Joey Bada$$ voiced his disdain for albums with more than 14 songs in a Complex interview, which was published on Tuesday (May 5). While answering a question about what to expect on his next project, the Pro Era rapper stressed his belief in a “less is more” approach when it comes to making an LP.
“The thing with this project is everyone’s going to be satisfied, and not in a way where it’s too many things on the menu,” he said. “I’m definitely not that type. You come to my restaurant, motherfucker, it’s like 10 options. I hate when motherfuckers put out an album longer than 14 songs. Nobody wants to fucking listen to that.”
Joey doubled down on his point by claiming he wouldn’t listen to any album with 25 songs — even if it was one of the best-selling artists in music history.
Notably, Drake’s 2018 effort Scorpion was a double album with 25 tracks. Even more track-heavy was Chris Brown’s last studio album Indigo, which included 42 songs on the extended version.
“Nobody’s getting through that in a day,” Joey said of lengthy albums. “Granted kids are a big part of this shit, but bro, keep that shit. I don’t care if it was Michael Jackson, I am not listening to 25 songs. Less is more in my opinion.”
Joey Bada$$ Says New Pro Era Album Is Done
The Wu-Tang: An American Saga star has practiced what he preaches for the most part. His most recent album, 2017’s ALL-AMERIKKKAN BADA$$, only featured 12 songs, but he did cross the 14-track benchmark on his debut album B4.Da.$$, which had 15 cuts (and 17 on the deluxe edition).
All of Joey’s projects have less than 20 tracks though. His breakthrough mixtape 1999 was comprised of 15 songs while his follow-up Summer Knights contained 17 cuts. His Pro Era crew’s tapes and 2019’s Beast Coast album Escape from New York also didn’t touch the 20-song mark.
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Long albums suck if the albums suck lol. I’d much rather listen to a good 20 track album over a mediocre 10. I get his sentiment, but considering he hasn’t put out anything worthwhile in forever (his last album was meh), he should just try to put out the best music he can.
I don’t think he can anymore
ITS NOT THAT SIMPLE
YES IT IS
It is for REAL ARTIST…time…and this guy ain’t dropped in 3years
He’s just mad cuz nobody cares about him like that lol Guess Biggie’s Life After Death was too much for him. Not our fault that your attention span is so low that you can’t sit still long enough to listen to an album. How pathetic..smh
I agree. It’s very hard, Damn near impossible to make a classic long album. A few who have done it:
1. Outkast
2. 50
3.2pac
4. Biggie
5. Dr Dre
I can’t think of anyone who has done it recently. Any examples?
Don’t forget 8Ball Lost. It was actually a triple disc if you include the Suave House compilation with it. Wu-Tang Forever was also a double album. It may not be a popular opinion, but I enjoyed their 2nd album way more than the 1st one. Even Eminem MMLP. UGK Underground Kingz 2007 album. Redman Muddy Waters. A few that come to mind.
Bone thugs n harmony did a double album the art of war ! Classic
Drogas Wave, I literally sat and listenened to it all the way through twice in one day. its my AOTY for 2018, the concept and depth is crazy
Stop leaning on the 90’s then…we don’t want you.
Beat
Just whinin cause he lacks the attention span or capability to make a classic album longer than 1r tracks his first release was dope hes only gonna decline from here..
Dude not our fault that your intelligence is very limited. Don’t try to lump everyone in your dumb ass group.
if the majority (or all) of the songs are good, ill listen to a long ass albums (exaple: Psychic World of Walter Reed). Short albums are for people with weak attention spans.
Need to up your attention span. Many people should
The same guy that stared at the eclipse ..
I think it’s wrong of another website to quote an interview they read from another media platform. Who’s to say that it wasn’t edited in a way to leave things out to get a better headline and now this is the headline chosen on this platform. This doesn’t seem responsible.
I dare say this “Joey Bad-arse” fellow probably never listened to the likes of Bone Thugs In Harmony’s Art of War??……. philistine.
Man I totally agree. I love albums that have quality over quantity, but some quantity I’ve been seeing is about 9 or 10 bucks for average 30 minutes. This shit is ridiculous
Different strokes for different folks. In Hip Hop, most longer albums don’t fare well because the music 99% of the time is looped, and if you are just aimlessly rapping in all directions to fit a rhyme scheme it’s easy to lose the audience. A lot of older records from different genres used to have tracks that were 15 minutes long or more (think Isaac Hayes) because it was live instrumentation. Every musician in the song got an opportunity to shine and the music evolved as the song went on. It wasn’t a 5-10 second sample looped over and over again. You can only take so much of that, I don’t care who the artist is.
Hip Hop has a lot of great MC’s but not many great song writers. That’s why these quick strike, 20 minute EP’s they drop work so well. You can show off your skill set quickly and effectively without losing the audience and you put more quality out instead of quantity. Willie The Kid for example, has been doing it for years and all of his shit is dope. DAYTONA was dope as fuck and it was 7 tracks long. I’d rather have 6-7 tracks that I can enjoy without skipping rather than 20 tracks and I wind up skipping a chunk of it.
Ur last album was garbage so I see ur stance….also we know u gearing up for ur 8 song ass EP u gonna call an album
Should change his name to Joey Whiny@$$ or Joey $u¢k@$$
Can see where he’s coming from. Always quality over quantity. I mean, there have been double albums over the years and longer albums that have been nice, but for the main part, there’s a LOT of filler.
I am not sure why some of y’all immediately jumped to the negative about this. He does have a point. For better or worse, most people won’t listen to a 25 track Project in one sitting. That is just reality. And if you look at some of the greatest albums in history, be it illmatic, enter the wu-tang, thriller, all those records were short. Sometimes you need to trim the fat, rather than dropping 20+ track album with multiple filler tracks and skits. I mean, dope is dope, but he does have a point.
Kids.
Nobody’s getting through that in a day he said. If it’s a dope album with 20 tracks of course a listener won’t get thru it in a day. If you’re a fan of someones music you’ll take days, weeks, months and even years to absorb everything and dissect every line. There albums from the 90s and 2000s i listen to til this day and i catch new things. Sometimes from how an artist articulates his rhymes, the emotion and deeper meanings. People who listened to joey badass since 2012 have been witnessing his regression for a while now. There was always conspiracy theories that he sacrficed Steez.. i didn’t want to believe it at first but now i’m starting to
Joey “Stuck in the 90’s” Bad@ss
He is trash ..if its dope its dope Trash is Trash …he has not had any material worth listening through the whole thing straight through…like 2 dope and the other part is anh…
100,000% agreed. This ain’t the No Limit Top Dogg days of 35 tracks. 12 MAX.
I mean I agree with him but B4.DA.$$ was dope af and long af
1) The Problem with his statement is, The examples he is talking about “No One is Discussing Those albums In detail as legitimate Classics” …. 2 ) In fact When you Do go in the Route He is Suggestion the same Artists end up dropping three 2 Four projects with the same year! So the same over-saturation he is discussing about, he is Partinking in it…The god Fahim and Curre$y has More Projects Than anyone But its Oversaturation at its best. But J Cole or Kendrick Can drop a project thats More effective Than any of those pieces of work Combined. I say Make a Great Piece of Work w / 5 to 6 songs thats it Excellent before you Start Suggesting a Statement Like that as your The Ultimate Tastemaker First… Joey has a Lot of Growing to Do When it Come to that ….