Courtesy of Momo Boyd; Getty Images
The night before Baby Keem’s new album Ca$ino is set to drop, Momo Boyd is clammed up. I’ve caught her in the car, traveling in between work and social engagements in Los Angeles, to talk about her feature on the rapper’s latest project and she’s weighing what she can say and what she can’t. “I’ve signed an NDA,” she says apologetically when I ask how she linked up with Keem in the first place. It’s as good an indicator as any of just how big a deal — and high stakes — the release is expected to be.
Boyd is featured on the song “Good Flirts,” the album’s sultry, simmering slow burn that comes midway through and also features a laidback verse from none other than Keem’s cousin and otherwise reigning king of rap right now, Kendrick Lamar. Boyd says she was hand-selected for her part by music director and Lamar colleague Dave Free. On the track, she chants the coy hook and shares a quippy repartee with Lamar, a cheeky, if modest, use of her talents; the 25-year-old is better known as the velvety voiced belter from Infinity Song, the folkish, rockish, popish quartet she’s in with her siblings. Still, Boyd tells me, she’s over the moon about the unexpected opportunity that’s poised to jet her star upward. “It’s a great time to be me,” she says.
Ahead, Boyd shares the story of how her feature came together.
Momo Boyd: [Dave Free and I] actually began following each other in 2022. Obviously he is a co-founder of pgLang, which is where Kendrick [Lamar] is and I believe Baby Keem is, and we exchanged a few messages and he pretty much was like, “I have a feeling that you're up next. Like, you’re the future. I just have a feeling about that and I’m never wrong.” Which was pretty crazy to hear. We just kept in like loose contact for the next couple of years. Then this past November, me and my siblings were playing a show in L.A. and I invited him [on] a whim to come see us perform. I assumed he was not going to be able to come, but he made space in his schedule and he showed up, which is kind of rare.
He came a little bit into the show and had to leave right before the show ended so we didn’t even get to meet, but he was able to see me and my siblings in our full power. I think that was a lightbulb moment for him. He's such a mastermind in the pgLang universe, he spearheads a lot of different ideas and pitches a lot of different ideas. He was able to see if everybody was interested in me as an artist, and then from there the rest was history.
Courtesy of Momo Boyd
I first heard [“Good Flirt”] when I was still on tour and it was interesting. It was different than I think anybody had ever heard [Keem's] sound and then also different from my typical sound as well. It was a challenge, but I was up for the challenge. It’s a fun thing when somebody you respect asks you to push yourself outside of your comfort zone and step up to the plate and see if you can deliver something that you maybe haven’t delivered before.
I was on tour and I remember being sick. I had a really bad fever and I remember thinking like, I could be on death's doorstep and I would still get this done. I would still make this a priority and I would still give it my all. I felt such a heavy burden around giving it my absolute best. These opportunities don’t come around very often and you just want to walk away proud of yourself regardless of the outcome. I was trying my best in between shows or missing soundcheck to record or, you know, coming down with a fever, it was like none of that mattered. I think maybe they felt that.
It was different than I think anybody had ever heard [Keem’s] sound.
[Keem’s] latest album has such a wide range of sounds, he produced a lot on there. Some pop sounds, some R&B sounds, it just is a bit different. [My “Good Flirt” feature] is really just the beginning for me. It feels like just the beginning as well for Keem, and in some ways it also feels like just the beginning for Kendrick, even though that’s far from the truth, but like there’s such a freshness in the air and the energy with these people is just so pure. They have really welcomed me with all the love in the world. You encounter so many different types of people and so many personalities and some of them don’t necessarily have the best intentions, but every part of the process with them has been genuinely amazing. I felt safe, I felt welcomed, I felt valued, respected at every turn.
I'm working actively in the studio both for my solo work and also for the band's work but that stuff is yet to be released. I’m just excited to take this moment and the curiosity that people have toward me and translate it into something for myself that feels really good. Of course, I want to be well-liked and I want people to see me and feel positively towards me personally, but first and foremost, I hope they gravitate towards the music and the lyricism and the artistry and they really feel something different than they typically do on their day-to-day.
