A work of second-wave ’90s revisionism, B4.DA.$$ builds on Kendrick Lamar instead of A$AP Rocky, offering content-heavy rhymes which explore various thematic concepts through torrents of free-associative wordplay. On the surface, the album’s repurposing of familiar hip-hop templates may seem derivative, but Bada$$’s approach recognizes the past as a stylistic jumping-off point for his own modern brand of thoughtful lyricism. All this deliberation grants an analytical exactness to B4.DA.$$, which deftly traverses the different economies of the rap world, from the desperate hustle of the streets to the showy wastefulness of the club and the tricky minefield of the music business.
Blustery in all the usual ways, the 19-year-old Bada$$ is also precociously considerate of both album arrangement and public perception, viewing his passage from ordinary teenager to budding star as an occasion for self-reflection and cultural examination.
It’s also the first indicator of green as a recurrent motif, an arbiter of status and power that filters its way throughout this surprisingly well-structured debut. Once you work your way through its thicket of numbers, periods, and symbols, the title of Joey Bada$$’s B4.DA.$$ seems self-explanatory: a snapshot of a young artist on the cusp, implying both an atmosphere of pre-fame candor and the money that’ll soon be rolling in.
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