On “B4.DA.$$,” Joey Bada$$ proves that his influences are in the right place, but sometimes a little overwhelming.
While has been called everything from scandalous to influential, we’d call it a sign of what’s to come in hip-hop. In the selfie, the president’s daughter is wearing a t-shirt sporting the logo of ‘ hip-hop collective Pro Era. You could say that Bada$$ and his hip-hop cohorts have an influence that reaches all the way to the White House.
Though his “B4.DA.$$” is his debut studio album, Joey can make the kids feel like they’ve got 20 years of hip-hop listening under their belt. On the album, his sound is anachronistic and ahead of its time all at once. He employs a Nas-like “New York State of Mind” flow on “Big Dusty” and lets his impeccable ear for beats do the talking on more than one occasion. But sometimes even his greatest homages can slow him down, as it does on a few of the lengthy debut album.
Calling himself the “rap supreme”, the album opens with “Save the Children,” a tongue in cheek assertion that hip-hop will lead the masses or die trying. “Hazeus View” finds young Joey hurtling lyrical bombs at his competition. This track shows an impressive writing style and you hear how pensive he has been about his career as he spits rhymes about the loss of his friend and business associate Junior B.
“B4.DA.$$” is at once an homage to the greats and a bit of a challenge. Sure, Bada$$ was a snot-nosed kid when most of the albums that influenced him came out, but that doesn’t stop him from doing his valiant best imitation of A Tribe Called Quest.
We don’t see the dizzying rhyme scheme of some of his rap counterparts like Kendrick Lamar. Instead, Joey gives us some promising contemporary beats, before slowing down and ambling through golden-era hip-hop. The old school vibe is a steady slow burn throughout the second half of the album as we hear a bit of ODB and Method Man’s flamboyant versatility. The change marks the album’s poor pacing, given its length. A project that has 17 tracks will no doubt have its missteps, and we see this with the Kieza-assisted “Teach Me.” The melody sounds what happens when you hold the ‘shift key’ down for too long.
Influencing everyone from musicians to the president’s daughter, Joey Bad$$ obviously has some important ears to his music. And on “B4.DA.$$,” he proves that his influences are in the right place, but sometimes a little overwhelming.
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Ru Johnson is an arts and culture music writer living in Denver. You can follow her on Twitter here.
