joey-badass-summer-knights

 

Joey Bada$$ has hit the scene with an immediate smash (safe to say). With the super luminous “Survival Tactics”, he took himself to the upper echelon of underground’s “next to blow”. Releasing mixtapes from himself (1999) and Pro Era (PEEP), things were on the up and up. That is until the untimely death of Capital Steez. After that, Joey had to mentally regroup. Still, he never stopped working.

 

Eventually, he promised a Summer Knights EP that actually evolved into an album. From a few listens of this album, it seems that Joey has evolved as a rhymer.

 

It seen that Joey Bada$$ has improved his overall cadences and vocal inflections.  Taking a listen to “Satellite” and you can notice how his voice has adapted to fitting perfectly with the production. More of this can be heard on “’95 Til Infinity”, “Death to YOLO”, and “Sit N Prey”. Actually, it occurs on all of the songs. Just to make note, there has been some growth demonstrated by how he takes on each different piece of music on each track.

 

The production, this time around, is still that vintage NY boom bap sound coming from a bevy of producers. He still manages to gain tracks from the likes of Kirk Knight, Chuck Strangers, and Statik Selektah. But when he also includes tracks from Oddisee (“Sorry Bonita”), Alchemist (“Joey Bada Trap Door”), and DJ Premier (“Unorthodox”), he has increased his reach amongst the more well renowned producers out there. With this project, he does something many have failed to master. Joey Bada$$, with some time and trepidation, has managed to have a lot of producers to infuse a cohesive sound.

 

With a little care toward cutting down the tracklist or coming with a cohesive theme, Joey Bada$$ is on the verge of a classic. However, this piece of work is still great. Growing more dynamic in his rhyme forms and including different producers to make it work should never go ignored. Many wondered about him hitting a sophomore slump. With Summer Knights, many will just look forward to the gains from Junior that is ready for graduation.