I can't believe Joey Bada$$'s last album came out 5 years ago in 2017, where the fuck does the time go?
4 Minute Read
It's actually insane to think ALL-AMERIKKAN BADA$$ was half a decade ago. I mention this, and reminisce on this period as one of the vital moments in my journey to this point. There were 3 large albums of 2017 that really brought me in to what was going on with contemporary Hip Hop, ALL-AMERIKKAN BADA$$ being one of those albums, I Decided Big Sean being another, and DAMN by Kendrick Lamar being the last. Before this year, it was fair to say I was quite a staunch old-head, but 2017 in particular opened my mind and broadened my horizons, and I think it's fair to say, without the transition of my opinion, and these 3 albums, I wouldn't be writing this right now. I always thought, next time Joey Bada$$ drops something, it'd be appropriate to mention this.
Being the official, or unofficial, sequel to Joey's 2012 project 1999, 2000 is a glitzy, chilled out, smooth collection of songs where Joey updates you on his glamourous and successful, 2022 lifestyle. Where 1999 felt rugged and gritty, 2000 displayed grandeur and gloss. Since Joey's last album, he has modelled, acted, and his years have been filled with riches. When I listen to this record I see gold and bronze colours. Joey's early work is full of hope and expectation, this album is full of reflection and pride. On the track appropriately named, 'Where I Belong', Joey raps "focused on the present, know my presence is a gift, just so happen to be good at rappin', that would be my niche".
Early on in the tracklist we have Brand New 911 featuring Westside Gunn. This song has some nice off-kilter horns which play nicely into creating a dreary feel to the song. Westside Gunn's verse was pretty quintessential for him as he persistently plays by his own rules. However, with quite an underwhelming chorus, there's nothing to write home about in regard to this track. Cruise Control follows with a hook that on the exterior is bland, but when you dig into the lyrics can see the coldness of it. There was a fun homage to Big Pun's track It's So Hard, but way before that section there is a beautiful little flow in the first verse when Joey's says "had to cut the dead weight, just so I could elevate and levitate. now let me set the record straight".
Following Cruise Control, in comes Eulogy with this incredible beat that sounds in some ways nostalgic, in so many ways 90's, and every so slightly like something DOOM could rap on. I'm not sure how much of a eulogy this song actually is, to find a song that sticks to that theme very closely, check out And the Eulogy Read!? by Grip, but what I can say is, the hook is incredibly smooth, the vocal effects on the final verse were cool and experimental, but most of all, his flow and rhyme schemes were tiiight. I like the scheme and flow from the first verse where he says "but they know I gotta do me if we gon' eat, so I proceed to unleash the beast, and decease the beast, let me speak my peace, and if you reach I teach, I'm only here because I'm known in the streets, I ain't proud about it but I wouldn't ride without it, ayy, push me to my limit, bet you see I'm bout it, bout it".
The following track Zipcodes again had nice horns in the chorus section, a good MF DOOM shoutout and some really nice wordplay in verse 2 where he says "a hundred thousand and you ni**as only master masturbation, ya'll some pro's at procrastination". Joey was really going for it on the wordplay side of things, as well as the braggadocios content. There's definitely nothing wrong with brag-rap, especially for someone who has come such a long way in their life - it is great to see, however, we will talk about this at the end, but I'm not sure an album with this much, brag-rap is exactly what I expected.
One of us has a great sample and sounds full and soulful, Joey was comfortable over the beat and again came through super confident with a generally light-hearted warmth. His rhyme schemes impressed on here - "only A-list RnB honey's you can see him with, any rumour you heard about him you should believe the shit, I pull up in the cleanest whip, Nike SB's in coordination with the GC3". Welcome Back is a sexy RnB-Hip Hop fusion featuring Chris Brown, who's voice I found annoying, and because I personally haven't heard too much from him recently, dated this track.
Show Me, which heavily sampled Show Me How by Men I trust (thanks Ben for telling me that), for the chorus, and instrumental, which was great and extremely soothing and made for a bit of a laid-back sleeper but in the best way. We also see a much more vulnerable side to Joey on here which felt rare on 2000, so this track was also a real refresher in the albums play. JID's feature on Wanna Be Loved added some well-needed diversity to the texture of the sound, JID did this by implementing his quicker, double-time flows which tap-danced on top of the drums at the end of his verse once the drums come back in, because there is a section where he is rapping without any drums mid-way through his verse.
Then we get to the last 3 tracks where the content ramps up and we get to the most substance. Head High is an interesting storytelling moment where Joey details his relationship and friendship with the late XXXTENTACION - this is in the second verse of the track. He talks about his first impressions of X, how Joey listened to X's album and X took well to the constructive criticism Joey lent him. The line, in reference to Joey's other late friend Capital Steez, I thought was really poignant, Joey says about X whilst reflecting on Steez, "when he played me his album I told him what he was missin', a lot of ni**as woulda took that shit different, woulda thought I was dissin', instead we found a beat and started riffin', shit had me reminiscing', had me thinkin' about Steelo now I can see his vision".
Survivor's Guilt, which was dropped as a single prior to the album release was a huge, and long-awaited moment for Joey. The hook was beautiful and simple, so were the drums, and you can also hear Joey's genuine and real sadness in his voice as he discusses first the loss of his close friend Capital Steez to suicide several years ago, as well as the loss of his older cousin, Junior B. The content here is very emotional and hits the hardest and heaviest of all the content on the record. Joey makes some interesting points about how mental health and suicide was looked at very differently a few years ago and was certainly not in the mainstream conversation the same way it is now. This track reminds me slightly of You're Never Over by Eminem with his tribute to his best friend Proof. Both songs were expected but came out many years after their deaths and were the first time the rappers had made a song in tribute to their late friends (Eminem had Difficult but that was leaked so can't count that). And both songs display the rappers hoping to have made their deceased friends proud, and I have no doubt that they both have.
Written in the Stars had a mixed bag in term of wordplay, I liked the line "what's the aftermath God ni**as get shady", but I didn't like the line "say my stock like a teenage cock, it stays up". Written in the Stars, like Survivors Guilt was one of the longer tracks, but instead of being incredibly personal, drew more into that braggadocios and reflective style.
I am really wrestling with my opinions on this album. As you can see, there are a lot of elements I like about this album, most notably the lyricism and some of the beat choices. I'm just not entirely certain the project had the depth of content I expected or I believe Joey is capable of. Yes, we got those 3 tracks at the end and some sprinklings of vulnerability, but there was a whole-load of brag-rap. Off the top of my head, you can hear Joey bragging in some form on Zipcodes, One of Us, Eulogy, Cruise Control, Written in the Stars and Welcome Back. Like I said before, there is nothing wrong with someone bragging, especially when they have the success and the story to back it up, but I guess I wasn't ready for that on here. ALL-AMERIKKAN BADA$$ has heavy political messaging, and I'm expecting Joey's themes to evolve of course, but there is no doubt that this album is mostly a move away from conscious rap in any form. Joey can rap about whatever the hell he wants to, but do I think the content on here slightly wears thin? Yes. See the skit at the end of Zipcodes which ironically captures the essence of the album in its words.
Am I holding Joey to an unfair standard? Maybe. Here's part of my confliction, last year my favourite album of the year was The House is Burning by Isaiah Rashad, is that album overly conscious? Not at all and probably even less-so than this album. And in my opinion, Rashad is a way-less capable lyricist compared to Joey, however, The House is Burning is just as much a vibe as 2000, the beats are way harder and the hooks have way more charisma. In terms of the type of content it was making, The House of Burning was bang-on. I guess if you're someone who is in to the lyrical side of things, the rhyme schemes and the flows, or maybe you're a boom-bap head who prefers that classical sounding instrumentals, or lastly you may be someone who is really into conscious rap, then I believe you will have more fun with Conway the Machine's new album, Kendrick Lamar's new album, Logic's new album and Westside Boogie's new album that all came out this year.
Where would I listen to this album?
This album would work well in a social situation as back-ground music, or with a group of any number of people and you just want to chill out together and play some tunes.
Overall, some great pieces of lyricism and some potent moments that were crucial for this album. But much of the album felt slightly one-note. As one-off tracks they are all mostly solid, the tracklist ranges from bland to brilliant, but in sequence I would say this album falls short of his previous album in 2017.
Star Track - Show Me
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