Joey Bada$$ - Summer Knights

New York rapper Joey Bada$$ follows up his infamous 1999 mixtape with a collection of tracks that feel more like a sequel from Pro Era's recently released PEEP: The aPROcalypse mixtape. Still a solid effort, though.

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Joey Bada$$ - "95 Til Infinity" (prod. Lee Bannon)

2013 XXL Freshman and Beast Coast MC Joey Bada$$ drops another track from his anticipated Summer Knights mixtape, which has been pushed back for a July 1st release. With all of these huge rap releases around the corner--Kanye, Cole, Miller--I'm not surprised, honestly.

Producer Lee Bannon pulls together a pretty smooth, classy beat, but Joey goes completely bonkers with an over-the-top delivery that is easily one of his most energetic yet. Enjoy!

Joey Bada$$ - "World Is Bond"

Joey Bada$$ has definitely cemented a place in the underground hip-hop scene with his 1991 mixtape and Pro Era group mixtape PEEP: the aPROcalypse characterized for his long wordplay filled bars and boom bap styled production.

"World Is Bond" is set to be on his upcoming album Summer Knights the follow up to his mixtape  and it seems like he is continuing in the same direction almost exactly with this track. Of course with added recognition his production has received a step up in budget and it feels like Statik Selektah the producer on this track is a perfect match for Joey. The beat is filled with a classic sounding piano loop over top of a great heavy head bobbing kick and snare reminiscent to a lot of the beats on 1991.

Joey is continuing to grow as an MC though with the complexity and messages within his verses maturing as he does. It is always interesting to see how an artist develops and while I don't expect anything too different from his past releases on Summer Knights that's not necessarily a bad thing.