Album Review: B4.DA.$$ by Joey Bada$$

Joey Bada$$ first caught my attention (as well Jay-Z's) with his mixtape 1999, and I've been waiting for his first big project ever since.  The Brooklyn rapper and figurehead of the Pro Era hip-hop collective is only 20 years old, but with his commercial debut, B4.DA.$$, he has laid a solid foundation for a prosperous career.

The production credits on the album are impressive for such a young talent.  The usual Pro Era cohorts Chuck Strangers and Kirk Knight are present, but this times among names like Statik Selektah, DJ Premier, Hit-Boy, The Roots, and even J Dilla.  Typical to his New York style, heavy bass lines and boom-bap beats run throughout the project, accompanied by occasional scratching or a flare of keys and horns.  Most notably is DJ Premier's haunting work on the track "Paper Trails", which hangs in the back of your mind for the rest of the album.

However, if I had to put B4.DA.$$ into one (possibly less confusingly abbreviated) word, it would be flow.  At 20 years old, Bada$$ has a fascinating ability to toy with words and manages to find the most poignant way to get a point across.  His flow is rabid and gritty on tracks like "No. 99" and "Christ Conscious".  Just when I found myself thinking that angry Joey was the only Joey I wanted to hear, tracks like "On & On" (the expected tribute track to Pro Era rapper, Capital Steez) and "Curry Chicken" bring out a mellower, more reflective style of rap.  

However, there are a few spots on the album where Bada$$ leaves room for improvement.  The only area he really shows his youth is when multiple tracks run a minute longer than needed.  Maybe some of this blame should fall on production, but it seems like Joey has this bad habit of making a catchy hook, but then overdoing it.  For example, "Big Dusty" is a fantastic track, but the repetetive "Ch-ch-check it out" is just draining by the end.  A small complaint indeed, especially since it is made up for with interesting transitions. 

Joey Bada$$ didn't branch out much on this album, and why would he?  B4.DA.$$ is exactly what a debut project should be...genuine.  Bada$$ isn't doing anything that drastically different from his mixtapes of the past, but the fact is that he is doing it better.  In the coming years, he'll eventually branch out and start changing up sounds, but for now Bada$$ is sticking to his roots.  New York hip-hop is back, and a 20-year-old is leading the way AS he's getting better.

Overall: 8/10

"Oh great, another music blog"...NOT SO FAST, NAYSAYER

I have typed out this first sentence at least 20 times, so I’m confident there isn’t a way to say “music is basically all I care about” without sounding like a melodramatic 6^th grader.  Yet, it’s pretty true.  I’m one of the only people I know who still buys CDs.  I work at Hard Rock Café, where I spend most of my time watching the music videos.  When I match with someone on Tinder, the first message I always send is “Top 5 favorite bands go” (So far, the ladies have not been super receptive to this opener). The point is, music is a priority.

Another favorite pastime is telling people what I think (insert shameless link to my Twitter here).  It’s part of the reason I’m studying journalism at Temple University, but it’s also why I started this blog.

When I first started to pursue music journalism as a career, I noticed that I had to go to dozens of different sites to get content on the various genres I prefer. GenRegardless is my attempt to break away from that.  Maybe a bit selfishly, I created GR so that I could post music news and reviews that I care about, regardless of genre.  From pop punk to hip-hop, hardcore to bluegrass, this blog is a culmination of what’s going on in MY music world.

GenRegardless as a concept dates back to my sophomore year of college, but it’s taken on a couple forms since then.  The GR logo has graced a short-lived WordPress site, a tumblr, and of course a Facebook page, but the site was put on the back burner as a result of work, classes, and my pesky lack of motivation/self-esteem. GenRegardless has been resurrected yet again, but this time there is an outside force that will not let me give up.  Sure, that outside force is a grade, as this rebirth is thanks in part to my Blogging and Journalistic Branding course, but nevertheless, I have no choice but to stick with it this time.

In the coming months, I hope to shake off the rust and make the content of GenRegardless better than ever.  In the near future, expect a preview and predictions for the upcoming Grammy Awards.  However, future posts will include news and commentary on events and musicians, as well as my favorite posts, reviews on albums, singles, and performances.  I’d like to also get more comfortable with using video as a means of reviewing and possibly starting a YouTube series, but we can cross that bridge when we get to it.

The biggest change I’m looking forward to is engaging with you, the reader.  When I write a review, I present my opinions in a way that portrays them as fact.  I’m supposed to be persuading you to agree with me, but nothing makes me happier than an intelligent disagreement.  My goal with GenRegardless is the same for myself, to be immersed in music without boundaries.  My hope is that through the help of the readers, I will be challenged to listen to and write about music that I’ve never heard before, so that GenRegardless can truly live up to its name.

Maybe someday GenRegardless will be the next Rolling Stone or Pitchfork (two favorites/inspirations of mine).  For now, it’ll serve as the ramblings of a music head running out of co-workers and roommates to annoy with his thoughts on this month’s new albums.

And just in case we never match on Tinder, my top 5 are The Allman Brothers Band, Kanye West, Bob Dylan, Brand New, and Modest Mouse.