Appearing on hip hop’s radar around ten years ago in 2012, Joey Bada$$ was a breath of fresh air and one of New York’s most promising young rappers. With most people’s eyes and ears firmly on the South after the success of rappers such as Lil’ Wayne and Soulja Boy in the late ’00s, Joey Bada$$ put New York hip hop back in the limelight when he dropped his mixtape 1999. With so much talent, it is unfortunate that with the arrival of trap music, hip hop tastemakers were quick to discard Bada$$’ quality music, fascinated by the latest musical fad.
Bada$$, with unforgettable songs such as ‘Waves’, was unfairly and all too quickly dismissed by hip hop. As trap and its derivatives, such as drill, would go on to prosper and become the new sound of hip hop, Joey Bada$$, with his J Dilla and Tribe Called Quest style beats, would begin to Fade.
Venturing into other areas entertainment industry, in 2016, the Brooklyn rapper would make his first acting appearance during the second season of Mr Robot, in which he played Leon and associate of Elliot. As the rapper ventured further into acting in 2019, he landed a role in the comedy series Boomerang. However, this does not mean the rapper wasn’t still releasing music. While he was filming for Mr Robot, the rapper was also spending time in the studio working on his second studio album. In April 2017, the rapper released All-Amerikkkan Bada$$. It would peak at number 5 on the Billboard Hot 200 and at number 5 on the UK Album Charts.
Bada$$ has a very original sound which some have labelled as progressive rap. However, for most of his career, he has made music in the shadow of prominent southern trap artists such as Future, Young Thug and Lil Yachty. In fact, some have labelled him as wrongfully and disrespectfully underrated. In an interview with Complex, when confronted with questions about whether or not those beliefs are valid and if it bothers him, he calmly responded, “I think it’s a great thing. I’d rather be underrated than overrated because I always have this place to get to, you know what it is? It’s social currency. The fact that you could still put people on to Joey Badass makes it exciting.”
While there may be some cold shoulders in hip hop, Bada$$ is still highly sought after in other domains. The rapper recently helped launch 1 Million Parfum in collaboration with Paco Rabanne. The rapper helped develop the fragrance and even contributed to the optics of the packaging. The Brooklyn native has even worked in partnership with Moss Pyer, who styled him for the CFDA awards in 2019.
With so many different endeavours, ranging from music to film, fashion and even cosmetics, it’s no wonder that Joey Bada$$’s name still rings bells in hip hop and with a hefty filmography to his name now; Below, you can find see his top five films.
Joey Bada$$’s five favourite films of all time
- City of God
- Django Unchained
- Forrest Gump
- Juice
- Law Abiding Citizen
