Shortie: Who Is Jozif Badmon?

Joey Bada$$ was born Jo-Vaughn Virginie Scott, and grew up in Brooklyn, New York. He’s a rapper, actor, model, and new father. He does all of these things under his stage name “Joey Bad$$.”

So, who is Jozif Badmon?

Badmon appears on several tracks, in addition to being the name on Joey’s Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter profiles. In fact, when you search Badmon, Joey is the first thing to pop up. Is this simply another name that Joey has for himself? Or does the moniker represent a sort of character change, similar to Kendrick Lamar’s Cornrow Kenny, or Eminem’s Slim Shady?

Jozif

Of course, this part of the moniker can be attributed to a nickname that Joey gave to himself, because of his stage name Joey. Joey is short for Jo-Vaughn, which is not the first name that people would expect. He has flipped the expected name on it’s head, by spelling it in an untraditional way.

Badmon

Badmon refers to Joey’s Jamaican heritage. At its origins, Badmon was used in Jamaica to refer to men who were involved in illegal activities. However, as time has progressed, the word developed more of a meaning aligned with dominance. Wikipedia defines a badmon as “powerful, someone who commands respect in their neighborhood, or someone affluent, any of which would make them stand out from the crowd.”

Though this term has become so explicitly linked with Joey, there are not many mentions of it. I will not be analyzing the LA Leakers Freestyle, I’ll only be analyzing music that was written and recorded with the intent to be released at a later date.

The sample heard on the hook is from "Badman Forward, Badman Pull Up," a popular dancehall song by Ding Dong.

The speaker advocates for goons demolishing the powerful white-collar majority, who insist on standing on the backs of black people. This represents a pretty wide-spread belief in the black community, one that Joey also voiced on Amerikkkan Idol. That is, the belief that rather than causing violence in the black community, gangs should be tasked with protecting the black community from the white majority.

The speaker refers back to his old stage name J.O.V., but also uses this mention to identify himself as Joey. This seems to confirm that Badmon and Joey are two sides of the same person.

Badmon’s portrayal in the video is very similar to that of MF Doom. They have very similar masks, and Joey has been very upfront about the inspiration that he has gotten from MF Doom. The video indicates that Badmon is notorious, not only for the damage that he causes, but also because of his influence in the black community. Additionally, it is mentioned that Badmon does not hurt civilians, but we see him jumping one of his Goons (played by Nyck Caution). It seems that Badmon and his crew are explicitly taking on the role that Joey believes gangs should have. Gang culture is still present in the way that they stick together, initiate new members, and cause destruction. However, rather than harming its own people, the gang exists to protect its people.

At the very beginning of the song, the speaker identifies himself as Badmon, and does so again on his second verse. This song identifies issues in America, and expresses Badmon’s desire to simply flee. He wants to “formulate a plan” but does not give instructions on how to do so until later in the album.

On this record, Badmon is very militant, which is evident by his direct comments about the government and injustice, in addition to the exasperated tone of voice he uses for the latter part of his first verse.

The speaker identifies himself as Badmon on the chorus. The song is about making a lasting impact on his community and educating others, even though chances of living long are getting shorter for black men because of violence in the black community. Not only is Badmon incredibly straightforward about his role as a black figure, but he also makes it a point to mention his lyrical ability, and how advanced he is, when compared to his competition.

Theory

Based on the appearances of Badmon thus far, the speaker seems to represent a sort of militant character change. The character is similar to other speakers that have been present on Joey’s tracks, and even seems to be similar to Joey himself, with a couple of exceptions.

Badmon is not shy about being violent. Even though he wants to use violence in order to create positive change, the violence is still something he actively incites. This opposes Joey’s character.

Thus far, all of the evidence seems to be pointing in this direction; however this is the one outlier.

Badmon identifies himself at the very beginning of the song, but the message of the song and Joey’s verse are all in good fun, and are not overly political or insanely lyrical in nature. Similarly, there is no allusion to Joey’s Caribbean heritage on this track like there is on the previous tracks.

In "No 99," the aforementioned sample gives a nod to his Caribbean heritage by sampling from a song so important to the dancehall scene of the last decade or so.

"Babylon" features Chronixx. Chronixx is a Jamaican Reggae artist and though he does not sound as enraged as Badmon, he speaks with a voice that contains the same conviction. He is a large part of the vibe of this song. Additionally, “Babylon” is an important term in the Rastafarian culture.

On the chorus of "Super Predator," Badmon speaks in patois, alluding to his heritage. However, "Pull Up" contains no allusions like these outside of the mentioning of Badmon itself.

The "Pull Up" video is only the second time that we get to see Badmon on screen. From what I can tell, this video contains no political imagery, neither does the song. Joey's verse on IDK's "Lil Arrogant" is similar and does not contain anything overly political, though I will not analyze it here.

I feel as if Jozif Badmon is a character that differs from the speaker that is usually heard in Joey’s music, even if Joey doesn’t know it. Perhaps “Pull Up” is an example of Joey switching things up in order to keep things from becoming mundane or predictable.

Is Badmon a character, a manifestation of Joey’s more radical beliefs and desires? Are Jozif Badmon and Joey Bada$$ two halves of the same whole? Or are they the different people altogether?

You can see my video presentation of this topic below.