“B4.Da.$$ it was love, but B4.Da$$ it was tough, then came the money through a plug, it’s a shame this aint enough”
Watching an artist grow is one of my favorite things to do. People are ever changing and artists keep getting better (hopefully), but every song, mixtape or album that gets released is like a time capsule that showcases an artist’s skill set at the time. My cousin turned me onto Joey Bada$$ shortly after the release of his 2012 mixtape 1999 and since then his skills have improved ten fold. Upon listening to 1999 I was blown away by how flawlessly he pulled off the sound of 90’s rappers like The Wu-Tang Clan, Nas and Jay-Z. But while many Hip Hop heads and critics alike praised Joey for his mixtape, he received just as much flak for following the 90’s style TOO closely. Joey clearly heard these criticisms and began developing his sound over his next two mixtapes before releasing his debut album B4.Da.$$ this Tuesday.
The album sees Joey further exploring the sounds of 90’s hip hop and mixing it with the more synthesized sound of today. Most of the songs feature up beat Jazz styled instrumentation, with with a few darker vibed tracks thrown into the mix as well. These beats are repetitive enough to let Joey’s vocals shine through, but switch it up some bars enough to make sure you don’t get too bored. This serves the album well because while I enjoy most of the instrumentals, I have to admit, aside from a few gems, they’re not as fresh and enticing as some of Joey’s other releases.
Really though, this is a hip hop album and while I love a good beat, the star here is Joey’s actual verses and on this album he brings some of his best yet. Lyrically Bada$$ is good, but not the greatest ever. Yes his story inspiring and his rhymes often complex, but these are things many rappers posses. What really makes Joey stand out above the rest is his raw technical skills, which he has perfected since the release of 1999. Joey has a very unique voice and the way he enunciates words is audibly captivating. Furthermore, on this album he breaks out flow after flow after flow, bringing something different to each song. While the album’s beats might not be that amazing on their own, Joey fits each one like a snug glove that is oh too comfy.
But here’s always one last criteria I like to judge albums by and that is how well it showcases a musical journey. By this I mean, how easy is it for you to just press play on an album and quickly become submersed in it from front to back? I think that when a release does that it truly becomes an album instead of just a collection of songs. Unfortunately B4.Da.$$ falls a little short in this category. While all the songs are good, there is no clear progression between them, no foreseeable reason WHY Joey chose to arrange them in the order that he did. Does this take away from the quality of the songs themselves? No, but I often found myself jumping from track to track after my 2nd play through as nothing really kept me invested enough to just let the album play. Regardless though, this is a high quality album that delivers on song after song. So even if I probably won’t be sitting down and listening to this album straight through a lot, you can be sure cuts from it will be making it into my playlists for a long time to come.
The Funk Yard 