"B4.DA.$$" by Joey Bada$$ [Album Review]

B4.DA.$$, pronounced “before the money”, is Joey Bada$$’ first major label album. The album successfully treats the listener with sharp wordplay and strong narratives along the central themes of Joey Bada$$’ life, seamlessly blended in with the hardships of the modern, adolescent black community as a whole.Joey Bada$$’ debut album was released almost three years after his debut mixtape, 1999. In the current hip hop landscape where artists make multi-million dollar record deals a month after a song goes viral from a Vine, it’s astounding that Joey waited that long. I’m glad he did. In the past 3 years, his life has been tumultuous, to say the least. His debut mixtape was released when he was 17 and featured him and his crew, Pro Era, rapping exclusively on classic, late 90s east coast beats. The tape was almost universally lauded for the maturity and nostalgia of the project, and after that he went on to release a pepper of other, slightly gloomier projects.Shortly after, however, his best friend and second most promising rapper from Pro Era, Capital Steez, commit suicide (or was murdered as many YouTube-comment conspiracy theorists still argue). A young black teenager hailing from Brooklyn who was already familiar with the institutionalized racism found especially in the NYPD, then went on to live through one of the biggest modern day civil rights movements sparked by the Mike Brown and Eric Garner case. Joey has undeniably been through a lot, and his album definitely shows it.The album itself consists of 15 tracks with two bonus songs, and each song really takes you into Joey’s world of living in this post-racial New York City, dealing with the trials of growing up, while simultaneously looking at America as a decaying society that only our youth could salvage. He keeps cycling between this personal narrative and commentary on America, and thankfully never gets too preachy or self-righteous. The first 3 songs revolve around the idea that money will save him, and every kid like him, out of the hood, while also corrupt them with greed and will cause them to lose goals. In “Paper Trail$” he says, “Before the money it was love, but before the money it was tough” and “It’s the dollar-dollar bill y’all, it’s the dollar bill that kills y’all”.He’s been rapping since the age of 11 and after the release of 1999 and his semi-mainstream recognition, things have gotten fairly out of hand for him. In fact, a famous article by Fader magazine, which chronicled the life and mystery of Capital Steez, credited their growing fame to be a significant reason Steez killed himself. With this album, especially compared to his gloomy and uninspired second mixtape Summer Knights, he’s going back to the love of rapping, hence “before the money”. The next few songs are more personal and chronicle his personal trials of identity and his memories. Especially potent is “Big Dusty”, which is a grimy, dark song full of braggadocio and aggression. “See these foes biting the flows, they even jooks the pose, I guess my CD really shaking the coast” serves as a diss to every east coast rapper that has come along since Joey, and the song immediately transitions to Caribbean influenced “Hazeus View”, offering a nostalgic look at his childhood and connection to his family heritage.Joey himself co-directed the brand new music video for album highlight “Like Me”, a song so representative of his work that it deserves its own analysis. It is easily his most layered and nuanced track to date, with several narratives overlapping. The song begins with him talking about a girl and how “[his] cockiness will boost her confidence, then you gon’ wonder where your highness went”. This is a common lyrical motif, of taking your girl, but we have to recall Joey Bada$$ is only 20 years old and often times, romance is at the forefront of all thought at this age. However, further on in the song he drifts away from the topic to talking about how even though he wants to do regular teenager things, like get into fights with the girl’s ex boyfriend, he’s scared because “cats get decapitated for actin’ a fool, blacks get their ass sprayed just for makin’ a move”. The song makes a transition here and begins explicitly referencing the failures of the prison system, and once again calls out the NYPD and other police departments for their unlawful brutality.Joey is seriously affected by a lot of the things are happening and gets very introspective on the verses of this song. He talks about how even with his fame and legacy, the place he calls home isn’t letting him flourish. He also, however, realizes that he has it better than many and asks why he is so much more blessed than his “brothers whose souls now rest in peace”. Here the song dramatically changes, with the beat changing as well. He starts rapping about what he wants to be and how in the end, he “just wanna be free”. The song ends with a repeating refrain of “I pray there’s hope for a nigga like me”.The rest of the album follows similar themes of personal nostalgia/goals and the hope for true equality. Album highlights “Big Dusty”, “Like Me”, and “O.C.B” are truly representative of this work as a whole, but each track is a different nuanced look at the overall themes. The album ends with a bonus track featuring Kiesza, most famous for her features in big pop and EDM songs. Although many considered this to be a sellout, the track has a deliciously 90’s R&B, upbeat flavor to it, making it a personal favorite. The album arrived at a very interesting time of contemporary history. Race relations have not been this tense since the Rodney King riots in the early 90’s, back when rap was extremely lyrically relevant; reaching the mainstream for the first time. With the new politically conscious releases by Lupe Fiasco, J. Cole, Kendrick Lamar, and now Joey Bada$$, we are recognizing a new era of hip hop which, in the future, may have a direct effect on youth ideology. Joey, of course, has always known this, and that is where this album truly shines. He wants to be the new role model for lower to middle class black kids, making them conscious and aware of the inequalities and hardships of life, so one day they can change the world. I think he succeeded.I give this album 4.5/5 stars.Athreya Alur (The Injuns) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nr_Gzz6ZRaE