The world of rap music seems to be split; on one end you have the meme worthy, ear worm focused rappers who are simply there to have fun and make money, and maybe be a guilty pleasure for certain music nerds... On the other end you have MCs who are truly trying to further the art of hip-hop, guys like Mick Jenkins, Freddie Gibbs, Kendrick Lamar, and the star of this album review, Joey Bada$$. Now I've been a fan of Joey's since his 1999 mixtape, even though that tape could be a bit too laid back in spots. On his next solo mixtape, Summer Knights we saw Joey working with a more aggressive flow and even more lyrical ability, but the tape felt a little aimless; the time was right for Joey to come out with a debut that fused the best elements of these two mixtapes; enter B4.DA.$$.
A title that obviously can be read two ways, but the clear intent is to convey that Joey is going to tell stories about how his life was before he was a young hip hop star. Funnily enough, the first half of this album doesn't really touch on these kinds of stories, instead we get a lot of brags and a couple of Joey's best bangers with "No.99" and "Christ Conscious". The only track that does tell a story about Joey's past in an explicit fashion is the fantastic "Paper Trail$" where Joey not only touches on the fact that growing up without money was tough, but also that money is the motivating force behind all people, sometimes leading them to ruin their lives in pursuit of it.
However, the second half of the album really starts to get personal, especially the last three tracks with tracks like "O.C.B" which stands for "only child blues" where Joey reminisces about growing up as an only child and how he found comfort in music. We also get the incredible closer, "Curry Chicken" which tells a story about Joey and his Mom, inter cut with a sample of Joey's mom.
The song subjects and lyrics are universally strong, but what I found really impressive on this album were the beats. They range from laid back cuts that sound very similar in tone to stuff we've heard on projects like 1999, but we also get more aggressive moments that remind me of tracks from that Pro Era mixtape, and maybe that last FlatBush Zombies record. The only real anomaly here (if you don't count bonus tracks) is "Escape 120" which has a beat that is really reminding me of like Stankonia era Outkast, specifically "B.O.B", and that feeling is only driven home with the feature on here, Raury sounding almost exactly like Andre 3000 did on that track.
Overall this album has a pretty even mix of laid back and aggressive moments, though I would have loved another "No.99" type song; luckily, I think this album is exactly what I wanted from Joey Bada$$. It has a lot of excellent tracks and is easily this guys most solid effort from top to bottom.
9.0/10
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