Joey Bada$$ is Living With A "Christ Conscious": What I Personally Expect From His Debut

There are many heavily slept on hip hop acts that really don't get the shine they deserve until the point and time comes around when a project drops. I'm saying this not only as an avid observer of hip-hop, but as another example of one of those sleepers (as much as I hate to admit it myself). Joey Bada$$ has been all over the internet since about 2012, and he really got big after his acclaimed mix tape 1999 dropped in June of the same year. Joey has built a following of loyal fans based on his "trapped in the 90s" style and his impressive lyrical capabilities, which is even more impressive because of his incredibly young age of 19 (that's right, born in 1995, I'm starting to wonder what I'm doing with my life). Joey's debut album B4.DA.$$ is set for release in early 2015, and I'm having good feelings about it even as new of a fan as I am, and I'm about to tell you why.

Joey Bada$$ is keeping the real hip-hop alive (this is me speaking as an old time, OG type of old man who discusses hip hop as "it was only good back in the day." I've never actually done it myself, but I'll assume it's a lot more fun to do than to listen to). His sound is unlike many other rappers that you'll hear today, and my first guess is because of his New York influence (I'd also like to go on record to say that Joey's sound reminds me so much of Nas). Now I'm not going to get into what New York has done for hip hop (even though it's practically the mecca and the birth place of it all), you can research that on your own, but being an up and coming rapper from New York, there is definitely more pressure on your music and your sound than the average rapper, mostly due to the legendary history of New York hip-hop.

Now I mentioned that I'm a fairly new Joey listener myself, my interest peaked when I first gave his 2013 mix tape Summer Knights a listen, and I was certainly impressed. It doesn't get more hip-hop than tracks like "Word Is Bond", "95 Til Infinity", or "47 Goonz", and I'll admit "47 Goonz" makes me feel like I have the street cred to go out and do some dirty deeds myself. Not to mention the elite production featured on this tape, including one track from DJ Premier, another from Statik Selektah, and one from DOOM. And this track isn't on the tape, but Joey also went over a beat from the legendary J Dilla (I don't know how you become cool enough to do that at age 19, or get the qualifications to do so, but obviously Joey is cool enough). Joey is a refreshing product of the 90s. A very young one, but certainly refreshing, yet familiar on his take on life in the streets. And no matter how hard I try, I can NOT get this song's beat out of my head. If I get reminded of it, it's over.

 By far my favorite Joey track (at least until "Christ Conscious" came out). All of Joey's music seems to have that "sitting around the house and chilling, maybe I'll do some laundry" type of vibe to it, although I personally can listen to it doing practically anything. Anyways, what do I expect from Joey's album you might ask?  Aside from some more story-telling and personal songs, I'd say a bit of the same of what he's already put out. Normally this would be a bad thing, for anybody else a change of pace is good, but for Joey, staying true to his sound is what his fans need. You could go as far as saying it's what HIP-HOP NEEDS. To be able to say that the 90s (which to many is the golden age of it all) can still live through an emcee as young (and not to mention downright talented) as Joey Bada$$, I think the old heads can still live with a bit of hope. There is no word on who will be producing Joey's debut album, although I wouldn't be surprised to see some from heavyweights like DOOM and DJ Premier, and the producer that handles most of Joey's beats, Kirk Knight (give or take a few more names). So until that day comes, enjoy the supposed first leak off of B4.DA.$$, "Christ Conscious", and the music video accompanying it.

                          (*I do not own this video, this song, the song above, or the rights to either*)