Appearing on hip-hop’s radar around ten years ago in 2012, Joey Bada$$ was a breath of fresh air and one of New York’s most promising young rappers. With most people’s eyes and ears firmly on the South after the success of rappers such as Lil’ Wayne and Soulja Boy in the late 2000s, Joey Bada$$ 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$$, with his J Dilla and Tribe Called Quest style beats, would begin to Fade.
Venturing into other areas of the entertainment industry, in 2016, the Brooklyn rapper would make his first acting appearance during the second season of Mr Robot, in which he played Leon and associate of Elliot. As the rapper ventured further into acting in 2019, he landed a role in the comedy series Boomerang.
However, this does not mean the rapper wasn’t still releasing music. While he was filming for Mr Robot, the rapper was also spending time in the studio working on his second studio album. In April 2017, the rapper released All-Amerikkkan Bada$$. It would peak at number five on the Billboard 200 and at number five on the UK Album Charts.
Bada$$ has a very original sound, some labelled 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. Furthermore, he has often been overlooked.
While there may be some cold shoulders in hip-hop, the emcee has a great filmography and in 2014, he was asked by XXL about his favourite movie of all time. Opening up, he stated, “My favourite movie is City Of God. Because the main character, I just see a lot of similarities with him; I can relate to him so much. Because I’ve always been that kid in the middle of it all, observing but knowing that I wanted to be something greater than what everybody was coming to around me. He was with his camera as I was to my pen and pad.”
You can watch the trailer for City Of God in the video below.
