Hailing from Brooklyn and citing an impeccable array of influences (J Dilla, MF Doom, Notorious BIG), 20-year-old rapper Joey Bada$$ has caused considerable excitement in hip-hop circles with a brace of well-received mixtapes. His potential is clear, but there is a callowness to this uneven debut album, which lacks a killer track or two to elevate it to essential listening status.
Not that the man born with the rather less imposing name Jo-Vaughan Virginie Scott is lacking anything when it comes to style: B4.DA.$$ skips skilfully around different genres, and tries on a range of costumes. Exploring the dark side of urban life, Joey variously embraces avant hip-hop on ‘Save The Children’, noirish atmospherics on ‘Paper Trail’, Massive Attack-style trip-hop on ‘Piece Of Mind’, and jazz groves on the Roots-produced ‘Like Me’.
It is all impressive enough. But while B4.DA.$$ is big on mood and texture, it is short on truly memorable melodies and irresistible rhythms. As a result, the album falls significantly short of the most memorable hip-hop debuts in recent years, such as those produced by Tyler The Creator and Earl Sweatshirt. To be fair, Joey is still remarkably young. He has time on his side, so hopefully next time out, he’ll realise his considerable potential.

Key Track - 'Like Me'