Joey Bada$$ is celebrating his 26th birthday in style. The Brooklyn rapper has shared a new song called “Let It Breathe”, and it’s all about basking in the many accolades he’s racked up since first breaking into the rap game at the age of 17.
“Brand new 911 off the lot/ It ain’t even cost me a lot,” is the opening bar, with Joey’s raps placed over a steamy saxophone. From there, the beat switches into a crackling jazz-rap instrumental with a luxurious sheen, and the Pro Era leader dives into a whole verse of suave flexes. “Want you to celebrate me like I’m dead already” and “Ain’t a ni**a that I met who could see me yet/ Just know my door’s always open like a CVS,” are two of the standouts, but the whole track is stuffed with golden one-liners.
The song’s accompanying video was directed by Joey, Levi Turner, and Waqas Ghani, and it shows the man of the hour cruising around in a shiny new Porsche, stunting in front of a private helicopter, and then taking off to skim the NYC skyline. Check it out below.
“Let It Breathe” is the first piece of solo material that Joey’s dropped since The Light Pack EP that he put out last summer. Prior to that, he and his Beast Coast collective released their debut album in 2019. Recently, Joey teamed up with Nas, Gary Clark Jr., and Statik Selektah on a single titled “Keep It Moving”.
Outside of music, Joey’s also kept himself busy with a number of TV roles, portraying Inspectah Deck in Hulu’s TV series about the Wu-Tang Clan and appearing on the ABC sitcom grown-ish.
