Joey Bada$$ and the Amerikkkan Dream

Joey Bada$$ has always been an artist content with breaking forms and shattering expectations. His first official release, 1999, "resurrected boom bap" and utilized traditional hip-hop beats. His second release and first studio album, B4.Da.$$, was more modern and featured several tracks where the traditional song forms were broken—not to mention the interesting features and beats that were on the album.

On April 7, 2017, Joey Bada$$ released his second studio album, All-Amerikkkan Badass—a project that addresses political topics head on and balances acknowledging responsibilities that black people have, and have not been fulfilling, to their communities and criticizing the influence and power that the white community has over the black community. The project features artists Meechie Darko (of Flatbush Zombies), J. Cole, Nyck Caution, Kirk Knight, Styles P, Schoolboy Q, and Chronixx. The 12-track project debuted at number five on the US Billboard 200, and was reviewed as a 4 out of 5 by XXL and a 4.1 out of 5 by HipHopDX. However, not everyone loved the album, as Pitchfork graded it as a 6.4 out of 10 because of the variety of injustices that Joey attempted to address. In addition to political themes, Joey tackles religion, community, and what it means to dismantle power structures. [Put in article and video description.]

Joey uses this album as an opportunity to give people a look into the reality of a Black American male. Men that love their city, but are hated, dismantled, and disassembled by their country. Though he is very obviously speaking from his own perspective, he often uses language that is inclusive and presents situations that seem to advocate (whether intentionally or unintentionally) for equality and camaraderie.

It’s important to clarify the lens through which we are analyzing this work. Utilizing ethnic and gender studies theories, we can thoroughly look through a few of the tracks on this album and attempt to determine the community of people Joey is speaking for, the people he is speaking to, and what "The American Dream" is in this situation.

According to Northern Arizona University, ethnic studies is “the interdisciplinary study of race and ethnicity, as understood through the perspectives of major underrepresented racial groups in the United States.” Essentially, when analyzing with ethnic studies the critic must focus on how race is constructed and represented within a text and how the artist's respective race contributes to this construction/representation. According to the Online Writing Lab at Purdue University, “A primary concern in gender studies and queer theory is the manner in which gender and sexuality is discussed.” The lines between gender studies and queer theory often blur, but are separate as queer theory is meant to build on gender studies, a line of content-based criticism that, upon its creation, benefited white women rather than minorities and members of the LGBTQ+ community. When focusing on gender studies exclusively, the critic must focus on how gender is constructed and represented within a text. You may be wondering why one would analyze an album like All-Amerikkkan Badass is using a gender studies lens. But perhaps this supposed lack of connection between the project and gender is reason enough; let's dive deeper.

Upon first glance, we can tell that the album is political. First, there is the KKK in the album title, which, of course, is an allusion to Ice Cube’s "AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted" and Capital Steez’s AmeriKKKan Korruption. Joey has also spoken about the title plenty of times. Second, in one version of the album cover you can see the American Flag printed with paisley, which Joey calls the Freedom Flag, and Joey riding in an old car, flipping off the camera. The flag is a combination of what represents America, what represents gang culture, and in turn, all Black Americans. Additionally, the cover seems to represent what Joey believes his position is. He is in a position of educating and protecting his people, even if it means his demise. The second album cover shows only a portion of the freedom flag and the way that the image is cropped is comparable to the cover art of Jay-Z and Kanye West’s “Otis.” “Otis” is not a song that is glorified for its political coverage, as there are only a few lines that seem political in nature. However, within All-Amerikkkan Badass, we have an album that is largely political with small notes of stereotypical rap topics. They juxtapose one another and work together to create one of many portraits of America.

Track One: "Good Morning Amerikkka"

The opening track is very much a greeting. It begins with a clapping sound and asks the listener to wake up. This can be very obviously linked to Good Morning America, an American television show because he literally says it in the song. But is more likely a reference to the “stay woke” mantra, spearheaded by Childish Gambino’s “Redbone” and even referenced in his show, Atlanta. Stay woke is simply a rephrasing of “don’t sleep” or “wake up,” encouraging people to remain alert and aware despite what they are told. Throughout the rest of the song, the speaker attempts to define freedom through a conversation with the listener. The speaker talks about contacting his ancestors and those that come before him, which is something that Joey often discusses.

There is a lot of black criticism in this song. Namely the criticizing of the use of harder drugs. This allusion to cocaine in general, most likely includes the impact of the crack epidemic in the black community. According to U.S. Drug Laws: The New Jim Crow?: The Crack Epidemic and the Failure of Epidemic Response by Dr. Beverly Xaviera Watkins and Dr. Mindy Thompson Fullilove, crack cocaine “became widely available in U.S. urban areas in the mid-1980s, largely concentrated in poor inner-city neighborhoods. As drug use and sales increased, and the epidemic became established, social, legal and medical problems proliferated. Addiction to crack was often rapid—in the mid-1980s it was rumored that a single hit could cause addiction—and created a drive for more drugs that were severe. During drug use binges that might last up to several days, people addicted to crack spent their money, dispersed valuable possessions, and participated in sex-for-money or drugs exchanges. In the course of intensive drug use, parents neglected their children, and everyone neglected basic needs for adequate food, clothing, and shelter.” Joey is discouraging partaking in such activities because of the history it has of pillaging the black community. He also criticizes people for literally being too nosey, which seems to point at the fervor with which people give their attention to social media and reality TV. We’ve seen an increase in the use of social media in general, but especially for crude things such as videos showing grotesque murders, suicides and other lewd and disturbing images. At the end of his verse the speaker says. This line is interesting, as it could be an allusion to many different things. The big homie could refer to God and the chains being the difficulties involved in the black man’s life, or even life itself. However, since the pragmatics involved in this usage of the term “homie” seem so personal, it could also be an allusion to Capital Steez.

• Ethnic Studies: Obviously, the speaker has a black perspective as his uses of the word “us” refer to black people in jail, murdered and unaware. The aforementioned criticism of the black community maintains the speaker as someone who cares deeply for his community; if he didn’t, he would make no effort to create impactful and lasting change. While the use of “us” means that the speaker is experiencing troubles along with his community, it also creates a very “us vs. them” mentality that remains throughout the rest of the album. There are no other minorities mentioned explicitly in this song, let alone the rest of the album, which makes us wonder which team the speaker considers other minorities a part of, us or them?
• Gender Studies: There really aren’t many mentions of gender in this song. In fact, there are actually many gender-neutral terms, such as homie, us, and you. These terms create a very inclusive feel, as if the speaker is addressing the entire black community and not putting all of the responsibility on black men or women. There is one “he” pronoun, which is used in reference to the speaker’s ancestor. There is also one “she,” which is used in reference to America—we see this again in the track “Y U Don’t Love Me Miss Amerikkka." In the aforementioned track, America is characterized as a woman, who is the assailant in an abusive relationship. According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, “48.4 percent of women and 48.8 percent of men have experienced at least one psychologically aggressive behavior by an intimate partner,” and “four in 10 women and four in 10 men have experienced at least one form of coercive control by an intimate partner in their lifetime.” Cases of psychological domestic violence, like what is presented in this song, are just as common in men as they are in women. However, they are not treated as such in things like the media and art. Joey is inadvertently bringing light to this by positioning the male speaker as the receiver of abuse. These songs seems to disassociate power from gender and associate it more with race.

Track Two: "For My People"

At the beginning of the song the speaker says that he always wanted to have super powers.and by the end of the song he realizes that he actually has super power—which comes in the form of his musical talent and influence. This song is very much a super hero story in itself: the speaker seems to come from humble origins and his villains are the government, the police and other members of the dominant hegemony. Though he has powers, they don’t give him the power to do everything he desires; he still craves safety, justice, etc.

The speaker claims that his people are simply trying to stay alive/survive and stay peaceful. Despite the fact that Black people are discriminated against and constantly racially profiled, which causes unjust death and imprisonment, they are expected to respond with peaceful protests, and sometimes these are not even tolerated. Look at NFL protests, spearheaded by Colin Kaepernick and the recent Nike controversy, that have all but divided the country. Think back to peaceful protests lead by Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Even trying to remain peaceful is no match for being Black.

Track Three: "Temptation"

The intro and outro of this track are made up of a recording of nine year old Zianna Oliphant and the speech that she made at a Charlotte council meeting. Her moving speech went viral as a testament to how much police brutality, prejudice and injustice plague all of the black community, despite things like age, status and education level. The song states that it is impossible for black people to deal with these issues “alone,” which causes us to give into certain temptations such as drugs and crime in order to provide for our families and keep our heads above water. In some, it also causes a dependence on God. Not only does he seem to be discussing the gentrification of neighborhoods, but also the unjust killing of black people their organ donation, which will be discussed later.

• Ethnic Studies: The song walks the line between criticizing the black community for turning to illegal activities, being a slave to religion, using alcohol and other vices to cope and relating to the community. The line is incredibly ambivalent when you think on it for more than a few seconds. This line may refer to the speaker’s role in society and several influences encouraging him to make a difference. But it may also refer to literally hearing voices, or going through psychosis because of mental health issues, in his head that he attempts to drown out with drugs and religion.

According to Health Issues in the Black Community, a collection edited by Ronald L. Braithwaite and Sandra E. Taylor, there is a stereotype that black people are not easily susceptible to mental illness—specifically depression. This may cause them to use religion, drugs and alcohol in order to self-medicate. In fact, despite popular belief, black women are more vulnerable to mental health issues because of their double disadvantage. This might be linked to the toxic masculinity in the black community that can be traced back to beliefs held during slavery. But I’ll save that for another video.

• Gender Studies: This is the only song with an explicit female voice, two in fact. One is the voice of Zianna, the other is the voice of an older woman demanding that she continue to speak. Zianna continues to speak through tears, refusing to be silenced by her emotions, her age or the white majority. These are two vulnerable, powerful, mood altering voices, without which the song would not be the same. This is the only time on the album that women get to break from the role of a mother or lover. Instead, they act as the driving force behind the song and they are the first and last things that we hear.
• Video: The video creates a positive and humanizing view of both black people and police officers. For the first minute and a half or so of the video, Joey’s character is a bystander. He stands to the side as children play, an older woman fans herself to cool down and a man grabs his gun before leaving his home. In the beginning of the video, there are police officers patting down black men. But later, we see the officers laughing together, and the black men, dancing to music. The community shows people coming together through music and religion, creating an image that seems to juxtapose the lyrics of the song. This juxtaposition seems to indicate that the image displayed in the video is something that the black community should aim for.

Track Four: "Land of the Free"

• Ethnic Studies: It is interesting that Joey acknowledges the use of the black body in this song. He specifically talks about black people being organ donors, after being left for dead by their white counterparts. Throughout history the black body was used for labor, sex, and most of all, profit.

Marcus Garvey was a political and civil rights activist from Jamaica. The line that Joey mentions is from the first chapter of The Philosophy Opinions of Marcus Garvey, or Africa for the Africans. Joey often makes references to social figures like Marcus Garvey; those that attempted to make change through the spread of knowledge no matter how controversial they seemed.

• Video: In the music video, Joey seems to play two versions of America.

1. What we have the potential to be: Taking guns from white people, protecting black people, educating babies, etc.
2. An America that is at the mercy of white oppressors—hung, shot, etc.

• Ethnicity and Gender Studies: The video makes it clear that no one in the black community is safe from police brutality, which is why Joey is speaking to a group of children about current injustice.

Track Eight: "Ring the Alarm" (feat. Meechie Darko, Nyck Caution, and Kirk Knight)

I think I need to mention all of the hard "C" sounds in Joey's verses, especially the first verse. The hard "C" is the harshest sound in the English language (say the word "because" with and without emphasis on the "C" and you'll understand what I mean). Layering all of these harsh sounds among word play that attempts to strike fear into opponents makes Joey seem much more menacing. This does not necessarily impact the rest of this song analysis, but I thought it was interesting.

• Ethnic Studies: Unlike the other songs on the album, this song seems to have a collective perspective. Rather than just speaking from and for black people, it is directed at any musical opposition. This song also has a feature from Nyck Caution, the only non-black voice on the album. Additionally, he and Kirk Knight share a voice and work in tandem on attacking the opposition. This is similar to the way that the two work together on their Nyck @ Knight mixtape. So, though this song takes a break from politics, when we consider the races of the artists, it seems to subconsciously advocate for racial equality and camaraderie.
• Gender Studies: The only gendered language comes in Meechie Darko’s parts. There is “die for my brethren” and “Likkle Bwy don’t backchat” This seems to pinpoint both his opposition and companions as exclusively male, which may be an indicator of how the majority views women in hip-hop. When looked at from this perspective, the song seemed extremely inclusive at the start and more exclusive toward its ending.

Track Nine: "Super Predator" (feat. Styles P)

The entire song is an allusion to Hillary Clinton’s 1996 super predator comments.

Styles P delivers a rich and impactful verse about slavery, religion, republicans, police brutality, and stigmatized blackness. Of course, the speaker is alluding to the fact that the United States of America was built through slavery. However, instead of receiving any sort of compensation or credit, slaves were beat and forced into an unfair system of institutionalized slavery.

• Ethnic Studies: In terms of ethnic studies, this song is important because of what is called linguistic reclamation. Essentially, this is when a word or phrase that was attributed with one meaning, is claimed by the group it was meant to insult and given a new meaning. We see this with the N-word and other words like “thug” and “bitch.” However, along with linguistic reclamation comes pragmatics, which is just a fancy word for context. Even if the speaker of the song was successful in reclaiming “super predator,” the word would still take on a different meaning depending on the situation in which it is used. If a stranger walked up to the speaker and called him a super predator, it would elicit a different reaction than a close friend calling him a super predator after hearing his new song.
• His actions with the term super predator are very similar to Tupac’s actions with the term “thug.” Tupac spent much of his time in the spotlight attempting to change the meaning of the word thug, therefore attempting to change how black people saw themselves. Joey is doing the same thing here.
• Gender Studies: Though Clinton’s remarks are horrible in their attempt to portray black men as villains, this song speaks to Clinton’s power as a woman to influence others, no matter their gender or race. Despite her remarks, she acts as a powerful woman in inspiring an entire song on this album with her remarks. In the chorus Joey says:

Badmon we a run tings (yeah)never let the tings run we (no)

In is case, ting may take on several different meanings. Of course, ting is a patois term for a woman. However, in such a political song it seems out of place to just begin talking about women and talking down to women. It seems more likely that ting is a metaphor for Hillary Clinton herself. Through the chorus, the speaker seems to explicitly become Clinton’s definition of a super predator, with the intention of only using her for sex and money, treating her like she believes that a super predator would.

Track 10: "Babylon" (feat. Chronixx)

Before we can accurately analyze this song, we must discuss the term “Babylon” and what it means. times. In this case, we seem to be dealing with the Rastafarian term. That is “any society of oppressive political and economic power structure.” We can see that this song will be criticizing the aforementioned society.

In the beginning of the chorus, the speaker talks about the influence of loss in one’s life. However, when the first verse begins, the speaker begins to talk about his exhaustion in reference to police brutality and “the white hand of justice” and craves release in the form of an adequate solution. In each of Joey’s verses, there is a crescendo. He goes from simply speaking to almost screaming his words, voicing his frustration through his tone of voice.

• Ethnic/Gender Studies: There are a lot of male nouns/pronouns in this song, but the speaker makes it clear that he is speaking for the black community as a whole regardless of sex or gender.

So, what is the Amerikkkan Dream?

The American Dream is the idea that everyone deserves equal opportunities to succeed. But because of things like white and male privilege and niche representation, this dream is not being realized as it should be. All-Amerikkkan Bada$$ paints a portrait of the American reality that many black males live, attempting to live in a country that does not want to see them survive let alone see them succeed. They constantly walk the line between remaining true to themselves and their communities and attempting to appear nonthreatening to their more privileged counterparts. Rather than living in fear, Joey uses this album to speak, no matter the consequences he may face, being a man in the spotlight. In Joey’s mind, the American Dream not only involves equal opportunities for people of color; it also involves a fearless space, where people, especially people of color, do not feel afraid of information and spreading it to others.