Checking In With Joey Bad@$$

The guys check in with Joey Bad@$$ to talk his new mixtape "Lonely At The Top", how he was able to take on the whole west coast, and how his acting career has taken off #volume

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
All right, Rory, we are back today.

Speaker 3 (00:09):
We are joined by somebody who we've had some conversations
about throughout the year, throughout the years of one of
the biggest troublemakers in hip hop.

Speaker 4 (00:20):
That's what it is.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
No, no, no, it's pretending to sit this way so
he doesn't look like.

Speaker 3 (00:24):
Yeah, he doesn't look like he doesn't want to look
like a troublemaker. But no, this is a very talented
guy that we've been wanting to have a conversation with.
So he he stopped by today to give us some
of his time, and we are thankful for that. We
are joined by singer, songwriter, rapper, actor, stand up guy,
one of the one of the younger guys that I
really like in the industry and I funk with, so
I'm happy he's here today.

Speaker 1 (00:46):
Joey Badass, You put New York on his fucking back, Like.

Speaker 4 (00:53):
This is the first time anybody ever led with singer.
I like that.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
Yeah, American Badass. You was singing a lot on.

Speaker 4 (00:59):
That singing on this ship.

Speaker 3 (01:00):
Yeah you know, you know you sing You ain't singing
what you're singing?

Speaker 2 (01:08):
You know singing? Why do you get into the singing?

Speaker 4 (01:11):
Yeah? How you feeling, man, Yeah, that would be good.
I feel good, man, feel great. I was like, life
is beautiful, man, Like just like you know, not to
saund all cliche and ship, but I feel good. I
really feel good about things, you know, Grateful to get
the project out and you know what I'm saying, get
that off and just you know, keep it pushing, like

(01:31):
you know, I feel like this year has been great
for me. So yeah, man, she has been very busy
for you. I'm busy for you.

Speaker 3 (01:38):
Man, You've been You've been the topic of discussion. It
seemed like since the year started, you've had a lot
of We've spoken about you a lot.

Speaker 1 (01:46):
I feel like we got entered into the beef because
we entered the chat. I know, I don't expect anyone
to watch our pod, but the way we rode for
you during this entire beef, we we allegedly by proxy,
got into some fake beef because of this shit we
It was people saying they knew our location, and they
could have read like I'm like, hey, I fuck with

(02:08):
Joey like that, but I was like.

Speaker 3 (02:10):
If.

Speaker 2 (02:13):
You ain't going down for Joey, I've died for New York.
But I don't know if I'm dying for Jilly.

Speaker 3 (02:17):
But you've had, you've had, You've had, you voiced obviously
your opinion on a lot of the things. Being one
of the guys that is from Brooklyn, from the city
for real, you've seen the change in the sound and
the landscape of rap hip hop. How do you feel
about the current though, the current state of New York,
particular New York rap hip hop culture, Like, what do

(02:39):
you when you sit back and just look at it,
how do you feel, because it's changed a lot since
you were like young and really outside in the streets
like that.

Speaker 4 (02:47):
I mean, I think New York is an interesting place,
you know what I'm saying. We're the mecca of hip
hop for sure, you know, so we always going to
have that thing. It's uh, it's I expectation, you know,
coming from this city. And I think that's a good thing,
you know what I mean. I think that's a good
thing more than it is like a you know, a
negative thing. But you know, as far as the current,

(03:08):
the current state of what's going on right now, I
think there's interesting things happening, you know what I'm saying.
I think you got like you know, you look at
the slizzies that cash Cobain and them, you know, holding
it down for like what they kind of coin is
their own thing with sexy drill. And then you know
what I'm saying, you got like chef and sleepy and
shit like that. You know, hey boogie, Yeah, you know

(03:30):
what I'm saying. Shout shout the boogie. That's my man. Yeah,
you know, shit, you got me doing what I do. So,
I mean, I think New York is is an interesting
place right now. And you know, I think that the
culture does this interesting thing where uh, the hot zones
change every couple of years as far as like what

(03:50):
region is like the one that's like on fire or
like dominating or you know what I'm saying, however you
want to put it right now. So I think it's
going to continue to get interested for New York.

Speaker 1 (04:04):
And yeah, I mean, how tired are we of even
that combo and we've been and that post post dipset,
I feel like we've been having that combo with literally
everybody but I dreaded.

Speaker 4 (04:16):
Honestly I do too.

Speaker 1 (04:18):
But I think that's just how close we hold our cities,
music and legacy to our hearts that even though I'm
sick of this conversation.

Speaker 2 (04:26):
It's always something I want to bring up everybody.

Speaker 4 (04:30):
It's like the New York Knicks man, It's like, you know,
so many years have heartbreak every time we get this,
Like yeah, like you know what I'm saying. We about it.
We're passionate about it. So yeah, you know, we we're
very passionate city.

Speaker 3 (04:44):
Is it anything you would you would want to see
change though? About the current energy in like New York?
The New York rap scene is anything you would want
to see change though? Like we need to get rid
of that, Like we shouldn't be.

Speaker 4 (04:58):
You said you called me a trouble. You're trying to
because you really you because now you're.

Speaker 3 (05:05):
You're still very young, but just you're considered one of
the elder statesmen though from the city, and a lot
of people, a lot of the guys that are outside
now making noise and doing their thing, they saw and
watched you, like you inspired a lot of them.

Speaker 2 (05:17):
So you have a different scope on it.

Speaker 3 (05:20):
You've pivoted, you're now in film and things like that,
but you still are tapped in and you know what's
going on. So I'm sure you sit back and be
like I don't know, if you know the city need
to be doing this, I don't know what the thing is.

Speaker 4 (05:32):
The thing is right, like, I don't think there's nothing
missing from the city because if you really, like really
look at it, you know, you got artists like Mike
Love holding it down in his own arena, you know
what I'm saying, in his own pocket, you know what
I'm saying. So I think it's just more about because
you know, when it comes to like radio still plays

(05:55):
a big part in this city specifically, I feel like,
and you know, when it comes to those type of aspects,
you may feel like, oh, you know, New York got
a certain type of sound if it's being led and
like kind of dictated by like that that stuff like
the programing directors and shit like that. But when you
really look at New York City as a whole, everything

(06:17):
is going on at once. You know what I'm saying,
It's just not if everybody's kind of in their own lane.
So if there was something that I'd like to see,
like as a change, maybe it would be just more
of an embracing of all aspects of the city, you
know what I'm saying. From like a you know, more
more regional support of the city, if that makes sense,

(06:39):
you know what I mean. Like, I know there's a
lot going on in the radio right now, like you know,
enough enough being let go flex whatever, drama shit. But
you know, even with them like them recognizing and you know,
maybe trying to push the New York culture forward by
paying more attention to like, you know, what's just going
on largely and not just on the level of height

(07:03):
on Internet or cloud or whatever. You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (07:07):
So, I mean outside of even just New York politics
in general.

Speaker 2 (07:11):
I mean, you came out twenty twelve.

Speaker 1 (07:14):
It was nineteen ninety nine, which was coming towards the
end of the blog era. Sort of how have things
changed from the blog era to now?

Speaker 4 (07:24):
Streaming? Bro Streaming I think is the biggest change from
the blog ever to now, you know what I'm saying.
Like when I came out, Motherfucker was was like on
that Pith Live mixtapes and shit like.

Speaker 1 (07:39):
That made me sound like you were fifteen the world starts.

Speaker 4 (07:45):
Yeah, like two dope boys and shit like that, you
know what I mean, Like looking at the blog like
that's why I was the blog era, because the you know,
you went to the sites to see what was new,
what was developing. Now it's like I don't even know,
Like shit just become the trend now and then you know,
that's how people kind of find out about it. But
like back then, I think it was more of a

(08:07):
discovery friendly environment. Yeah, if it makes sense in the
landscape of the game.

Speaker 2 (08:12):
How did you navigate that though?

Speaker 1 (08:13):
Because coming off the blog era where you were young
and kind of a trailblazer in that regard and understood
that world and things shifting, whether it be with shipes
you were independent as well, how did you manage to
go with that shift from blog era to streamings or
blog era too. We're doing iTunes nine ninety nine and

(08:33):
now all of a sudden, it's nine ninety nine for
the months and now streamings here.

Speaker 2 (08:37):
How'd you navigate that? You know?

Speaker 4 (08:39):
What's funny is, you know I just really roll with
the punches. But the funny thing about it is I
had the opportunity to really get in front of it,
but I think my mindset was just a little bit
close to it because I'm just like, like, what the
fuck is this? Like I don't know understand it. Like
when Spotify first came around, I didn't really fucking understand

(08:59):
like how was that present what it was Like, I mean,
it was presented like yo, this is the this is
the future, boom boom. But I couldn't really understand like
how it was the future because I'm like, okay, but
you know, people could just download the music on like
iTunes or some shit like that. I'm like, what's what's
what's the What's what's what's really the difference? Like I'm like, okay,
people listening to music on YouTube boo boom boom. And

(09:20):
then you know, I've I was selling tickets, you know
what I'm saying. So it's like I didn't really feel
the need to be like kind of take heed to
what was going on now. But I remember when there
was like there was like a Spotify story back and
I want to say like twenty fifteen, twenty fourteen, and
it was on I think was it like Fox News.

(09:41):
It was one of one of these news stations, and
they had used my first album as like one of
the first examples of where streaming was going. Like they
was using like my my my metrics, my data, and
like that was like there was using me, they was
using like Drake, they was using like a few other people,
and I was like I remember seeing that and being

(10:03):
like but I don't get it though, Like you know
what I mean, I just don't think that like I
really tapped in and like I had a chance to
really capitalize and I missed that opportunity, you know what
I'm saying. So after that, it just became about like
rolling with the punches, like oh okay, like now playing
Ketch up about like twenty sixteen. I'm like, okay, I
get it. Yeah, yeah, you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 3 (10:22):
What are some of the things that because obviously you
got you know, life is handed you a lot of
different opportunities. Now, what keeps you inspired though, like creatively,
Like what keeps you wanting to try different things and
continue to elevate your art?

Speaker 4 (10:39):
My favorite thing, you know, I've been saying it recently,
One of my favorite things when it comes to music
is to play a song for somebody and somebody be like, yo,
that's you. That's one of my favorite reactions because it's like,
oh yeah, like you didn't know I could do that,
Like you don't know that I have that range? You
didn't think I was like or some shit like yeah

(11:01):
or you just wasn't exposed to that, you know, to
to my ability and to do that, you know what
I'm saying. So that and I also say competition, you
know what I mean. And that's what this year really
put into perspective for me, because you gotta you gotta remember,
like when I came out, I was in a huge
collective and we was always constantly challenging each other, you

(11:24):
know what I'm saying, Like anybody always wanted to come
the next day with the best verse and shit like that.
So this year definitely brought that feeling back for me.
It's like, you know, I'm really inspired when I'm feel
in the heat of like somebody else's pen Okay, I.

Speaker 1 (11:40):
Mean I know you to be strategic even with how
long you were independent from an early early age, so
I know you're very strategic. Did you think what happened
after the rules back when you dropped it? Because I
was with January first, mm hmm, January first, Did you
think things were going to go the way they were
going to go after you absolutely than that you didn't

(12:01):
think one jay Z reference was gonna the whole West
Coast sensitive?

Speaker 4 (12:06):
I swear, I did you know what I mean, and
you knew exactly what the fun was. I promise you
I didn't. You know what I'm saying, Like, so I
made rulers back, right, I probably made rulers back. I
want to say, like two days before I put it out. Okay,
I made it. We shot the video and then we

(12:26):
just we just put it out and you know, shout
out to my man Sam, because he was the only
person that was like, yo, I don't know that line.
And I was like, so he felt it. He felt
he felt that. He was like, yeah, I'm telling you
like like like that line is gonna probably some reaction.

Speaker 1 (12:44):
Listen.

Speaker 2 (12:44):
I was even wrong.

Speaker 1 (12:45):
We we came in the day that that came out,
well not the day but a few days after we recorded.
I said, man, it's just just the whole reference, Like, honest,
this is not going to turn out to be anything. Boy,
was I fucking wrong? Really did not think that was
going to make everybody as sensitive.

Speaker 4 (13:00):
As say, same bro, same like you know what I mean.
I can't say that my man ain't like put the
bug in my ear that he felt that it could. Yeah,
but my my like sentiment on it was like, nah,
I don't think it's going really like, you know what
I'm saying, I don't think it's going to be that
big of a deal. It's the whole line. It ain't
like I said, Yo, he fucked the West Coast. Yeah yeah,

(13:23):
I'm like, yo, I'm clearly recycling a whole line with
remarkable time and that part I understood, but you understood
the time.

Speaker 1 (13:31):
But that was that was why the reference was so
good because of what was happening.

Speaker 2 (13:35):
At the time. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (13:36):
Yeah, and that's what I thought.

Speaker 2 (13:37):
It was a time where that was happening as.

Speaker 4 (13:39):
Well, especially with me understanding my relationships with the West Coast. Yeah,
like West COVID, like everybody, that shit happened. One of
the first people who caught me was ad, Yeah, you
know what I'm saying. We spoke about it, you know
what I'm saying. We spoke about it for like ten
fifteen minutes and left. He's super he's super here, super
like he gets it, you know what I'm I'm saying.

(14:00):
So but to me, like that's how I'm thinking about it,
I'm like yeah, Like I'm like, yo, you thought like
I'm like yo, for real, like like like you you
took that by you took any disrespect from that. He's like, nah,
like niggas, niggas his favorite thing to say you in
the gym, you know, like you know what I'm saying.
So I was like, all right, bet, But then you know,
shit started jumping online and you know the internet nowadays

(14:24):
fuel ship, oh absolutely, like the staying culture and all
of that ship. You know, this narrative start developing. And
when the narrative started developing, I was like, Okay, somebody's
gonna take this bait. Of course somebody's gonna take this bait.
And then it just you know, one three very prepared.

(14:44):
I will say that I wasn't. I honestly wasn't prepared.
I wasn't you know.

Speaker 1 (14:51):
Let me ask before we get to the rest of
the battle with if the internet did not have the
narrative that started after rulers back with sorry not sorry
have came out the way it did, even down to
what I would say, isn't a shot, but it's a
little jabb at cole like, there were shots where I
felt like you saw the energy of Hey, people took
this as a disc so if you did, all right,

(15:14):
I want.

Speaker 4 (15:14):
To rap it. Sorry sorry, yeah, yeah, yeah, y'all say
this is lining there too. I'm like, you know, a
bunch of niggas with attitudes like you saying that that
was that was clearly addressing the people on the West
Coast who was feeling a.

Speaker 2 (15:29):
Way so sensitive about regular I'm just you.

Speaker 4 (15:32):
Know, my response to it was like, Yo, I'm just
bigging up my city, you know what I'm saying. Like
at that point, I'm like, you know what, I ain't
because because for me, what was what was like important
to me in the beginning, And it's like, I don't know,
I don't know if it was a good thing in
hindsight or a bad thing, but I'm like, one thing
I'm not going to do is get on Twitter and
like be walking it back or some shit like that, Like, yo,

(15:54):
I ain't mean it like that, Like I felt secure
in what I meant. And then I'm already speaking to
my people on that side and they telling me how
they feel and they're not taking on fits. So I'm like, yo,
fuck the Internet.

Speaker 1 (16:06):
You know what I'm saying. Did Yeah, yeah, you know
what I'm saying. It takes a shot and sorry not sorry.

Speaker 4 (16:13):
But but even that even that though, it's like, you know,
I won't.

Speaker 2 (16:15):
Delete later Joey won't.

Speaker 4 (16:17):
I won't. You know what I'm saying, Like it's commentary,
you know what I'm saying, Like, it's not like even that.
I'm like, okay, you know, I did think about that
one though, because I'm like, all right now it's a
little bit more intention you know what I'm saying. I'm like, okay,
you know what I'm saying, like, motherfucker's.

Speaker 3 (16:32):
Not disrespectful though it was the It was the epitome
of what this whole thing is of what hip hop is.

Speaker 4 (16:38):
Right to me, what you were doing.

Speaker 3 (16:40):
So that's why, you know, it was good to see
if the guys get out and you know, get the
pins moving, everybody rapping. I love that, you know what
I'm saying. I'm a little older, so I know what
that part of the culture is. It's like, this is rap.
Never thought it was gonna get serious or it was
gonna go left right. But I didn't understand how some
people were really like offended though. It really felt the

(17:01):
way like nah, fucked, And I'm like, but this is
what they're supposed to be doing.

Speaker 1 (17:04):
It's rapping, yeah, And I mean, I don't know, I
feel like the internet was offended. I don't think like,
I don't think like daylight.

Speaker 4 (17:13):
That was fueling it. Daylight wasn't I think anyone like that.
Don't have the conversation since the beginning. You did.

Speaker 1 (17:22):
You didn't mention in the last record, but I don't
know that like had heard your bars before, so before
the Red bullshit, because ship, what's the Daylight shit? He
had to skate park apologies, like I forgot the record.
It was one of my favorite joints.

Speaker 4 (17:33):
It came out before like like Backpack or some ship
like that.

Speaker 1 (17:36):
Yeah, and he kind of predicted what Joey's first did.
And then joe had mentioned on the last record like
like you heard all my bars on the Red Bull
shit months ago, Like, don't act like you some some
prophecy ship, like you knew it was going to happen.

Speaker 2 (17:52):
So that did happen? I played that for him? Or
how did that even go about?

Speaker 4 (17:55):
So you know, when we did the Red Bull joint,
we did that ship in like March. It ain't up
coming to like what like May or some shit like
that a rounds after. So you know, I don't know
if AVS specifically played it, but what I do believe
happened is We recorded the cipher at Big Shawn's house
like a track because the guys was you know, everybody

(18:20):
just kind of wanted to make sure that we had
a backup playing in case lyrics couldn't be remembered, memorized
in time fact, So it was like the idea of
having this backing track. But I knew in that very
moment that motherfuckers was gonna hear my ship, you know
what I'm saying, because everybody's connected, you know what I'm saying,
So like it don't gotta be Ab director could have

(18:41):
been his manager Boom. But then but then you know
Ab is also a TDE artist, so top and you know,
the label was very involved on the rolling out of
the Red Bull Cipher. You know what I'm saying. Everybody
understanding what it is, you know what I'm saying, So
at some point they heard it, you know what I'm saying.
So I knew I knew that that was going to happen.

(19:04):
I didn't know that it was going to take Rebels
so long to put it out. So by the time
that happened, I'm like, Okay, if I'm my enemies, I
have a plan of action to respond to this you
know when this shit drop, you know, it dropped, It
went crazy, and just like I predicted, motherfuckers had the

(19:26):
move the day after. It made it look like to
the public like oh like he yeah, like he went
in the studio last night, like nah nah, niggas was prepared.

Speaker 1 (19:38):
Niggas prepared, and again, I'm not here to have you
start trouble with past. It was an amazing moment I
think for hip hop because I went just wrapped and
everyone became cool and friends and everything's fine.

Speaker 4 (19:49):
Now.

Speaker 2 (19:50):
I will go back to some of the stuff.

Speaker 1 (19:51):
We talked about because we was on your side the
entire time. But before Daylight got involved, we sat here
nervous for you just because of who Light is and
what his past career. He's a battle rapper, yeah, and
I think actually is one of the few battle rappers
that does make music that's good as well, which is
is tough. So we was a little nervous, and boy

(20:13):
was we proving fucking wrong.

Speaker 4 (20:15):
Yea, I don't think that. I don't.

Speaker 1 (20:18):
You were a little surprised that Daylight didn't come the
way we thought. Paul is the way we usually see
in a battle with some of those by his standard
because I think Daylight is an alien.

Speaker 4 (20:30):
I wouldn't say that he didn't. You know, Paul's come
the way that like you know, he usually comes. But
I think one thing that I understood about it is
that he was in a different arena. This is a
different stage for Daylight battles. Yeah, but we're not on
the stage, okay, So it's not the performative he's you know,

(20:52):
I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, But I think
that's the first of his kind of a battle that
Daylight has had, you know what I'm saying. As sure
in public guy trading tracks, you know what I'm saying,
Usually he's on the stage, and I think, you know this,
this whole thing would have went down different if it
was like on the stage like that. So I'm like,

(21:12):
you know, that was one thing that I knew, like, Okay, cool,
that's that's that's That's definitely one thing to my advantage, right,
And I even say it, I'm like, yo, no matter
what stage they put you on, you still ask that,
you know what I'm saying thinking with that whole thing.
But then two, I feel like one thing that gave me,

(21:34):
uh confident edge over the whole situation was when he
did the backpack thing, because I'm like, you shouldn't have
to do that, you know what I'm saying, So that
that that made me feel like, Okay, this is this
is like I could do this ship. You know what
I'm saying, This is beatable, you know what I'm saying,

(21:55):
because now you're leaning into optics and ship like that,
which I'm like, you the great you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (22:00):
You don't need to do that. You don't need to
do that, you're leaning on Oh I knew this.

Speaker 4 (22:04):
Before, right, you know what I'm saying. So that that
kind of gave me a little bit of I feel
like power and energy in the situation where it's just
like I was able to approach it like a little
bit differently. But yeah, and I shot the Day though. Man,
I really do love Day. That's my man, And like,
you know what I'm saying, it was, it was.

Speaker 2 (22:22):
Is one of the greatest.

Speaker 3 (22:22):
I just want to know what he about. I haven't
heard anything from him. Is he posted on social media
like we haven't seen Day?

Speaker 4 (22:29):
I heard he dropping he dropping the joint Son album album.

Speaker 1 (22:34):
Yeah again, it's surf in Light that I think are
the two battle rappers that like make good they know
how to make good music.

Speaker 2 (22:42):
So that's that's where I was a little nervous. But
what was that call to Loox? Like, oh, like, how
did that whole that whole thing come together with load
of Lux?

Speaker 4 (22:53):
We take a little and I know was laughing, like
I know when he got the call, he started, if I.

Speaker 1 (23:01):
Remember correctly, on YouTube, it didn't save feature and loaded love. No,
I did, no, because I remember being in my life,
I'm posted the most statue of liberty emojis I've ever
posted in my fucking life.

Speaker 2 (23:11):
Once I heard Lux come on that second verse.

Speaker 4 (23:13):
Yeah, yeah, man, you know, so me and Lex go
way back, you know what I'm saying. Like I connected
with Lux like probably ten years ago, eight years ago,
Like I did the feature for him like back in
the day, you know, so we always just had that rapport,
yeah or whatever. And you know, I actually had a
conversation with him early on in the year, like you know,

(23:35):
when the ship first started kicking off and ship like that,
you know, we we we was you know, laughing, joking
and you know, talking about the idea of possibly like
if I was going to engage like you know, but
it was it was really just kind of like poking
fun out of the whole situation, like it wasn't nothing serious.
I ain't like really be like yo, boom boom. But

(23:56):
then when the when the when the red bullshit happened,
I'm like, okay, cool, So I'm my opponents, right, I
heard this shit for two months. I got my move ready,
and you know, right the next day, you know, Rayvaughn dropped,
and then I'm like, okay, cool. I went to the

(24:17):
studio that night and I made the finals. You know
what I'm saying, boom. But then after that, I'm like, Okay,
what is this nigga like gonna do? You know what
I'm saying, I'm like, I have no idea what this
motherfucker's gonna do. So I'm waiting, you know what I'm saying, Like,
you know, I'm keeping the pin high just in case
because I don't know when this niggas going to drop.

(24:37):
And you start tweeting ship and all that, and I'm like,
all right, they said, now it was Monday, you know,
so you dropped the joint And I'm like, oh, I
bet you know what I'm saying. You know what it
felt like, I felt like, okay.

Speaker 2 (24:51):
Cool.

Speaker 4 (24:53):
It was almost like when you get in the ring
with your opponent and you feel that first punch, You're like, oh,
that's it. Yeah, you know what I'm saying, Like, oh okay.
So then yeah, I went to studio cool looks. I said, y'all, yeah,
it's time. It's time. Let's go ahead and finish them.
It's time. It's time. Yo, I'm about to see you.
He sent it back lightning quick. I ain't going on. Yeah,

(25:15):
shout out the Luxe.

Speaker 3 (25:16):
No lux is he's he's a he's watched some lux
freestyles staff to this day.

Speaker 1 (25:21):
Of course, it's it's tough to be objective. But where
do you Where do you rank my town? And if
Complex were to put out every list that they used
to put out of the top.

Speaker 2 (25:32):
Fifty disc records of all, where my town lands.

Speaker 4 (25:38):
To me?

Speaker 2 (25:38):
I think it's a little higher.

Speaker 1 (25:39):
Of course, the dust has to settle, and it just happened,
But I think when time.

Speaker 2 (25:45):
Passes, I think that my town.

Speaker 1 (25:47):
Record might be up there in one of the greatest
battle records.

Speaker 2 (25:52):
In my opinion, Yeah, if you look.

Speaker 1 (25:54):
At everything that was happening with that entire week, how
crazy that ship was, that was kind of the stamp
that and of course I have a New York bias.

Speaker 2 (26:01):
But after that, I was like, this is over.

Speaker 3 (26:03):
Man.

Speaker 1 (26:04):
I don't really, I don't care too much after this,
this has done. That we spoke about it, Yeah, this
is done.

Speaker 3 (26:08):
I'm obviously familiar with your pin and your work, but
you definitely outperformed my expectations. Like I knew what you
were capable of, but I was just thinking, like this
nigga Joey getting TV money, you know, start going that rout.

Speaker 2 (26:24):
It's like he really you know that?

Speaker 4 (26:26):
You know what, I'll tell y'all something right, Like initially
that was my approach, like when Day and Ray first
started like jabbing and shit like that, you know, when
I was doing the sort and that. Sorry, the part
of me is and shit like that. I'm like in
my head, I'm like, I mean, I'm not I to
engage for real, you know what I'm saying, because I'm
like it don't it don't. I didn't see the win
for me. But then I started getting hip to the

(26:49):
fact that people like, you know, what I learned over
time is like every five years, it's a bunch of
new hip ho fans. Oh yeah, that coming to the
pitch to get on that Twitter, get on the internet,
have a bunch of opinions, think pieces, podcasts, all of
that ship. So in that moment, he.

Speaker 2 (27:09):
Said, what are we catching a stray?

Speaker 4 (27:11):
No, no, job, job, I ain't catching.

Speaker 1 (27:14):
The straight compliment follow people who are actually talking about
rap music for age, you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 4 (27:20):
But so pretty much what I realized, I'm like, oh,
you know what, there's a lot of people who are
in discovery mode about me. Yeah, you know what I'm saying.
Even though I have my accomplishments and my success, there's
still a lot of people who are not familiar with
nineteen ninety nine Joey before the Money on American. So

(27:43):
at that point when we clicked up for the Red
Bull joint, and you know, because I because you know,
Ab like gave me like a sample of his verse
and then when I peeped that he was doing the
he mentioned the daylight in ratio. I was like, you
know what, this is a good opportunity. Now I saw
it as like I saw a win in it for me,

(28:03):
Like this is a good moment for me to engage
because I can remind people, not even remind I could
fucking hit people to what this pen do? You know
what I'm saying. So that's when I that's when I
jumped in. But also like you know, the win for
me too, you know, I'm definitely was cognizant of it.
Was it being like Joey versus the field, you know

(28:28):
what I'm saying, Like that that was that was a
better battle for me, you know what I'm saying, rather
than me versus this person alone or me versus that
person alone. It was it was more worth it for
me to be like going up against a bunch of people,
you know what I'm saying. So at that point, I'm like, yeah,
you know what, Yeah, it's game time, like like like
let's get it. Like I see, I see the win,

(28:49):
I see the opportunity, and I'm taking it.

Speaker 1 (28:51):
In the midst of that, you don't have to answer,
just just blink twice if Top Dog paid you to
do all that.

Speaker 4 (28:58):
Top Dogs however, we did have We did have like fairly,
we did have like t the East. Yeah, we did
have some some dialogue, like you know what I'm saying,
just like you know, joking and you know, a lot
of joking and laughing and ship ship I ain't on

(29:18):
my top. He had. He bought me some some seats,
some tickets one night to the nickgame while that ship
was going on. He was like, Yo, you gotta be
out there, man, Like you know what I'm saying, you know.
So that was love. But we definitely did have a
few conversations, you know, talk about the whole TD East
thing and like, you know how he thought that shit
was clever. He's like, Yo, nigga, I've been laughing about
that ship since last night and ship like that. I'm like, yo,

(29:41):
she kind of got a ring to it. We should
have a conversation, you know what I mean. So we
definitely spoke about that and the possibility of sitting down.

Speaker 3 (29:51):
And so he didn't have this whole elaborate scheme set
up to get his artists.

Speaker 4 (29:56):
Absolutely not, nah, you know what I mean, every this
whole thing, Like nobody knew I was gonna come with
the rulers back. What you said, she.

Speaker 2 (30:04):
Ain't say nothing.

Speaker 4 (30:05):
Nobody didn't work. She ain't work anyway, Listen, Nobody knew
that I was gonna come with the rulers back. And
after the Rulers back, I didn't know what was gonna transpire.
Like when I tell you this shit was rolling with
the punches. It was rolling with the fucking punches. At
the only moments of like preparation I had was once

(30:26):
I did that rebel freestyle and knew that it was
sitting with that side for two months. At that point,
I'm like, Okay, cool, I smelled something. Now I could
see what's coming, But before that, I couldn't see nothing,
you know what I'm saying. Like it was just surprised
every day, you know what I'm saying.

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Speaker 1 (32:25):
Well, then let me ask you this, having that side
of the brain, of the competitive side of what was
going on and having to be reactive in a timely manner,
at what point did you go all right, and now
I got to focus on my album and how do
I capitalize off everything that may.

Speaker 2 (32:39):
Just happen to get to lonely at the top.

Speaker 4 (32:42):
So when I'm made Rula's back right like that last
week of twenty twenty four, So you know, I was
I've been working on this album, not the one that
I just put out. I've been working on a album
for the last three years. You know what I'm saying.
It's a conceptual album, and it required me to go

(33:03):
in a specific direction with my subject ratter. So the
last week of twenty twenty four, I got really activated
on some y'all just kind of on the rap right now. Yeah,
So I kind of like got inspired to make this
other project that wasn't conceptual. That gave me the outlet
to kind of like put out a bunch of other

(33:24):
music that I wanted to put out before putting out
this conceptual album, you know what I'm saying. So that's
kind of what Ruler's Back was. In the spirit of
it was in the spirit of me making this new project. Yeah,
at the time, I didn't know what it was. I
didn't have a name for it. But I'm just like,
it's more kind of just diverse, you know what I'm saying.

(33:46):
It's no, it's not confined to a subject or anything.
It just kind of allows me to get some shit
off that I want to get off. And you know,
Ruler's Back what came from that was a bunch of
back and forth and mist of that sorry now sorry
was created, right, you know what I'm saying, because it
was kind of my way of like acknowledging what was

(34:06):
going on, but still not really responding directly to it.
And then, you know, then I put out the three
song EPED and I'm like, shit, did thatth scratch the ish?
I'm like, I still kind of want to put out
some new shit. And then the fucking battle battle started,
you know what I'm saying. And that happened. We put
out you know, free records there and I'm like, Okay,

(34:27):
now I feel like I have to feed this new
listener this new eye and you know what I'm saying,
I want to now use this opportunity to get out
some new music, you know what I'm saying. And that's
what Lonely at the Top became, was, uh, you know,
this opportunity for me to kind of put together this
compilation of records that I just felt like, you know,

(34:52):
because I'm never this is the quickest project I've ever made.
And I say that in a very positive way. For me,
that feels really good because when I look at the
course of my career, I took five years between the
second album and the third album, and it between Lonely
at the Top in two thousand was another three years.

(35:12):
That's eight years of like inactivity, you know what I'm saying.
That's eight years musically, right right, musically but that but
to me, I'm like, that's eight years where you know,
I think for a long time I've been fearful of
being able to drop a project like lo Only at
the Top, Yeah, because I feel like, you know, because
I understand that the expectations for me is super high.

(35:34):
You know what I'm saying, motherfuckers want me to put
together a body of work and I want that too,
but sometimes not. Sometimes like for a long time, I
create a lot of music that is outside of the
realm of like something that is like so deeply conceptual,
and I fall in love with that music too, but
I feel like I never find the outlets to put

(35:55):
it out, to get it out, you know what I'm saying.
So that's what Lonely at the Top was, like you
know it was. It was for me almost like this
this fearless move artistically where it's just like, yo, this
is what I want to do, you know what I'm saying,
Like fuck with people, I mean think I should do
right now? May one? For me, this this is what
I want to yode, This is what I want to
put out. You know what I'm saying. This is my
expression at the time, because usually by the time I

(36:19):
put out a project, these songs are two three years old,
three years, four years old. Like you know what I'm saying,
little bit on.

Speaker 1 (36:28):
Sometimes I got to go back in change the line
or some shit who want to be represented on how
you felt three years ago?

Speaker 4 (36:33):
You know what I'm saying, It's like it no longer resonated,
you know what I'm saying. So you know I feel
like this really allowed me, Like I've always been a
quality over quantity artist and you know, not to say
that I feel that I compromised the quality on this
project at all. But this to me was more about, like, Yo,

(36:54):
I want to get this music out, you know what
I'm saying. So I'm going to do that, you know
what I mean? Like I of these songs and no,
like it's not deep, you know what I'm saying. It's
like it's intentionally not deep, Like I didn't put together
this crazy concept. No, this is just songs that I
really fuck with right now you don't want to put

(37:14):
out because it's in the key of my life at
the moment, you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (37:20):
Yeah, I think even you know, we've had debates about
the Tyler project that just came out, but he was
also on that side too, of like I've constantly felt
like I have to sit and come up with a
whole new image, whole every single album has to be
this whole moment in time, right, not.

Speaker 2 (37:36):
Like all these records.

Speaker 1 (37:37):
I have the ability at this point and where my
business is at and where I'm at.

Speaker 2 (37:41):
Chris like, yeah, here you go, you just have it.

Speaker 1 (37:44):
And I think we in that era anyways, because down
to what you were saying with the Battle, like there's
fans that were not around in twenty twelve, there's younger
kids that became fans of you because of the output
that was going on in that battle.

Speaker 2 (37:57):
Now, with our attention span, you need to just keep
putting it out.

Speaker 4 (38:02):
Putting it out. Yeah, facts, And it's like, you know,
I really want to be more aligned with that idea.
You know what I'm saying. I really like musically, you know,
I think about it like I'm thirty now, I'm like,
all right, shit, Like these next ten years, I want
to put out the most music I've ever put out,
you know what I'm saying, Like like I want to
put out way more music than I did in my twenties. Yeah,

(38:24):
you know what I'm saying. I only gave three projects
in my twenties, Like you know, I want to give
like at least five this go around, you know what
I'm saying, So like, yeah, that's why in my mind,
I'm like, you know what, like fuck it like it
don't got a concept, but this is what you want
to do. Like I always look at music like painting.
You know what I'm saying like I'm painting this is

(38:44):
the picture that this is my interpretation or this is
my artistic expression at the moment, and usually I don't
get to share that so closely to when I'm feeling it. So,
you know, lonely at the top was was was a
bit of I feel like it gave me some type
of like artistic empowerment and like integrity. You know what

(39:06):
I'm saying. It's like yo, yeah, it's the funk on it.

Speaker 1 (39:10):
Just having a family two kids, Like, does does that
change that perspective of like, hey, now I'm not doing
three albums and my thirties, we're pumpish it out. Oh,
I mean I would say shifting pivot the lifestyle change,
I guess a bit.

Speaker 4 (39:26):
No, I don't think that. If anything, what that has
to do with like it has to do with getting
in the way.

Speaker 2 (39:33):
Yeah, okay, you know what I'm saying, like like.

Speaker 4 (39:35):
Me being able to not move as fast as I
want to. Yeah, you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (39:39):
Because I think, let's output because I want to be
around right any more material because you're around them.

Speaker 4 (39:44):
Right, and you know what you know, to be frank too,
is like the only reason why I feel like I
didn't put out so uh more like music in my
twenties is because you know, I came into this game
really young. So I was like, yo, I spent the
last fifteen years finding myself, you know what I'm saying,
Trying shit, fucking throwing aways pieces I like that, I

(40:07):
don't like you know what I'm saying, picking up new
things and all that. So I think that a lot
of it was me really trying to understand like who
I was, who I wanted to be, how I wanted
to show up, and shit like that, and and me
constantly shifting from like like in six months, right in
six months, I'll be a whole different person. Like, ah,

(40:29):
that music I just made six months ago, for I
throw it all the way. You know what I'm saying,
I don't want it no more Like six months ago,
I would loved to put that shit out, but now
six months later, I'm like, now I want to work
on a whole new thing.

Speaker 1 (40:40):
But you know what, even kept you grounding in that regard,
because we've most people that find money and even a
tiny bit of fame at fifteen, sixteen seventeen typically turn
out to be fucking insane human beings what kept you
running through that entire I'm like, damn, am I and which.

Speaker 3 (40:58):
No, I think it's like you're definitely it's one of
the same ones.

Speaker 1 (41:01):
I don't know if it's just again back to the
bias of the New Yorker shit, but it's it's very
odd that your story shouldn't be the way it is.
If it's somebody else, you would usually turn out to
be a fucking, very.

Speaker 4 (41:13):
Stressing like that. But that thing, though, I wasn't like
a child start.

Speaker 1 (41:19):
You know what I'm saying that regards Let not act
like you weren't rich and somewhat famous at eighteen.

Speaker 4 (41:25):
Oh yeah, no, no, no, no, no, no, that's valid because
you know I was. I was, I was thinking about that.
I was talking to somebody. I'm like, Yo, my whole
adult life, I've been in some type of public god. Yeah.
You know what I'm saying. That's not normal at all.
That's not normal. You know what I'm saying, Like, I
don't have no recollection of adult life without existing in
the public god type shit. So I mean, I would
say that a lot of it got to do with family,

(41:48):
you know what I'm saying, Like, I've never moved out
of New York. I spent thirty summers here, and you know,
I'm starting to regret it a little bit, like if
I need something new man like I want to kind
of be afraid, you know what I'm saying, Like I
want to be like feeling something that yeah, you know
so so so that that is a big part of it,
like grounded by my foundation, by my roots. And then

(42:11):
you know, also I think just the type of man
that I am, the type of human that I am,
It's like, you know, I'm always seeking knowledge, I'm always
seeking feedback. I'm always trying to take accountability, trying to
be a better person. That's like extremely important to me,
you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 3 (42:28):
So lonely at the top is out now go stream.
That one of the features that I was really happy
to see because this is somebody that I think is
super ill. But sonically y'all remind me of each other
so much. It was Rome Streets. Oh yeah, Like that
was like when I saw you and Rome had a
record together, I was just the hip hop nerd in
me was like that makes all the sense to the word.

Speaker 4 (42:47):
How did that come about?

Speaker 3 (42:48):
And do you and Rome have like a relationship before
this or it's just the start of it, so.

Speaker 4 (42:53):
You're not you know. So I did a joint with Rome,
I want to say, like what like two years ago, now,
you know what I mean, And that's the first time
we connected. But me putting him on this project was
very intentional because I feel like when it comes to
this side of hip hop and when I say this
out I mean like the lyrical niggas and shit like that,

(43:14):
I feel like it's not enough of us like lifting
each other up, you know what I'm saying. So I
really wanted to kind of like lead by example in
a way. I think it's easy for us to like,
you know, I mean, I mean not always easy, right,
but I think it's easier for us to be able
to like jump on somebody's record, but it's like to
put somebody who's going to come up on your shit.

(43:36):
I think that's like the ultimate like Olive branch or,
like you know, meaching out, you know what I'm saying,
support and shit like that, because yeah, I fuck with wrong,
you know what I'm saying. I think Rome is super dope,
Romanzo su Brooklyn, you know what I'm saying. So, like
I look at Rome like home team call Cash, same thing.
I became familiar with call Cash through the whole back
and forth. I've never heard his music before. We do

(43:58):
got a lot of mutuals and shit.

Speaker 1 (44:00):
So I'm like, yo, it's history, parents and everybody in
Brooklyn is right right, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah exactly.

Speaker 4 (44:05):
And I got him to that and all that, So
I'm like, yo, you know what, Like I really want
to lead by example with that, and I want to
intentionally be able to like lift motherfuckers up, you know
what I'm saying, and shine the light and not like
you know, Horde or keep everything you know for myself.
And I want this. I want all of us as

(44:28):
lytical mcs to welcome that and embrace that because I
think on this side of the game, it's a lot
of it's way more competition, or at least the competition
is different, you know what I'm saying. So I want
to kind of like kick that door down and being like, yo,
we could have that friendly competition, you know what I'm saying,
but we could all still like coexist, Like I don't

(44:48):
got to be afraid, you know, to give Rome or
cost some light, you know what I'm saying. Afraid of what.
You know what I'm saying, because they're gonna get some
of my fans. They should, you know what I'm saying.
I have some of my fans because I feel like
that's how I felt on the way up. You know
what I'm saying. I'm like, yo, like I know, I'm nice,
you know what I'm saying, and like I will connect

(45:08):
with people who when I see them in person, it's like,
yoall fuck with you, Like, Yo, I got some records
for you. I'm like Senate and niggas will never send
the ship And it's just like, as a lyrical nigga,
what you're gonna think? Right? Scared? You know what I'm saying,
You know what I mean. So I kind of just
want to change that perception and to just make it fun,

(45:29):
make it easy, make it inviting for us, lyrical and
see to share space with each other.

Speaker 1 (45:33):
I mean, it's kind of full circle back to the
New York conversation that we were trying to avoid.

Speaker 2 (45:37):
I think that's also what's been missing, Yes, that very
very thing.

Speaker 4 (45:42):
More unity in the city period. Facts. Listen, I'm somebody
like I got a firm understanding, bro and belief that
like it was enough money I had for all of us, absolutely,
and it's like, Yo, nobody's gonna be Joey. You know
what I'm saying, Like like niggas could do what they
want to do.

Speaker 2 (45:58):
You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 4 (46:00):
We gotta I'm me. You know what I'm saying. Like
I'm on TV too, you know what I mean. Like
I'm doing a bunch of other shit too. I'm anna
shine different, you know what I'm saying. So I'm not
worried about giving the nigga an entryway on my track.
It's like, Yo, I think you dope, but I think
you deserve it. You know what I'm saying, you should
have that entryway type shit. And you know that's how
I feel about Rome and Kai And that's what I

(46:21):
told him too, when like I first told him that
y'all wanted, you know, him to jump on my show.
I'm like, yo, bro, like I want to shine a
light on you. You know what I'm saying, because you deserve
that ship, nigga, Like nice romans, Romans want to romans.

Speaker 2 (46:33):
That's right now.

Speaker 1 (46:34):
And even like I do hate some of that New
York conversation because I always felt, you know, maybe there
could have been more records between pro Era and ASAP,
But I mean, you know, one train obviously is a
classic Fergus on the joint.

Speaker 4 (46:46):
Now it was one joint that we had on the
Cozy tape shit too.

Speaker 1 (46:50):
What was that era like when both crews were coming up,
because I know y'all did fuck with each other.

Speaker 4 (46:55):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, we we like Fergus my brother to this,
you know what I'm saying. Me and flyacoh cool to
this day. You know what I'm saying. Twelve V like
love Nast, you know what I'm saying, fucking Addy anybody.
You know what I'm saying. Like the first time we
went on tour was back at twenty thirteen. So it's

(47:16):
like a real brotherhood between pro Era and ASAP, you
know what I'm saying. But as far as like collaborations,
I don't know. You know, it is also a real
thing that sometimes things just don the line, and I
think it was like you know what I mean, But
also like you know, we was really we was like
I would sound like, yeah, we was all in New

(47:38):
York and we represent the pieces of New York. But
I'll say, like, you know, pro Er, like we was
more like conscious you know what I mean, And like
the Mob was more like yeah, you know, Wavy trill
or whatever. So you know, trying to find that medium
is not always the easiest thing artistically, but we was
always able to like just get along or hang out

(48:00):
and share space and support each other, you know what
I'm saying, Like, yeah, Rocky then came out to like
when I was doing the Day festivals, Rocky probably came
out like three years, three years in a row or
some ship like that, you know what I'm saying. Vice versas.
I've been to YMS, I came out of YMS Day
for a few times as well. So who was able
was always able to share space, but it wasn't always

(48:21):
the easiest thing to like naturally find how the music
was created, you know what I'm saying. Yeah, which is cool,
you know what I mean.

Speaker 3 (48:27):
Are there any other producers on this album that you
wanted to work with? And if are there any other
producers that you're looking forward to working with that you
haven't had the chance to work with yet, Producers, let
me see who's on your Like, I gotta get a
couple joints with this producer for real?

Speaker 4 (48:46):
That makes older sense in the world. Yeah, for real,
I think I think everybody else I didn't pretty much
worked with at this point.

Speaker 1 (48:54):
I mean Super Flea, I feel like you put it
that Neptune Ship. I was around Bree when she was
working I had to do this sh it myself.

Speaker 2 (49:05):
Yeah, I was.

Speaker 1 (49:06):
I was around Brie when she was working on that
joint friend of the show she's been on ear Bunch.

Speaker 2 (49:10):
That's that's that's our homework. Bree Man smoked that ship.

Speaker 1 (49:14):
And when she had played me the first idea when
she was writing to it, I was like, Okay, that's
why Joey around the same age as like that Neptune Ship.
And what that did to us is as kids like
who produced that?

Speaker 4 (49:27):
Because they Kirk Knight.

Speaker 1 (49:28):
They nailed it, not in a like a biting way,
they did make it their own.

Speaker 4 (49:32):
Yeah. Yeah, kirk Knight produced that. Kirk Knight also produced
all of the records that I had in the Battle
of My Town and he smoked my Yeah you know,
you know Kirk Knight Knights pro. You know what I'm saying,
So do you forever. But but yeah, when we was
in the studio that day made Super Flee, I'm like,
at first, I was like, I don't know that. We

(49:55):
kept listening. I'm like, yo, this ship sounds like so
much things, and we called it super Flee because to me,
when I heard at first was super Thug. Okay, you
know what I mean. Like, And the funny thing is
Kirk can't even hear the song. He never even heard
super Thug. How what.

Speaker 2 (50:11):
He's produced for you.

Speaker 4 (50:12):
Let me let me rephrase that He's heard super Thug,
but he wasn't like familiar with it in the way
that I was familiar. Yeah, you know what I'm saying,
Like like he heard it in passion throughout his life
is childhood. And when I played, he's like, oh, I
know that, but it's like I know super Thug. Like
you know what I'm saying, I'll still bump Super Thug
to this day type of ship. So immediately I'm like, Nigga,

(50:34):
that shit sound like this. And then somebody else played
Holler back Young and like, Nigga, that shit sound like this.
I'm like, Yo, this ship is weirdly just a fucking
amalgamation of like all of that ship. It's weird, but
I'm like, you know what, I gotta do this ship.
I gotta do it.

Speaker 3 (50:52):
I remember on the show I was talking about the
first time we actually met. We were in Atlanta at
at JD Studio and I was I was telling Rory,
I was laughing. I was like, yo, I was in
the studio, uh with JD, and you know, Joey walked in.
I was like, you know, obviously I love what he's
been doing for New York and everything.

Speaker 4 (51:11):
Finally got a chance to meet him. Super cool. I
was like, yo, but he fucked me up because he.

Speaker 3 (51:16):
Was standing in the hall and if you ever been
to JD Studio, he got all his plaques all over
the all.

Speaker 4 (51:20):
The action figures and shit. Yeah, So I'm like, yo.

Speaker 2 (51:23):
So Joey was standing there.

Speaker 3 (51:24):
He was staring at bow Wow's plaque and I think
a fight of something was on it.

Speaker 4 (51:29):
We are watching it and I kept looking.

Speaker 3 (51:30):
I'm like, yo, why is he standing at the wall
looking at Bowos plaque like this? And I remember you
saying like, yo, this is the guy that inspired me
to rap.

Speaker 4 (51:40):
And I was like, bow Wow Wow.

Speaker 3 (51:42):
I could not believe, like to this day because nothing
about your sound, your style, the way you rap, says
bow Wow inspired me. But I guess the age yeah,
and obviously bow I was a megastar. But artistically, was
it inspirational or was it just the fact that he
was just you couldn't turn on the TV.

Speaker 4 (52:03):
You just ain't in general, No, in general, liken like
I feel like, listen to inspiration. What I meant by
that is when I saw a bae. I remember I
was a kid, so I saw myself in bad Wow.
I was like, oh shit, like, here's a kid, here's
a black kid, you know what I'm saying, like having
success in this shit. I always had an affinity for rapping,

(52:24):
poetry and shit like that, so that just kind of
made me feel like he made me feel like I
was closer to the dream because I looked at him,
like me, you know what I'm saying, But it wasn't
necessarily like a sound thing. And it's funny that you
say that because a lot of people in this game
currently today, you know what I'm saying coming to me

(52:44):
and they say that, and it's like they sound there's
nothing like my shit, but they be like, yo, when
I first saw your shit, like going bull when you
inspire me, and I realized it's the same thing for them.
They saw them seeing like a young black dude making
it out the motherfucking nowhere. That's inspirational. That's like, oh
I could do it too, That's what it communicates, you

(53:04):
know what I'm saying. So it's like, you know, people
sometimes they are inspired in the way to where they
just see themselves in you. And it's not necessarily like
a sonic thing, a music musical thing. It's just more
of a aspirational thing. I can make it. Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1 (53:20):
Even I was rapping like forget the time very much
listen so much like what ended up being nice and nine,
but it was fire. It was I guarantee if you
if I have not listened to Beware of the Dog
in probably twenty years, but that's so I should still.

Speaker 2 (53:37):
Hit my brain. You played Beware of the Dog song,
I could probably rap along.

Speaker 4 (53:41):
Take Your Home, still slap. I just listened to it
not so long. I should still slap, like.

Speaker 1 (53:45):
I could probably rap if you just played it. I
could probably rap it because it's so embedded in my mind.

Speaker 4 (53:52):
Is imprinted, it's imprinted in love brain.

Speaker 3 (53:55):
I about listen, I get it, but it's just like
it's just to hear that.

Speaker 4 (54:00):
Swam to and all that when I was a kid.
You know what I mean came over school one day
my auntie my mom was like, Yo, they gotta stream
toward tickets. I said, we out shoppn't me. That's hilarious.

Speaker 1 (54:16):
Yeah, I mean what were some of your other I
guess influences that would make make more I guess more
sensive as far as I don't over be doing I
like you said, do them, Yeah.

Speaker 4 (54:30):
Oh, absolutely doing. I was helling, bro when I was
in high school. Bro, I went through a crazy doing
phase man, because that's why I was introduced to do
them rest in Peace. My brother Capital Sti's put me
on the doom.

Speaker 1 (54:42):
Like.

Speaker 4 (54:42):
But when I got to high school ninth grade, I
was like, I'm getting signed to Young Money. That was
my vision. That was my vision for self. That's what
I was thinking. I'm a nigga, nigga, Young Money gonna
sign me nigga. You know what I'm saying. Yeah, I'm like, yeah,
you know what I'm saying, Like, nah, that's but then
I got to high school and you know what I mean,

(55:04):
people like Steve's and then he put me on the
MF doom and I'm like, oh shit, I ain't even
know motherfucker's rap like this. It was like, you know,
because you know when you when you got an idea,
you think about young money, it's like that's everything you
exposed to, like on the radio, on the TV. But
then when I was introduced to underground rap, it was
like this whole world open in my brain. And then

(55:28):
I started to go back in time. Then I started
revisiting the classes because you know, you grew up in
New York, you're familiar with NAS, You're familiar. But my
entreated NAS is Ushi Wally. You know what I'm saying.
It's like like that's when I'm here, That's when NAS
is coming through my consciousness for the first time. It's like,
shate me now.

Speaker 1 (55:47):
And like even with Mob Deep, like the first Mob
Deep song I loved was Hey Love and then went
super bad like I thought I was.

Speaker 2 (55:55):
I was eleven.

Speaker 4 (55:55):
I'm like, probably get it twisted. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that
is my introule, Like my my deepest shit.

Speaker 2 (56:05):
Shit was mainly because of one twelve.

Speaker 4 (56:06):
Yeah, but yeah, I was really outside when shook ones,
like I was in side.

Speaker 2 (56:13):
It was five years old. What year Shuper one shot
ninety five?

Speaker 4 (56:18):
I was I was being swaddled. Yeah, I was probably
hearing it. You know about Yeah, you know what I'm saying, Yeah, yeah,
you're going out of the road, going on to how
you feel about back outside? Man, Man, it's different nowadays.

(56:40):
I can't lie, you know what I'm saying, Like now
post pandemic and ship like that, Like tour feels different
for me. Like when I was you know, seventeen eighteen,
I had the guys, We're going out there collective strong
sh It was fun. Now kind of feel like work
a little bit. It ain't gonna lie, but what makes
it worth it is seeing the people, touching the people,

(57:03):
hearing the stories and seeing those faces, people crying and
ship like that, you know, but I can't lie. Don't
enjoy the fucking terrible food. Yeah, West bubble fuck. I
can't get no oxtail right now. Some of them states
days no tail. You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (57:24):
No, that sounds like an album, that's an action bronzing right.
How are you gonna bring the family on the road?
Because that said, this year, this was the first time.
Got how many years now have we been torn?

Speaker 4 (57:42):
Three?

Speaker 1 (57:43):
I'm saying, even with the old pot like, this is
the first time this year I said no to torring
just because I've got a kidd and ship. I feel
because ship we had Tomara in Chicago Philly, Like I
can't keep taking my kid on the.

Speaker 2 (57:58):
Road like that is is exhausting.

Speaker 4 (58:01):
I feel like, you know, my daughter is seven, but
my little man just you know, you're just a couple
of months old, and it's like, you know, the tour
environment is just not a sanitary one, you know what
i mean, Like anytime you get on that to every tour,
I've gotten sick. Everybody gets sick. Just take one motherfucker
to sink the bus, you know what I'm saying. One

(58:21):
you know what I'm saying. Because it's just so close
quarters and all of that. You know, there's a lot
of energy exchange. I'm giving DAPs to like one hundred
monthfuckers every city and ship like that, Like, yeah, that's
that's not environment for little man. But I'm definitely gonna,
you know, fly back home for gods, like you're taking
on the road with you right, No, no, no, no, no,

(58:41):
I'm taking that's uh. I think k going out with Jid, yeah,
Cad going out with Jed right now is just myself
absolute and rhapsody. And we're about to start adding focusing
a lot of a lot of.

Speaker 1 (58:57):
You know, my is gonna be front road for Yeah,
I got my you know rhapsody family man, shout the rating,
Shout out the rat man.

Speaker 2 (59:07):
What's up. What's one of your favorite Mac Miller memories?

Speaker 4 (59:13):
Oh? Man, I can't remember where we was at. We
were somewhere overseas doing one of those festivals, and I
remember pulling up, you know because at the time, Static
Selected was my DJ, and Static and Mac had a
super close relationship, you know what I mean. That was
like his little brother. So I remember we we we

(59:33):
we like, you know, we went to Max dressing room,
and it's so funny because at that point I seen
him reading his lyrics and listening to his music, like
trying to get prepared for the show. And I was like, man,
I ain't never gonna have to do that. Now. That's
where I'm at in my Life's like for every show,

(59:55):
I gotta like I'm reading the lyrics. It's like, but
it's just such a distinc memory of that because I
remember being like that shit just seems so fun of me.
I'm like, you gotta read your lyrics like you don't
know your music. But I'm thinking from a nigga only
had one project out type shit, you know what I'm
saying at the time, and you already put a couple out.
But yeah, that whole that whole situation, that whole day. Man,

(01:00:17):
we just had a lot of fun. Like Mac was
was a very just a fun dude to be around,
you know what I'm saying, Like never serious, you know
what I'm saying, just just it just being jokes and
just a good time and shit like that. So I
remember that. I can't remember what fucking festival that was though.
Super talented though Mac. Yeah, man recipes man for sure.

Speaker 3 (01:00:37):
So let's let's talk about you know, the big screen
being on TV man with Raisin Kanan playing unique. How
much has that changed Joey's like real life? How much
has that impacted your real life?

Speaker 4 (01:00:52):
Well? Shit, man, Like black people gravitate to me now,
like in a real way, Like you know what I'm saying,
for the longest time, it's.

Speaker 2 (01:01:04):
Not me like yo, you hurt nice.

Speaker 4 (01:01:07):
You know what I'm saying, No facts, facts, you know
what I mean. Like for a long time, I could
kind of go under the radar, you know what I'm saying, Like,
like you know, people will know, like, oh, you know
what I'm saying, but they not like it was no
super fans like you know what I mean, in my
community like that. But now it's like, yo, boy man,
like I ain't gonna lie sometimes like oh, some niggas
over there, I'm going thistide. Yeah, go ahead, I'm about

(01:01:35):
to y'all neigh like that be really low, bro, I
be low and ship like that. So nah, but it's
dope though, man, And I really do love it, like
I really, I really do love it man, Like it's
it's a beautiful thing, you know what I'm saying, Like
you always want to be embraced by your community, absolutely

(01:01:55):
what I'm saying. So it's beautiful.

Speaker 2 (01:01:58):
You're acting though, like definitely.

Speaker 3 (01:02:01):
Like you're you're you're like an actor like now, and
I understand it's you know, playing the role of Unique
and raising Kanan is probably not too foreign to you
movie star.

Speaker 4 (01:02:13):
There you go. It's not too far in.

Speaker 1 (01:02:15):
And let's not leave out him playing Deck because I
was mad when he didn't go to the second season.

Speaker 3 (01:02:20):
Yeah, but playing Unique obviously based in New York. New
York's story kind of familiar to the slang and the
fash and everything is very familiar to you. But you
did add an element to Raising Kanan that I think
brought in a lot of people, like, Yo, this is
a really good show.

Speaker 4 (01:02:38):
Because a lot of people was kind of off it.

Speaker 3 (01:02:40):
The whole Power series got kind of weird after a while,
but Raising Kanan I think brought in a lot of people,
and then Unique's character definitely elevated it. But there was
an interesting part in season three. Obviously, Ronnie beats the
shit out of Unique.

Speaker 4 (01:02:55):
I thought your character was dead.

Speaker 3 (01:02:56):
I'm like, all right, contract, First we think it was contract.
They couldn't come to an agree.

Speaker 4 (01:03:00):
Then correction, Unique beat the ship out of Ronnie. But
then the nigga got a medal. You know what I'm saying.
He won a Unique one that fight forgetting then he
got his hands on the fire be out of the streets.
He was like, yo, I hate Wed. I'm like, did
you see what?

Speaker 2 (01:03:18):
And then then we saw real footage and I was like,
now Joey could fight.

Speaker 3 (01:03:23):
But that whole thing because I it was presumed that
Unique the character was dead, which was like, this is
probably one of the most favorite characters on the show.
Why would they kill Unique? So I was on they
was like, Nah, Unique ain't dead, He's coming back. I say,
you listen, man, if they try to bring this Unique
character back after that beating he took with that pipe
and then dumping his body in the middle of pause,

(01:03:45):
that was crazy.

Speaker 2 (01:03:47):
That was crazy.

Speaker 4 (01:03:47):
That was cy.

Speaker 2 (01:03:49):
Got myself. I couldn't even get it.

Speaker 3 (01:03:52):
That was crazy dumping his body in the middle of
nowhere and then to come back to the next season, Like,
what's that originally part of it? Or was it something
where Unique was supposed to be written off because of
we always think.

Speaker 4 (01:04:07):
About contract issues.

Speaker 3 (01:04:08):
They weren't able to agree on something so they had
to kind of kill a character of or was that
literally part of.

Speaker 4 (01:04:14):
If I was supposed to go so about it. So
by the time you know, you've seen it on TV
and you're watching it, we already understood where we was
going with it. Okay, you know what I'm saying. So
it was already worked out in the background that I
was coming back. Nobody else knew it except for me
and like the show running, you know what I'm saying.

(01:04:35):
But what had happened was I was I opted out.
I was like, you know what, because I had a
scheduled conflict with my tour. When I dropped two thousand
and the shooting schedule for Keanan, trying to make both work.
There was no way to do both. So I was
basically like, you know what, yo, y'all could kill me

(01:04:56):
off in season three. Yeah, I wasn't planning to be
hear that long because I didn't want to get you know,
pitching hole into no character, you know what I'm saying.
I didn't want to stay in you know what I mean,
So fuck it, you know, and you know they didn't
want to let me go. They like it was kind
of devastating. But I'm like, yo, I'm I'm I'm still

(01:05:17):
a rapper though, guys, like, you know what I'm saying,
I have a rap career, you know what I mean.
I got to hit the road world tour, he like, So,
you know, for me, it was just like all fuck it, Like,
you know, I feel like I ran the course at
that point in time. I did what I had to do,
so I was content with walking away. But the day
that I walked into, uh the head casting office, head

(01:05:38):
casting is so so you see the way he fucking
beating uh the character is like I had to get
my my my head like like a silicone version of
my head made almost sting there so they could like
beat your head. Yeah, you know what I'm saying, they
could destroy it. And when I walked in there, I
had this crazy easy gut feeling that I was making

(01:06:02):
the wrong decision. So I'm like, yo, like I think
I'm making a mistake, you know. And another thing that
really made me walking away easier. I had a play
that was in the future, like another opportunity, another role,
but it wasn't solidified, you know what I'm saying. It

(01:06:22):
was just something that was Yeah, it was in the
talks about I'm like fuck it, like you know, I'm
gonna go on my tour and I'm gonna come home
and walk right into some other shit. So I'm like,
you know what, but something was just telling me. And
it's like I'm very keen on like gut and like spirit,
Like I feel like spirit talked to me and like
I listened. So I called my moms because you know,
my mom's is somebody who was always super profound when

(01:06:46):
it comes to like decision making and shit like that.
So I'm like, yo, like I don't know what to do.
You know, I got this other opportunity boom boom, and
you know, she was like, yo, listen, one in the
hand is better than two in the bush. And when
she dropped that on me, I was like, all right,
I'm gonna call you back. I call up Sasha pen

(01:07:06):
who's the show runner and the creator Raising Cat, and
I'm like, Yo, Sash, it's the any way we could
like bring me back. And he was like, Joey, don't
fuck with me. Don't play with me. Are you serious?
Because when we hang up, I'm going to make some
calls and I'm going to call you back, but do

(01:07:27):
not make me make these fucking calls. And you're not serious,
Do not funk me.

Speaker 1 (01:07:34):
Kelly, mind you in power, we fifty blew up in
a warehouse and came back.

Speaker 4 (01:07:43):
Right the nigga was locking.

Speaker 2 (01:07:46):
Fing away bring by the way, came back a little.

Speaker 4 (01:07:55):
You know what I'm saying, ship, But yeah, he was
like you know, and he made the call and he
called me back. He was like, Yo, you gotta keep
this between us, you know what I'm saying, because I
gotta do a lot clean up. I gotta go back
in the fucking writer's room. I gotta change the story.
Like so just keep this between me and us and ship.

(01:08:17):
You know, I held it down and you know I
had I had to kind of rite it out. So
the fun ship about it was I had to tell
all my castmates, like like when we did the table
read episode five with Unique Diyes, Yeah, anybody said they
farewells to me. That's crazy. I know it was. I
felt like an asshole. Broe.

Speaker 2 (01:08:35):
I'm like, yeah, you had your whole wake everybody.

Speaker 4 (01:08:40):
It's incredible. You know what I'm saying. I'm like, I
love you many just for me to come back episode like,
you know, so it was funny. That is hilarious, man,
But I mean I understand why they made that. They
had to. They had to. They had to bring Unique.

Speaker 2 (01:08:55):
Back, and that has something to do also with the
Wu Tang Hulu serious when you was that the world season?

Speaker 1 (01:09:02):
Yeah, exactly, which, by the way, I think Rizzid does
not get enough credit.

Speaker 2 (01:09:06):
That's one of the best series I've seen.

Speaker 4 (01:09:08):
You smoked.

Speaker 2 (01:09:10):
Deck when it switched.

Speaker 1 (01:09:13):
But I forgive me for not knowing that the other
gentleman's name that played Deck he smoked it as well.

Speaker 4 (01:09:18):
Oh yeah, I forgive my man. Yeah, he was he
was Deck than me.

Speaker 1 (01:09:24):
Okay, I thought he was. You know what I'm saying,
prepare for the Deck role for the first To be
real with you, my heart wasn't all the way in there, Okay,
you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 4 (01:09:32):
And I think there's a clear distinction on like Joey
playing Deck and Joey playing Unique because I never, like,
I made it a thing, like I never wanted to
play a rapper. Yeah. Never. I made the exception for
Rizen because I love Risen and like he was one
of my early mentors in the game. So when he
asked me, it was like, yeah, yeah, I'm not you

(01:09:57):
know what I'm saying. I'm not gonna tell him no,
like you know, when they wanted me to do that,
I'm like that. But I never wanted to play a rapper,
you know what I'm saying. So while I was trying
to make them both work, I couldn't because my deal
with Keenan was exclusive, so I couldn't be a recurring
on another show at the same time that I was
on Kanan, I didn't have an exclusive with Wu Tang,

(01:10:19):
and that's how they lost me, you know what I mean.
That's how I was able to get another role and
you know, a what was a better opportunity for me?
And you know, kind of peace out.

Speaker 2 (01:10:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:10:29):
I mean even as a fan, like when they did
the press release for the first season of the Wu
Tang Saga, they had your name and they had Davis.

Speaker 2 (01:10:37):
That was like Joey Badass playing Inspector Deck. Davey's playing I.

Speaker 4 (01:10:41):
Was by the way. I thought David's myth was a
perfect casting.

Speaker 1 (01:10:45):
I was sitting there like, all right, obviously they rappers,
they know how to deliver this ship. I was blown
away about the way that worked because Davey smoked method. Man.
You saying perfect casting. I'm telling you I was wrong
in looking that was like I get it that Dave
from New York. This will work, I guess because he'll

(01:11:05):
know how to deliver ship. But that whole role and
you doing Deck, I wasn't even sure at that time.

Speaker 2 (01:11:12):
It's like all right, we just.

Speaker 4 (01:11:13):
Still like, yeah, I still had dreads the time underneath
the Little band Dennis. It was my dreads. I even
cut my head yet at a time.

Speaker 1 (01:11:21):
Why that show did not get awards is beyond me.
That that whole series is absolutely incredible.

Speaker 4 (01:11:27):
Shout the rism man.

Speaker 2 (01:11:28):
Shut we can we can close here.

Speaker 1 (01:11:31):
Would you say I was your best co star in
a in a video of all time when we did
the Black Odyssey thing.

Speaker 4 (01:11:37):
I mean, I feel like you was great.

Speaker 2 (01:11:41):
He was great, you know you.

Speaker 4 (01:11:43):
He was a great bad teacher.

Speaker 2 (01:11:46):
I felt like I felt like we had better on
screen chemistry than.

Speaker 1 (01:11:52):
I really thought like you and I was gonna take
it to the top half of the video, but I understand.

Speaker 4 (01:11:59):
Yo.

Speaker 2 (01:11:59):
We could do the buddy movie Buddy Guy.

Speaker 4 (01:12:02):
Now You're going to Love Too Far Lowly.

Speaker 2 (01:12:05):
At the top available now.

Speaker 3 (01:12:07):
Joey Badass on tour with Absolult Rhapsody coming to a
city near you soon.

Speaker 4 (01:12:12):
Definitely going to the Brooklyn Show. Is that Paramount right? Yeah? Paramount?
You said Palladium. I never did Paramount. It's my first time,
so definitely pulling up new venue, some ship. Definitely pulling
up to that.

Speaker 3 (01:12:25):
That's our got, Joey Badass, my brother, Thank you man,
good scene.

Speaker 4 (01:12:28):
Thank you for having me man.

Speaker 3 (01:12:29):
Love