It reads like a who’s who of today’s biggest names in the music. Joey Bada$$ has converted a poem penned by Kanye West about McDonald’s into rap format, with the original poem published in Frank Ocean’s new online zine.
Backtracking just a tiny bit, last week saw the musical world go into meltdown over the release of a collection of new Frank Ocean content. The most significant of these was the release of his long-awaited new album Blonde, which you can read our full breakdown of here.
Also released last week was a visual album titled Endless, alongside a new zine named Boys Don’t Cry, what we originally thought would be the new album title.
It is here that we pick up our story.
One of the highlights of the zine was Kanye’s contribution, titled The McDonalds Man, effectively sparking mass cravings for fatty food throughout the internet.
KANYE WROTE A RAP ABOUT MCDONALDS FOR FRANK'S MAGAZINE, IM DEAD pic.twitter.com/qdr2Ub2YNs
— i’m mr sterling everything (@duddersj) August 21, 2016
In response to the contribution, a fresh-faced Joey Bada$$ performed the poem on New York’s HOT 97 yesterday. Joey takes things at a steady but intentional pace, alternating his flow to match the vivid descriptions of the golden arches’ menu. Bada$$ then concludes the poem with a reflective sigh, noting that it sounded “Shakespearean.” Watch the glorious footage below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt-62vLCaGY
It seems that Kanye’s latest contribution to the world of poetry isn’t just getting noticed by musicians.
Dami Lee, writer and visual artist from The Verge, was also inspired by the poem, turning it into an online picture book of sorts that you can read to your children to lull them to sleep and dreams of burgers, fries and sampled beats. Check it out here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLnA25dVzrQ
Image: Youtube
It seems fitting that, in the same week Danny Brown releases new single When It Rain, Friday hits with a triple-whammy of brilliant visuals to prove that ‘when it rains, it pours’. With names like Lil Wayne, Bishop Nehru and Joey Bada$$ making appearances — this is a welcome winter downpour.
Lil Wayne — ‘Skate It Off’
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLpkYHCKXHk]
Lil Wayne‘s love of the sport of skateboarding is well-known, and he wilfully allows it to come to the forefront for the video for Skate It Off, dancing and skating around a skate park with his crew.
In a way, it could be symbolic that Lil Wayne has released the visuals for Skate It Off only days after it was announced that a plane Weezy was on found itself forced to make an emergency landing due to the New Orleans rapper suffering seizures (now thought to be related to epilepsy). In a sense, with all the worry surrounding him right now, Weezy just wants to skate it all off!
Nyck Caution (ft. Joey Bada$$) — ‘What’s Understood’
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RP-wQQKqlcQ]
Powerhouse producer Metro Boomin collides with Pro Era talents Nyck Caution and Joey Bada$$ for this tremendous track, and accompanying video. All in all, both the track and the visuals give good backing to the sentiments expressed in a recent statement by Joey himself, who said of Nyck Caution:
“Nyck is a one of a kind passionate type of artist. I feel honoured to have him apart of my camp and label as he is a true lyricist and visionary. I am very confident in Nyck being the next up from Pro Era because he offers something new to the table that is very exciting to watch.”
With collabs this good, we’re hoping a statement like that means many more to come.
Bishop Nehru — ‘Midnight Reflecting’
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMMJbhMi-Nc]
Fresh off of dropping his latest mixtape MAGIC:19, the man MF Doom calls “a young master” has released the new video for Midnight Reflecting, the closing track on Bishop Nehru’s latest mixtape.
With the 19-year-old MC expected to release his debut solo EP (having previously released a collaborative album with the aforementioned MF Doom, titled NehruvianDOOM) later this year, all eyes are on the young man The Fader referred to as “New York’s newest pride” and this gloomy, slow-burning track/visual for Midnight Reflecting is as good a reason as any other to prove why.
Image: YouTube
In a year where many musicians are sadly passing away all too young, it’s understandable that many are feeling the nostalgia and doubting that the musicians of today will be able to hold candles to the giants they stand on. Earlier this week however, Talib Kweli came out against a Twitter user who was doing exactly that, who claimed that A Tribe Called Quest and Rakim can’t be compared to the sounds of today.
https://twitter.com/TalibKweli/status/732672904933068800?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Over a number of tweets, Talib named Run The Jewels, Joey Bada$$, Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, Rapsody, Anderson .Paak and Chance The Rapper as artists “all great, on [their] way to legend.” All of these artists are absolutely killing it at the moment – constantly releasing well-received music and each with their own distinct sound – but kind words from the one and only Talib Kweli can’t do anything but help their reputation and their self-confidence. In the same post Kweli also addressed the ease of finding good and original music in the age we live in.
“You are pretending that finding good music is harder than it used to be. That is false. It’s way easier… People forget the primary subject of real hiphop from 20-30 years ago was the ubiquitous ‘wacl MC’. Cuz there was a lot of wack shit out.”
https://twitter.com/TalibKweli/status/732686737693085697?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Indeed, when we interviewed Kweli last year he told us, ” [To Pimp A Butterfly] is an experimentation in hip-hop, it’s funk and jazz, and he’s talking about the black experience as a kid from Compton. Kendrick is the number one most popular rapper right now, with the exception of maybe Drake. So to me, that signals a really healthy market for real music… People know the names of the artists that play club music, but people have nothing invested in these artists. People have something invested in Kendrick, and Run The Jewels, and J Cole and A$AP Rocky.”
Some wise words from one of the biggest names in biz. It’s an exciting time for music that we live in, and living in the past is getting no one anywhere interesting. Let’s wait and see if Talib’s predictions are true, and these acts all become legends – we’re pretty confident they will.
Check out our review of Talib Kweli alongside Common in Melbourne here.
Image: oogeewoogee
Joey Badass has released yet another brand new track, entitled Brooklyn’s Own.
It happens to be the second single he has released recently that has been produced by DJ Statik Selektah. Joey only premiered Ready a few weeks ago on Ebro Darden’s Beats 1 Show, and now he has continued with some of that momentum that this collaboration has clearly brought him.
Brooklyn’s Own features Joey’s famed liquid flow on top of a dark and laid back beat that harkens back to his earlier mixtape-era releases. While the young rapper laments the world in which we all live in with a precision that exceeds his age. “There’s a genocide going on outside, homicide, suicide, choose a side, you decide who stays alive, who gets crucified.”
It was only last year that Joey released his debut studio album B4.DA.$$, which catapulted him into the public’s attention. The release coinciding with the rapper’s 20th birthday on January 20th. However, he first came into focus three years earlier when his debut mixtape 1999 garnered significant critical acclaim from music publications worldwide. The studio debut subsequently debuted at number five in the Billboard charts and marked him out as one to watch closely in the future.
Continuing with the hot streak, the rapper and university lecturer was also recently confirmed to star in season two of mega-hit Mr Robot. The show centres on a group of hackers who attempt to clear the world’s debts by attacking a large corporation. It will be the 21-year old’s first role as a television actor, set to star alongside Remi Malek and Christian Slater.
Listen to the killer new track below:
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Image: The Guardian
The world was captivated last year by the first season of futuristic tech-based thriller series Mr Robot. Having already received a tonne of impressive accolades – among them a slew of Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild and Critic’s Choice awards, largely recognising stars Remi Malek and Christian Slater, alongside a number of coveted film festival recognitions. Needless to say, the show was immediately commissioned for a second season.
Now, Variety reports that the series has recently begin production in New York City. With that has come announcements of new cast members and characters, including one new cast member some of us may recognise more from the stage than the screen: rapper Joey Bada$$.
Bada$$, real name Jo-Vaughn Virginie Scott, is set to have a recurring role on Leon, a “wise, philosophical” new friend of the show’s introverted protagonist Elliot (Malek). Although described as overly talkative, Leon provides the star with important life advice throughout the series. This is set to be the 21-year-old’s first foray into the world of TV acting.
Other guest stars on the second series of the acclaimed show include comedian Craig Robinson, who will play a “neighbourhood local” named Ray and Chris Conroy, alongside new addition to the regular cast, Grace Gummer.
The second season of Mr Robot is set to premiere later this year, during the US summer.
Earlier this month, Bada$$ premiered a brand new track, Ready, produced by Statik Selektah. Listen Below.
Image: Billboard
Last Friday, February 19, 21-year-old rapper Joey Badass spoke to three hundred students at New York University. The artist spoke about his life and career as an upcoming, independent hip-hop artist and more.
Bada$$ is one of many hip-hop artists to take to colleges and universities around the USA, including Killer Mike, Chance The Rapper, Lil B, RZA, GZA and Kendrick Lamar, who have all given speeches and lectures across the country regarding a wide variety of topics, including their careers, race relations, hip-hop culture, poetry and more.
Bada$$’ lectures are to take place as part of Black History Month. As well as NYU, he’ll be speaking at Harvard University next week.
https://twitter.com/sondan_/status/700790218484486145
RevoltTV attended the lecture and highlighted three important quotes from the event:
On fame: “Everyone thinks they will never change but it’s really hard when the whole world is pressuring you to.”
On passion leading to success: “The moment I chose to follow my heart I started living life.”
On Pro Era: “The whole is better than the one.”
Watch Bada$$’ temperate, poetic verse delivered to the university students:
https://youtu.be/wAJdsDfYO_w
Image: Twitter
Well this is the collaboration we never knew we wanted. Until we heard it, that is. And my goodness, it is wonderful.
As unlikely and unexpected as the collaboration may sound, it couldn’t work better. Glass Animals’ hypnotically sexual trip-hop rhythms, coupled with Bada$$’s aggressively East Coast delivery, have met smack bang in the middle to create a precise, perfect balance. As the track progresses, it shifts from Bada$$’s trappy rapping to Dave Bayley’s recognisable breathy vocals.
The end result sounds like neither act on their own. It’s something new, something dripping with cool, something that’ll hopefully turn into a fruitful relationship between the four-piece and the rapper.
The track was written by Bada$$ and Bayley, recorded the track in one crazy 12-hour session at a New York studio.
On the collab, Bayley says “got hold of Joey’s mixtape back in 2012 and was hooked. A couple months ago I heard he was into Glass Animals so I got in touch, and when I was in Brooklyn he came by the studio one night. We’re both addicted to red vitamin water so we picked some up. Then I ordered some dumplings. Then I started playing him some sounds. Within an hour we had the beat and he was like “I’m ready.” He got into the booth and put down pretty much the entire thing in one foul swoop…dude is so talented. Then I hopped in and did my bit. Then I ate my dumplings. Hopefully we’re gonna do some more stuff together at some point”.
Joey Bada$$ added, “We were in New York and the session that was supposed to start at 11am, actually started at 11pm. I fuck with Dave heavy – we understood each other’s vibe straight away and worked through the night to create this fire. Nobody got hurt.”
They have also created a short but unbelievably on-point hip-hop Spotify playlist — so if you’re digging the track, be sure to check this out too.
We didn’t ask for it, we didn’t expect it and we didn’t know we needed it. Glass Animals and Joey Bada$$ have sat down and created a 12 track Spotify playlist that will answer all your returning-from-a-long-weekend-blues.
The 12 tracks span almost two decades of hot songs, from The Fugees’ Fu-Gee-La and Biggie’s Hypnotize to the heavyweight collab track 1Train (featuring Joey Bada$$ himself), and Kendrick Lamar and Dr. Dre’s The Recipe.
It’s good to see the original No Diggity by Blackstreet featuring Dr. Dre make an appearance – I have heard it covered a few times in the last few years (even Ed Sheeran and Passenger have had a go) – but I’ve missed mmm-hmming along to the Blackstreet original.
The playlist ends with Common’s Love of My Life (An Ode to Hip Hop) which is exactly the kind of ode this playlist represents.
Glass Animals played a stellar show at Austin City Limits over the weekend and continue their tour through the US.
Hopefully everyone was able to catch Joey Bada$$ and the aptly named Listen Out, he also has a new single out that you can peep out here.
So kick off them shoes, grab a beer and let the cool change just flow over your body.
Leaks are part and parcel of being a musician these days – especially when you’re prolific on social media. It’s rare that any track, let alone an album, sees the light of day when it is actually intended to, and surprise releases are almost the norm. Most of the time we are greeted with a high quality version that reflects the final product. Sometimes however, the leaks are shoddy quality that can undermine the artistic direction and angle of the track itself.
Joey Bada$$ has taken to Twitter white on the road in Australia for Listen Out Festival, lashing out at a leaked version of his new single, titled AIM HIGH. The leaked track has been met by an overwhelmingly negative response from fans.
Regardless of whether or not the track was in its final stages or not, the internet will always jump to conclusions and be quick to voice their opinion. It’s quite refreshing to see an artist handle a leak in this way; dropping the high quality version, with production tweaks and a much better sound, instead of ignoring it and pretending it never happened.
Of course we can’t help but question the validity of the claim, but we think we’ll take the high road and believe Bada$$ for now.
https://twitter.com/joeyBADASS/status/650428124400713728
https://twitter.com/joeyBADASS/status/650428583899344896
Kudos to you, Joey Bada$$.
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Boston record producer and lover of the letter ‘K’, Statik Selektah has worked with some big hip hop names in the past. He’s produced everyone from KRS-One, G-Unit, Freddie Gibbs and Talib Kweli amongst countless others.
Two of his more frequent collaborators of late are Action Bronson and Joey Bada$$. As Statik Selektah prepares to drop new album Lucky 7 in a month, he’s gifted us all with a new song Beautiful Life featuring the two New York City MCs.
Funky as all hell, the song samples heavily from Fate by Chaka Khan (which you may have heard more famously sampled in Stardust‘s Music Sounds Better With You). The piano and the horns over that pulsating disco bass makes the fire from Bronson and Bada$$ all the more better. Consider it a nifty summertime cut to warm up your winter with.
Lucky 7 is available for pre-order on iTunes now.