Joey Badass Reminds Us That Teenagers Are Terrifying

Joey Badass is part of the wave of young New York rappers who pretty much turned 11, decided to be good at making music, and immediately got super famous. Okay, that might be a bit of an exaggeration; but with his buddies The Underachievers and the rest of the Pro Era crew they do make your university noise band sound like a pile of whimpering virgins.

We spoke to him as he arrived in Auckland and were reminded how hard teenagers are to talk to. Well, cool teenagers at least.

Noisey: Hey man how’s it going?

Joey Badass: Hey what you do man? How you going?

Yeah good. Where are you at the moment?

New Zealand. Auckland, New Zealand.

Oh yeah? That’s where I’m from.

Oh yeah? What up, I like your place.

Yeah it’s a good spot. So first time in New Zealand and Australia—do you know you can drink and gamble down here at 18?

Yeah you know we’ve been having some drinks of course, so that’s cool. Gambling’s not really my game to get a rush.

This is a big tour though, are you taking advantage of the overseas rider privileges? Like, I’m not gonna play unless you fill this room with nachos.

I’ve definitely gotta have some fruits on it.

I appreciate your commitment to health.

Yeah man you gotta have some vitamins going into the body, you feel me?

Yeah definitely, gotta stay healthy on tour. How’s the album coming along?

Yeah, working hard for the money, working on my debut album.

Your life is on a pretty different trajectory that most 18-year-olds right now, was there a moment when you just sort of realised: holy shit I probably won’t ever have a desk job?

A defining moment when I realised I could make a living off rap? It was more like a defining moment when I realised that I could make a living off my dreams. Not just particularly rap, because I feel like anything that I put my full potential to I could have done.

That’s beautiful man. What was that moment?

Just when I turned out to be a super great rapper.

It’s cool to see a new generations rapping over MF Doom beats, have you met him?

MF Doom? No, not yet. But soon.

Are you looking at collaborating with him in the future?

Sure, I guess if he’s down.

Going back to before, talking about putting your mind to anything and being things beyond a rapper—where do you want to go next?

I think I pretty much just want to, how would I say it? I just want to like, triple my potential.

That’s a pretty direct goal. I saw you’ve been touring a lot with Flatbush Zombies. We just had those guys out this year, did they give you any tips for coming to the edge of the world?

Oh yeah they actually did, they said it was fucking crazy. That was pretty much all the advice i needed.

You’re pretty far from home, anything standing out so far?

I really love the energy of the people out here. That’s what stands out.

I heard you had some issues in Switzerland with racism?

I mean you know it’s just like, for me it was just like, just a lot of discriminating. They’re not used to seeing young black guys in their areas so their first assumption is that we’re criminals and thugs.

Yeah they have a lot of weird shit going down there, restrictions on building Islamic structures (minarets) and such.

Oh yeah, that’s pretty strict.

Yeah, don’t worry, you can build heaps of stuff here.

Joey Badass is playing shows around Australia with The Underachievers:

11 December at Amplifier Capitol in Perth

12 December at The Metro Theatre in Sydney

13 December at The Hi Fi in Melbourne

13-15 December at Meredith Music Festival in Victoria