth single from Keem's debut album, ''

The Melodic Blue ''The Melodic Blue'' is the debut studio album by American rapper and record producer Baby Keem. It was released on September 10, 2021, by PGLang and Columbia Records, with Keem serving as the executive producer. The standard version of the al ...

''. The song also serves as Lamar’s first musical release under pgLang, a production company he co-founded in March 2020. "Family Ties" marks Lamar's first single and new music since " Pray for Me" with Canadian singer

The Weeknd Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (born February 16, 1990), known professionally as the Weeknd, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. Known for his sonic versatility and dark lyricism, his music explores escapism, Romance (love), ...

, released in 2018. The song also marks the first official collaboration between Keem and Lamar, who are real-life cousins, hence the name of the song, as well as the single’s cover art depicting them in a family portrait, which pays homage to the album cover of Lamar's 2012 breakout album ''

good kid, m.A.A.d city ''Good Kid, M.A.A.D City'' (stylized as ''good kid, m.A.A.d city'') is the second studio album by American rapper Kendrick Lamar. It was released on October 22, 2012, through Top Dawg Entertainment, Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Record ...

''. The accompanying music video features a cameo from singer

Normani Normani Kordei Hamilton ( ; born May 31, 1996) is an American singer and dancer. She auditioned as a solo act for the American television series ''The X Factor'' in 2012, after which she became a member of the girl group Fifth Harmony, which wen ...

; and won the

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

BET Award for Video of the Year. According to Kanye West, the song is about the genocides of Jewish people, but this claim has been shut down by Keem and Lamar.

Accolades

The song received two nominations at the 2022 Grammy Awards for

Best Rap Song The Grammy Award for Best Rap Song is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality songs in the rap music genre. Honors in several ...

and

Best Rap Performance The Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance is an honor presented to recording artists for quality rap performances. It was first presented at the 31st Annual Grammy Awards in 1989 and again at the 32nd Annual Grammy Awards in 1990, after which p ...

, winning the latter award. It also received two nominations for Song of the Year and Video of the Year at the 2022 XXL Awards.

Music video

The accompanying

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

was directed by

Dave Free David Friley (born November 13, 1986), known professionally as Dave Free, is an American filmmaker, record executive, and former record producer. He is best known for his creative partnership with rapper Kendrick Lamar, with whom he founded the ...

, and features a cameo from singer

, alongside Baby Keem, and Lamar who is billed mid-video as Oklama. In the first scene, the music video begins with a moshpit of black men, who are wearing black bombers and sunglasses surrounding Keem and Lamar, with the two artists wearing orange attire. Black ballerinas are also featured. In the second scene, Lamar raps about still being relevant in hip-hop despite taking a hiatus. Near the end of the music video, Normani appears in a stretch limo SUV alongside the two rappers, before the rappers make their last proclamations. Throughout the video, clips of different sizes and themes are placed on top of the video, overlapping the ones below them. The video is divided into two "scenes", with scene 1 representing Keem's section, and scene 2 representing Lamar's section.

Critical reception

In a review for the track, ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...

'' wrote that "Kendrick's oddball raps and nonsensical flow switches express a newfound creative freedom. His future is his own."

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

Songs about families 2021 singles 2021 songs Baby Keem songs Kendrick Lamar songs Song recordings produced by Cardo (record producer) Songs written by Kendrick Lamar Music videos directed by Dave Free Columbia Records singles Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance {{2020s-single-stub