{"id":6327,"date":"2025-09-05T14:31:23","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T19:31:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/?p=6327"},"modified":"2026-03-15T17:55:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T22:55:07","slug":"joey-bada-this-thing-is-a-competitive-art-form","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/?p=6327","title":{"rendered":"Joey Bada$$ \u2014 This Thing Is A Competitive Art Form"},"content":{"rendered":"

False narratives about the so-called decline or demise of New York rap have cropped up so often over the past two decades that, to one of the city\u2019s hip-hop natives, it can feel downright conspiratorial. So it couldn\u2019t have come as much of a surprise that someone like Joey Bada$$ would eventually step up to address the current iteration of this tiresome talking point. After all, the Pro Era figure made his name by both reveling in and refurbishing the hometown sounds of the golden age, building with his crew while seeing his own star rise.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis thing is a competitive art form,\u201d he tells Apple Music. \u201cFor people who\u2019s really passionate about this and passionate about moving that pen, we understand that.\u201d His 2025 opening move \u201cThe Ruler\u2019s Back\u201d and its subsequent rap ripostes \u201cSorry Not Sorry\u201d and \u201cPardon Me\u201d made his position known and, on some level, put him at perceived odds with certain Los Angeles denizens. \u201cI believe I\u2019m at my best when I\u2019m feeling the heat of another pen,\u201d he says, explaining how the perceived rivalry fueled his craft.<\/p>\n

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Stream Lonely At The Top<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/span> Image Courtesy Of Apple Services<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But regardless of any animosity or gossip generated amid that back-and-forth, it all led to the release of Lonely at the Top, a mixtape that fully transitions the 1999 rapper into his present era. The Chuck Strangers-produced opener \u201cDARK AURA\u201d provides a proper reintroduction, leading swiftly into the confident alliance of Joey with Westside Gunn on the ornate \u201cSWANK WHITE.\u201d In line with the flexibility of the project\u2019s format, the beats sometimes surprise, as with the R&B groover \u201c3 FEET AWAY\u201d and the Neptunes-esque throwback \u201cSUPAFLEE.\u201d Yet even when he\u2019s in more familiar musical territory on \u201cHIGHROLLER\u201d or the Statik Selektah-helmed \u201cBK\u2019S FINEST,\u201d he never sounds stale.<\/p>\n

NYC pride pervades the project, occasionally amplified by locally sourced guests like A$AP Ferg, Rome Streetz, and Pro Era pal CJ Fly. Given Joey\u2019s lyrical swipes at the West Coast that led to this moment, the presence of TDE mainstay Ab-Soul on \u201cSTILL\u201d seems less like a conciliatory olive branch than a slightly subversive act of artistic solidarity, one made even more meaningful by Rapsody\u2019s concurrent feature. \u201cI mean, I\u2019ll say we was trolling, but we had to show people that you can do this,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd it could be love afterwards\u2014and during, even.\u201d<\/p>\n

Every product\/service is selected by editors. Products\/Services you buy through these links may earn \u201cSMG\u201d a commission or revenue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

False narratives about the so-called decline or demise of New York rap have cropped up so often over the past two decades that, to one of the city\u2019s hip-hop natives, it can feel downright conspiratorial. So it couldn\u2019t have come as much of a surprise that someone like Joey Bada$$ would eventually step up to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6329,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[202,45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-audio-sessions","category-conversations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6327"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6327\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6330,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6327\/revisions\/6330"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}