Joey Bada$$ celebrated his 20th birthday by not only giving fans a free record with "Born Day" but by dropping off his debut album B4.DA.$$. Not many 20-year olds can say they did that, let alone have accomplished as much as Joey has in such a small amount of time.
The Pro Era rapper became a star overnight thanks to the '90s-infused sounds of his first mixtape 1999. His debut album is no different, packing in as much influence from '90s hip-hop as possible. On his born day, the rapper hit up our offices for an interview about the new album, Pro Era and more.
Joey opens by discussing how he'll gauge the success of his debut album, and he's not planning to pay much mind to the critics or the sales, it's all about the fans. "At the end of the day to me, what confirms it in my heart is the people. And right now I'm seeing nothing but genuine love. I just sold a couple on the street myself. That feels good to say, like word up, I could sell my music and people would be happy to buy it," he says.
The rapper surprised many with his "Teach Me" single featuring Keisza. The rapper explains the concept behind it, "The thing with that song "Teach Me," it's foreign to a lot of people, but in no way, shape or form is it foreign to me. Dancing is a big part of my life, more than people know. It's a side of me that I've never really exposed to the outside world. Just growing up in Brooklyn, one of the ways we would stay out of trouble is by dancing, it was this like Caribbean dancing called Shotta dancing. That was a good era cause it kept a lot of kids out of trouble."
Although Joey has 'Bada$$' tacked on to his name, it's safe to say he generally avoids getting into trouble, so the dancing may have worked. Maybe if Bobby Shmurda had done more shmoney dancing he wouldn't be in his current situation-- a situation which Joey addressed on his recent "Born Day" song.
The rapper spit, "'cause where was OG Bobby Johnson to tell young Shmurda he had some better options."
We asked him about this line in particular, to which he responded,
"What I meant by that line is, everyone is going around saying OG Bobby Johnson, but do you know the story of OG Bobby Johnson? He came home, and he got his shit together, he got that knowledge of self, and that's what he was tryna push on to the young brothers. So where was he to tell Bobby Shmurda that, you know, what it really is? I can identify with it, cause what I see is one of my brothers being crucified for what we're essentially responsible for him representing. It hurts me, it effects me, I don't wanna see none of my brothers go down like that. I don't know Shmurda personally, but it's someone that looks just like me, you feel me. Even with the recent incidents of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, these are all brothers that are just like us, and, even watching the movie 'Fruitvale Station', that movie brought tears to my eyes cause these are all situations that could happen to any of us."
As the interview came to a close, Joey reveals he already has a "direction" for his next project, and he promises Kirk Knight and Nyck Caution are up next from Pro Era. Watch the full interview below.
Cop B4.DA.$$ on iTunes now!