Joey Bada$$ released his debut album on January 20, 2015: his 20th birthday. It hit the top 5 on the Billboard charts. For the track “Hazeus View,” he worked with Kirk Knight, another member of the Pro Era hip-hop collective. In this episode, the two of them break down the process of making Hazeus View, how the lyrics reflect Joey’s wide-angle take on religion, and how the beat was inspired by DJ Premier and a beat he made for the Biggie song “Ten Crack Commandments.”

Buy “Hazeus View” on iTunes, or the B4.DA.$$ album on the Pro Era website. You can also get the upcoming Kirk Knight album (currently on pre-order) from iTunes.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

footnotes
Notorious B.I.G. – “Ten Crack Commandments”
Les McCann – “Vallarta” (sampled by DJ Premier for “Ten Crack Commandments”)
Amedeo Tomassi – “Problemo Ecologica”