Here’s something crazy. At 17 years old, Brooklyn High Schooler Jo-Vaughn Scott, professionally known as Joey Bada$$, has already released half a dozen albums’ worth of material, all of it good and some of it great.
As frontman of baby-faced rap collective The Progressive Era, the prolific teen has scared up enough hype to earn a spot on his school’s Hall Of Fame – although, if the officiates of Edward R. Munrow High want to keep order in the classroom, they should probably hold off until
he graduates.
The first Bada$$ mixtape, 1999, created a buzz: an appearance on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, collaborations with Adidas and legendary producer DJ Premier, and more blog comment than Kate Middleton’s fringe followed. The Peep: The aPROcalypse mixtape, his second with Pro Era, comes to us amid rumours that Jay-Z is about to sign him up to mainstream monolith Roc Nation.
Now, here’s something else crazy. In spite of his age, relative inexperience and the Swarovski-encrusted fare a name punctuated with dollar signs might suggest, there’s real depth to the Joey Bada$$ sound. His latest tape, an experimental, 17-track spree that pays intelligent homage to the boom bap style that flourished around the time of his birth, is a near-perfect combination of ear-grabbing hooks and G-Funk-
brand subtlety.
Bada$$ himself flows like Nas’ little brother, confident and canny, without turning to theatrics. Where you might expect tales of schoolyard tomfoolery and flustered crushes, you’ll find relatable musings on the soul and spirit, on growing older and making music, all wrapped up in head-spinningly sharp wordplay.
An admittedly clichéd rap trope takes a starring role (“Y’all went to High School, I went to school high” is one of the most addictive moments on the record), but for the most part, the men you’re listening to could be of any generation or persuasion. If Peep gives anything away about its creators, it’s their location. The best and most melodic of vintage East Coast rap is revisited through echoey drum machine beats, laid-back rhymes, fuzzy soul samples and older-than-old-school scratching. Common, Method Man and the aforementioned Nas turn up in sampled form, which partially explains why tracks like the stripped-back ‘Florists’, the scratch-happy ‘Like Water’ and the icy, string-sampling ‘Natural’ could slot into any classic hip hop fan’s collection without causing too much of a ruckus.
For all its playful reverie, Peep is a serious tape for serious rap fans, a record just one or two dynamite numbers short of a boom bap masterstroke.
Unfortunately, the review doesn’t end here. The release of Peep on December 22 was followed by tragedy for the Pro Era family on Christmas Eve, when Capital STEEZ, aka 19-year-old Jamal Dewar, died by suspected suicide. His is the first voice on the record, and one of the most prolific throughout, and naturally, his words now pack a stronger punch.
As the gifted MC’s collaborators struggle to deal with his untimely departure, we’re left to hope that Pro Era go on resurrecting the golden age of hip hop without him. After all, if they keep doing what they’re doing, the possibilities are endless.
Get PEEP: The Aprocalypse for free here: t.opsp.in/a0XXQ