Joey Bada$$

Few rappers have arrived with as clear a sense of direction as Jo-Vaughn Virginie Scott, known professionally as Joey Bada$$. The Brooklyn-born rapper and actor formed the regional crew Pro Era in 2011, helping establish the larger Beast Coast collective the following year. As a solo act signed to Cinematic Music Group, he released the mixtapes 1999 and Summer Knights in 2012 and 2013. Both drew critical acclaim, and their reception signaled a young artist with a patient, exacting style—one that would stay with him as a debut album eventually followed.

His first two studio albums, B4.DA.$$ (2015) and All-Amerikkkan Badass (2017), each reached number five on the Billboard 200, before 2000 arrived in 2022. Alongside recording, Bada$$ moved into acting, making his television debut in Mr. Robot. Across his releases, he has kept a deliberate and cohesive approach, an identity rooted in Brooklyn and sustained through a catalog that carries the same centered energy as his earliest work. He rarely rushes, but when he does release, the music tends to land with the confidence of someone who has never needed to chase the moment.