JOEY BADA$$ IS BACK WITH LONELY AT THE TOP, A VERSATILE BODY OF WORK, JOEY ASSERTING DOMINANCE

Joey Bada$$ has always garnered a lot of attention, and that since he was 17 years old when he released 1999, his first mixtape. When we think about the greats, we often mention Nas’ Illmatic, which he dropped when he was only 21 years old, and went on to become arguably one of the best hip-hop albums of all time. Jay-Z released Reasonable Doubt when he was 27 years old and many rappers didn’t blow up until they were in their mid-thirties. Joey Bada$$ has had a career run spanning 13 years (at the very least) and he’s only turned 30 this year. 1999 is widely considered to be amongst the best mixtapes in Hip-Hop history, so expectations were high in the early 2010s, when Joey Bada$$ came up. New York City hadn’t seen such a raw talent since Nas burst onto the scene in 1994. All of this meant Joey Bada$$ was under the spotlight when he was only a teenager, and it all happened so fast, when he came up with PRO ERA, his close friends.

Amongst those were the late Capital STEEZ, CJ Fly, Kirk Knight, Nyck Caution, Dessy Hinds, Dirty Sanchez 47, Rokamouth, Aaron Rose, J.A.B. and Jakk Da Rhymer, along with producers Chuck Strangers and Powers Pleasant. When 1999 dropped, both Joey Bada$$ and Capital STEEZ battled it out, as two friends would do, and they brought out the best out of each other, as we can hear on Survival Tactics:

When Joey Bada$$ dropped 2000 three years ago now (how?!), there were no doubts in my mind that he was still amongst the best New York had to offer, and that, despite those criticising his work ethic within the rap game, saying that he had branched out into acting and other ventures and forgotten to focus on the music. To those people - who simply couldn’t be any wronger -, I say one thing: listen to this body of work and tell me Lonely At The Top doesn’t sound like the emcee is at his very best. In 2022, Joey Bada$$ had already collaborated with some heavyweights on his album, with Larry June, Westside Gunn, P Diddy, JID, Chris Brown and Capella Grey all appearing on the record.

After a successful year for Joey Bada$$ in 2022, he spent times touring around the world in 2023, releasing his music video for Show Me. A rather quiet 2024 for the Brooklyn native had people wonder what he had in store, but it was without counting Joey Bada$$’s acting career in 2024, reprising his role of Unique in Power: Raisng Kanan. 2025 was a strong start from Joey Bada$$, dropping The Ruler’s Back on the 1st of January 2025, telling people he really was back, throwing subliminal shots in in the process:

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DARK AURA: SPITTING A LOT OF KNOWLEDGE OUT, SOME FRUSTRATION, REMINDING PEOPLE HE’S STILL PUTTING HIS FOOT ON THEIR NECKS

SWANK WHITE: SPEAKS ABOUT HIS WEALTH, FEELING LONEY AT THE TOP. DIVERSIFYING HIS ASSETS, BEING HIS OWN HOMIE SINCE HE TURNED 18. BEING SURROUNDED BY STONE COLD KILLERS HIS WHOLE LIFE. NEVER LOST HIS HUNGER, JUST HAS A DIFFERENT TYPE OF APPETITE. WESTSIDE GUNN TALKING HIS FLY SHIT.

SUPAFLEE: NOT A BEAT I HEARD JOEY SPIT ON BEFORE. FAST CADENCE FROM JOEY BADASS. BRI STEVES BRINGING HER STYLE AND COMPLEMENTS JOEY REALLY WELL, LETTING THE SONG BREATHE BEFORE JOEY GOES CRESCENDO AND GOES HARD TOWARDS THE END OF THE SONG. A VERY GOOD SONG TO SET UP THE THEME OF THE PROJECT: JOEY SAYING IT’S LONELY AT THE TOP. A GOOD ATMOSPHERE THAT SETS UP HIGHROLLER WELL.

HIGHROLLER: YET ANOTHER STYLE BRINGING A GUEST LIKE KEIZ2BUSY, FERG USING FEW CADENCES, NOT AS IMPACTFUL AS IT COULD HAVE BEEN AND THE SONG ULTIMATELY DOESN’T STICK, EVEN WITH ITS HOOK, BUT IT IS LIGHT, AND EASY TO LISTEN TO.

READY TO LOVE: FEATURING TY DOLLA $IGN, SETTING UP JOEY NICELY, BEFORE HE GETS IN HIS BAG: “I NEED THE QUEEN TO MESS MY KING JUST LIKE THE CARTERS” […] “LOVE IS LIKE A LEARNING GAME, NOBODY TAUGHT US, WE COULD EITHER BURN IN FLAMES OR BE WATER, OR TRY TO BE A BETTER MAN FOR MY DAUGHTER, TRYING TO THINK BROADER, BUT THE WAY THAT I WAS BROUGHT UP HAD ME COLDER, I LET SOME GOOD ONES GET AWAY FROM ME."

BK’S FINEST: THE PERFECT TRACK. FROM TOP TO BOTTOM. THE PRODUCTION, THE BACK AND FORTH BETWEEN ALL FOUR STARS ON THE TRACK. THE BROOKLYN REPRESENTATION AND THE WAY EVERYTHING FLOWS TOGETHER, PLUS THE OUTRO= A DIVINE TRACK.

UNDERWATER: A VERY INTERESTING SONG, A SONG THAT WILL HAVE YOU PAYING ATTENTION TO EVERY LITTLE DETAIL, FROM THE PRODUCTION TO JOEY’S DIFFERENT APPROACHES. A VERY DEEP RECORD

3 FEET AWAY: ANOTHER DIFFERENT APPROACH. JOEY’S LAID BACK FLOW IS MUCH CALMER THAN WHAT WE HEARD ON DARK AURA, TWO COMPLETELY DIFFERENT TRACKS, TWO UNIVERSES.

SPEEDIN’ THROUGH THE RAIN: WOW. JUST WOW. YOU’LL REMEMBER.

STILL: AMAZING TRACK, FEELS LIKE A SURREAL EXPERIENCE LISTENING TO THE PREVIOUS TWO SONGS, ALTHOUGH THEY HAVE DIFFERENCES, THEY’RE BOTH INCREDIBLE TRACKS.

LONELY AT THE TOP: NICE LITTLE SAXOPHONE PLAYING, DRUMS COMING IN, JOEY REPRISING GURU’S MOMENT OF TRUTH IN HIS HOOKS. JOEY TALKS ABOUT HIS ONCE-FRIENDS SWITCHING UP ON HIM BECAUSE HE MADE IT, HAVING TO NAVIGATE A LIFE OF FAME,

By Leo Hewitt-Provost

He then proceeded to release Sorry Not Sorry, produced by Conductor Williams, serving as a standalone track.

95 Til Infinity is arguably considered to be Joey Bada$$’s best ever song

Joey Bada$$ kept on working hard until Dark Aura was released just weeks before Lonely At The Top came out.