After releasing a few singles and having to push back the release date due to sample clearance issues, Joey Bada$$ at last delivers his third studio album with 2000. This new album comes 5 years after his sophomore release All-Amerikkkan Bada$$ and is said to be the follow up to his classic 1999 mixtape, released back in June of 2012. If you do the math then you’d know that 2000 has hit the net 10 years after it’s predecessor, and although the artist has matured since that classic 1999 tape, Joey provides the same flow and lyricism that put him on the scene at the young age of 17.
Joey enlists features from Diddy, Westside Gunn, Larry June, Chris Brown, Capella Grey and JID with production provided mainly from Statik Selektah, Chuck Strangers, Kirk Knight, Rahki and others. Besides the singles that were previously released, standout tracks include “Make Me Feel”, “Cruise Control” and “Wanna Be Loved” featuring JID.
Right off the bat and judging from my first listen, I can tell that 2000 is easily Joey’s best work to date because of that maturity mentioned before. That maturity not only includes his mentality and growth as a person, but in his music as well. Even though the artist continues to bring what put him on the scene years ago, you can tell that his creativity has matured through his flow, lyricism, topic of the records and even beat selection. Maybe this is why it took 5 years for the Pro Era leader to release another album, if that is the case then I can’t be mad at that. 2000 was honestly more than I expected it to be, even with those singles released prior to the album that were really dope. It’s hella cool to see the growth from Joey Bada$$ from age 17 to age 27 with multiple mixtapes and albums behind him as proof, and hopefully many more albums lay ahead of him as well. Stream the album down below.