Between the large success of Desiigner’s “Panda” alongside Fat Joe & Remy’s “All the Way Up,” New York is having a solid year. Someone else having an enjoyable period and putting on for his city is Joey Bada$$.
“I mean, to be honest, we always been here,” the Pro Era rapper said alongside Statik Selektah during an exclusive interview with HipHopDX at Power 106’s PowerHouse concert Friday (June 3). “New York ain’t never going no where. I mean we probably got quiet a little bit, but we always here. Our presence is always dominated in this Hip Hop game.”
With all the good things happening within the Big Apple Hip Hop-wise, the recent shooting revolving around Joey’s current arch nemesis Troy Ave at the Irving Plaza, which left one dead and several wounded, had consequences.
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This included the cancelation of rap concerts from Mac Miller, Vince Staples and even Mr. Bada$$ himself. According to Sir Jo-Vaughn Scott, he has mixed feelings about the recent events. “It is what it is. I still got paid. I ain’t tripping,” he said. “But the only thing is, I don’t like for my fans to feel like they got cheated out their money. So I feel like it’s really important for me to at least come up with something because you know it’s not my fault it got canceled. NYPD, everybody can understand. Even I understand it. It’s whatever. They’re scared of Hip Hop music. It’s cool, it’s fine, I get it. I’m just want to make it back up to my fans.”
When asked about the NYPD Commissioner calling rap artists “basically thugs,” Joey Bada$$ kept his answer short and poignant.
“They been hatin’ on us,” he said. “This ain’t nothing new! I ain’t surprised at all. I ain’t surprised. It is what it is. It’s us versus them. It’s always been that way.”
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During his performance at the Honda Center, he also performed his new single “Devastated,” which represents something out of the New York boom-bap sound he’s known for.
“Luckily with ‘Devastated,’ it hit people right you know what I’m saying?” Joey Bada$$ explained. “I wanted to make something uplifting and uptempo that’s really different from all of my previous work. I mean Statik in my life is like a mentor. If I’m doing anything, if there’re any songs, like you know any new songs I make and I’ll play it for him, get his opinion on it because he’s like a Hip Hop OG I value his opinion a lot.”
Watch the DX interview with Joey Bada$$ below.
