Welcome to the first edition of BadMonDays, a series where every Monday we give tribute to the great Joey Bada$$. We will highlight his exemplary word play and beat selection among other things. Let us begin.
We will start things off with a relatively unknown song off of his mixtape titled Rejex which was released shortly after 1999. He claims these were the songs that didn’t make it onto the 1999 mixtape, and he released it to fans to show how much he had progressed in a short few years. It turns out he was already spitting flames before he was even 17 years old. The song is called DSL (Da Special List) and is produced by Bagirba. The beat is laid back and Joey rides it as he often does, using that smooth voice and flow that garnered him the attention of many people. Take a listen and check below the video for some lyrical highlights.
May as well start off with the first line:
Puffing on that Eucalyptus
You can lift this dick in between your lipstick
If your eyes ain’t low like Ralph Lipschitz,you dipshits
Even the polices want me cause I rip shit
Puffing that piff shit,Blow out five O’s like the Olympics
He starts off with a classic weed reference (he starts off many songs with “Puffin on”), the second line is a reference to the name of the song DSL (which is can also be dick suckin’ lips), the third line is some sneaky wordplay where he says “eyes ain’t low” reference the two lower case i’s in Ralph Lipschitz and also “lo” as in Polo Ralph Lauren. The fourth line is self explanatory, but “Blow out five O’s like the Olympics” is still to this day one of my favorite lines. He’s talking about blowing out 5 smoke rings like the olympic rings, but also killing or running away from cops as if it is an olympic sport. Phenomenal.
You see, I was one of those kids who stayed up passed late
So when it’s time for school, I got up and still passed, great
Get passed- I forgot my line
I do it nonchalant, Spit it through the wire like I’m Chaka Khan
I mostly just like the flow on this part but he’s also pointing out how he cares about school, and has a great reference to Kanye with “spit it through the wire like I’m Chaka Khan(ye).
Mad fishes, In the cut like mad stitches
I know you mad bitches mad how my style switches
So, frequently be freaking MC’s with these frequencies
These freaking trees got me soaring over freaking seas
Too many freaking G’s claim they make that deus pop
Please, the only thing you ever squeeze was your juicebox nigga
This is just nasty. My favorite is him calling out fake gangsters saying all “they’ve ever squeezed was their juicebox”. Savage. He follows it up with
I shine like crystals, Never held a pistol
Never packed a tool, but that don’t mean that I won’t fix you
Who is you? I don’t give a F, I do it effortless
Here he brags about not ever using a gun but will still destroy you lyrically, all while not giving a fuck. And finally
I bet all you mother fuckers gonna remember this
I sure did.