Well, the 2012 NBA Draft is over and surprisingly the Phoenix Suns didn't deal their pick for Marvin Williams or Matt Barnes. I think the biggest surprise from the draft is that of all the trades that were rumored to be on the table, the most underwhelming ones actually executed. I know one involved the amazing and game changing prospect Tyler Zeller (sarcasm for those who can't tell) and another involved the 76ers giving the Miami Heat a first round pick for some damn reason, other than that...eh.
I was probably kidding myself hoping the Rockets would throw the house at Dwight Howard only to be left in the dust next season, or waiting for the Cavaliers to trade up to #2 to take Bradley Beal and then the Wizards shatter Charlotte's dreams by taking Thomas Robinson with the rage of a middle school teenager.
But alas none of the goodness happened and we had a pretty underwhelming draft in terms of mixing it up. Although Cleveland did provide a good laugh by taking lottery prospect Dion Waiters at the #4 slot, and then Toronto was forced to take late first round prospect Terrence Ross at #8. But anyways, onto Phoenix...
Joey Bada$$ is a 17 year old rapper from Brooklyn New York who recently dropped his debut mixtape "1999". I decided to do an artist spotlight of Joey and 1999 as opposed to a review because I've already proclaimed the mix-tape as (in my beautiful opinion) the best of 2012 so far and I found it would be redundant to review it after such a statement. So I chose to dedicate my latest post to introducing this very talented young artist to new listeners
The most baffling and perhaps appealing aspect of Joey's talent, aside from the fact that he has shown the potential for greatness and the kid can't even buy scratch-off tickets is that his flow and style are about five years older than he is.
The boom-bap style of 90s East Coast hip-hop is pulled off excellently by Joey even though the gritty and raw sound was well out of the mainstream well before he could even coherently remember the right from left. I think that's the biggest reason I am attracted to his sound, he
doesn't sound his age at all. Earl Sweatshirt, although very talented
sounds his age, sounds under 20 years old using shock-rap content and
other occasionally immature word plays. Not to hate on Earl because I am
a fan, but just using him as an example
If the names of Big L, naS, and KRS One appeal to your liking, or if you're just a fan of the boom-bap sound of East Coast hip-hop, then certainly check out Joey Bada$$ and "1999". Destined for greatness after his first project, very impressed, keep the good material flowing.
