Monikker Music’s weekly fresh picks:
Joey Bada$$ - “Temptation”
While the new Kendrick Lamar album distracted hip-hop fans for the last week, the smoke was still settling from the release of the new Joey Bada$$ album. It’s an excellent East Coast collection to juxtapose K. Dot’s new music. Joey’s records similarly capture his reactions to the current state of racism & cultural hypocrisy. He calls out Donald Trump often. The production is stellar; Joey sounds crisp and intelligent as usual. The first single, “Devastated,” has been out for over a year but is still a song to look forward to on the album. The second single was “Land of the Free,” a dope representation of the whole album. At times you can tell that Joey looks up to Kendrick - his flow and lyrics sound like something Kendrick would say. But this is still very much an East Coast album. As an independent artist, Joey has again scorched the charts. All-Amerikkkan Bada$$ is his second album and it’s landed at #5 on the top albums chart. I think that rappers like Kendrick Lamar & Joey Bada$$ are showing that the current social and racial environments are bringing out some of the best socially conscious rap we’ve heard in awhile - and it’s doing well on the charts. Current single “Temptation” is my fresh pick with its soulful quest for social justice.