Joey Bada$$, a young Brooklyn MC who turned 20 on the release date of this album, has long been an underground favorite of mine. This kid raps with impressive technical ability, and he really excels when it comes to wordplay and lyrics. His debut mixtape, 1999, is one of my favorite projects, but it came out in 2012 and Joey has not made anything better since. Now, having gone all of 2014 without any music, Joey starts 2015 with his debut studio album, B4.DA.$$.
This album was a solid collection of tracks and a perfectly fine debut for Joey. He pretty much did what he does best here, which is taking you back to that 90's sound and giving a nostalgic vibe. Joey had enough variety on this album, though, to keep it interesting. Songs like Save the Children, Paper Trails, On & On, and Curry Chicken showed Joey's main forte the most. On these, the beats were relaxed, chill, and old-school. Joey rapped over these with ease and these songs all sounded very smooth. My favorite tracks B4.DA.$$, though, were the ones where Joey brings more energy. My favorite track by far here was Christ Conscious. Joey came off so hungry on this track, and the beat knocked with a lot of aggression. I want to hear Joey do tracks like this more often, because he sounds a lot better when he has this angry rasp to his voice. Another track I liked was Big Dusty, where Joey rapped extremely well. He had tons of punchlines, the hook sounded great, and this was the perfect beat for him made by Pro Era teammate Kirk Knight. I can't go without mentioning No. 99, another track that brought serious aggression and had some fun catchiness to it.
Even though I absolutely loved the energetic songs here, there were some tracks on B4.DA.$$ that I enjoyed for very different reasons. The main example: Escape 120. This song was very unlike anything I have ever heard Joey do, and it was pretty abstract for him. Oddly enough, this song had a very Outkast-y vibe going for it, which is a good thing. It was very chill, and had an interesting beat. Raury, the guest MC on the track, had a pretty weird, but entertaining verse that I liked a lot. I loved the song On & On as well. This song had it all: a fun beat, solid rapping from Joey, and very catchy, well done hook. There weren't any flaws with this song, and it sounded really good. Joey had a fantastic personal track too, with OCB. He touched on his past here, his upbringing, and how being an only child made him the way he is today. While I liked a majority of the tracks here, this album runs into the usual Joey Bada$$ problem: replay value. These songs are good, but there isn't really anything that compels me to play them over and over again, with the exception of Christ Conscious. B4.DA.$$ isn't an album I'll have in constant rotation, but I enjoyed it for what it was and it was a very solid debut for Joey's young career.
B4.DA.$$ WRAP UP
+Joey sounds great rapping, his technical skill is always there
+Classic, nostalgic instrumentals
+Very, very smooth
+Variety
-Some really boring tracks
-Not a lot of replay value
Best: Big Dusty, Christ Conscious, Escape 120
Worst: Hazeus View
Joey Bada$$- B4.DA.$$
7.6/10
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