Album of the Week: Joey Bada$$ - 2000

Kicking off his long-awaited third record with The Baddest featuring Diddy, Brooklyn’s Joey Bada$$ very tongue-in-cheekily addresses the five year gap since 2017’s All-Amerikkkan Bada$$, and by album’s end, one has to agree - Mr. Bada$$’s shit, is indeed, timeless.

Celebrating 10 years since his groundbreaking mixtape 1999 that propelled the then 17 year old to international acclaim, with his flow seemingly far beyond his years, channeling the masters of the golden era moreso than embracing the wavier side of soundcloud rap at the time, or, dare I say it… “mumble rap” (sorry). 

Now at age 27, Bada$$ has indeed kept it real while evolving as an artist, and 2000 is a testament to the fact as he showcases his lyrical skills, losing none of his bite with an equal combination of bravado and humour informing his lyrics that are always spat as smoothly as possible, his voice velvety voice perfectly complemented by whatever beat he happens to jump on. 

Across the 14 tracks on 2000, Bada$$ takes on a number of hip-hop styles, from the epic boom bap beats of Make Me Feel and Eulogy, the downtempo sing-a-long inducing Where I Belong and Show Me, the MF Doom/Metal Fingers (who gets a shout out) style sounds of Zipcodes or Brand New 911 featuring Westside Gunn, laidback G funk on Cruise Control and One of Us featuring Larry June, or the R&B styles of Welcome Back and Wanna Be Loved featuring JID. 

2000 cements Bada$$’s place as one of modern hip-hop’s most exciting talents, seemingly seamlessly bridging the old school and the new while keeping it completely badass.

The best of the rest of this week's records:

Alex the Astronaut - How to Grow a Sunflower Underwater [Warner Music Australia] AUS

Indie / Folk

Jack White - Entering Heaven Alive [Third Man Records] USA

Folk

Jamie T - The Theory of Whatever [Polydor / Universal] ENG

Indie

Jitwam - Third [Roya] IND

Electronic

ODESZA - The Last Goodbye [Foriegn Family Collective / Ninja Tune] USA

Electronic

Rico Nasty - Las Ruinas [Sugar Trap] USA

Hip Hop / Electronic

RZA - Presents Bobby Digital and the Pit of Snakes [36 Chambers] USA

Hip Hop

 The Kooks - 10 Tracks to Echo in the Dark [AWAL] ENG

Indie

The Sadies - Colder Streams [Yep Roc] USA

Alternative

Ty Segall - Hello, Hi [Drag City] USA

Folk