As summer draws closer, the rap game continues to heat up. So far, 2017 has seen Big Sean impress with his album “I Decided,” Drake release his popular playlist “More Life” and Kendrick Lamar stir the pot with intense tracks, such as “The Heart Part 4” and “HUMBLE.” However, one artist in particular refuses to get lost in the shuffle, as Joey Bada$$ has quite a bit to get off his chest.
Rap fans were disappointed when Lamar hinted at releasing his fourth studio album on April 7, on “The Heart Part 4,” only to release the iTunes pre-order when the day came. Still, fans were relieved when Bada$$ released his second album, “ALL-AMERIKKKAN BADA$$.”
An active rapper since he was 15 years old, Bada$$ has cultivated an underground following, mirroring fellow conscious rappers Immortal Technique, Common or even the early days of Nas’ career. In 2012, Bada$$’s debut mixtape “1999” launched his career, proving to be one of the most promising prospects in hip-hop. This was followed up by his 2015 debut album, “B4.DA.$$,” which, while very good, was not as critically successful as its predecessor, for Bada$$ was seemingly still discovering his identity as a rapper, but was obviously working very hard to master his craft.
Now 22 years old, Bada$$ has wisdom beyond his years, finding his identity through simply staying woke, observing the landscape of America and being disgusted by the treatment of black Americans.
“ALL-AMERIKKKAN BADA$$” was recorded between 2015 and 2017, noticeably inspired by the political climate of America, as Bada$$ reflects on the final years of former President Barack Obama and the rise of the Donald Trump administration.
Although hip-hop’s subgenre, trap, has increased in popularity since the early 2010s, seeing many rappers incorporate the sound into their music, this is not the case with Bada$$’s album. There is only one instance of trap influence in this project, on “Devastated,” as Bada$$ is clearly less concerned with having a standout beat than standout bars.
The album sees the Brooklyn native drop bars that seem to have originated from anti-Trump and Black Lives Matter rallies over soul-inspired beats on par with his peers Lamar and Chance the Rapper. With so many topics to tackle, Bada$$ decided there is no room for immaturity in his work. One of the album’s singles, “Land of the Free,” was released on Jan. 20, Bada$$’s birthday and, coincidentally, Trump’s inauguration.
“We can’t change the world unless we change ourselves/Die from the sicknesses if we don’t seek the health/All eyes be my witness when I speak what’s felt/Full house on my hands, the cards I was dealt/Three Ks, two As in AmeriKKKa” Bada$$ raps on “Land of the Free.”
The album starts off relatively light, mellow yet strong, with tracks like “For My People,” “Temptation” and “Devastated.” “Temptation” in particular has a very mid-2000s sound, a throwback to the styles of Common and The Roots.
It is toward the back half of the album where the aggression and pain shine through such as the ScHoolboy Q-featured “Rockabye Baby” and “Ring the Alarm,” which features Nyck Caution, Kirk Knight and Meechy Darko. The latter is one of the many standout tracks on the album, as all four rappers do past New York emcees like Big Pun, Mobb Deep and 50 Cent proud, as the track is purely about rapping. It is a throwback track, doing the East Coast’s nickname “Beast Coast” justice, destroying the track and its sinister beat.
The ultimate standout track on the album is “BABYLON,” an emotional track that could very well be the next anthem for the Black Lives Matter movement. Bada$$ pours his heart out, expressing his pain for all the suffering black America has endured in the two years between his two albums. He speaks out against police brutality, the justice system and oppression, while featured Jamaican reggae artist Chronixx soothes the wounds with his voice.
“Detached from the roots since we set sail, my brothers/That’s word to motherland, sold us on stolen land/Visions from brother man, he seen us all holdin’ hands/Fifty years later, still see my brothers choked to death,” Bada$$ raps on “BABYLON.”
While it is still very early and more projects are yet to drop, Bada$$ has released one of the standout hip-hop albums of the year. It is a masterful collection of aggravated, conscious thoughts that goes along with works of Lamar, Mick Jenkins and Ab-Soul, who are all very much woke. Bada$$ is just beginning to realize his potential, now having discovered his identity, he works to help America reshape its own fractured identity.
