Joey Bada$$ Explains Real Reason Behind His 'Raising Kanan' Departure

Joey Bada$$ has revealed that, while he enjoyed the support of his fans during his turn as Unique on Power Book III: Raising Kanan, his supporters may be just as excited about his reason for leaving.

TMZ caught up with the rapper-turned-actor and his girlfriend Serayah in New York City and asked how he felt once he learned his character was being written off of the popular Power spinoff. However, he chalked it up to the professional balancing act he’s been doing over the past couple of years.

“I was very mad. I was upset,” the Pro Era MC said. “Unfortunately, I do have two careers that I’m balancing. So I had to go on tour, and we just kinda couldn’t make it work. So they had to take out Unique. Who knows, though. Maybe we can start a petition or somethin and tell 50 Cent to bring me back.”

While he didn’t offer any specifics about the tour, he did offer an update about when fans can expect new music.

“New music is coming, definitely soon. This month, actually. This is my birthday month, so I’m definitely gon’ put something out in a couple weeks,” said the rapper who will celebrate his 29th birthday on January 20.

Check out the clip below:

Fans may have already heard a snippet of the forthcoming single.

Early last month, Joey Bada$$ posted a video of himself in the desert decked out in a traditional thobe while performing what seems like a song dedicated to his girlfriend — once again disproving rumors of a breakup last spring and as recently as last month.

“Sometimes I trip on just how happy we could be / fuck it girl, let’s take a trip, drop all your shit and let’s leave / you ain’t gotta worry about a thing, got everything that you need / anything that you please, girl just follow my lead baby,” he’s heard rapping over the track.

On Thursday (January 4), a fan on X (formerly Twitter) responded to a tweet in which the rapper said he was ready to drop new music, by asking about “that snippet you posted on IG;” to which he responded: “If you talking bout the one in the sand I got you!!”

On December 31, the Brooklyn native marked the end of his longest running role by sharing a video montage of Kadeem “Unique” Mathis from over the course of the first three seasons of Raising Kanan, to many fans’ dissappointment.

“Unique Forever,” he captioned the post about the fan-favorite character played by him. “Much love to my @raisingkananstarz family. It was an honor and pleasure.”

In an interview with PEOPLE that was published last week, Joey Bada$$ talked about his three-season run and how fans will react to his departure from its narrative.

About playing Unique, he said: “This type of role was something that I held back on playing for a long time because I just didn’t want to get pigeonholed into being a drug dealer-type of actor because I was a rapper. I felt like that was so close to home.

“I wanted to show people — with things like [the short film] Two Distant Strangers and Mr. Robot — that I had range, but I felt like this role came at the right time, and it was perfect.”