Okay… We have some good bubbling right now in the hip hop scene. A new track dropped this week out of nowhere and it’s one where you see the artists on it and you say, yup… this gets a play. Joey Bada$$, Big Sean, and Ab-Soul are the rappers and the 3 of them individually are ones I’ve always respected as emcees. They’re also ones that I felt have all been a little underrated. Joey Bada$$ has had big buzz for sure for having that 90’s feel. Big Sean is the one you all know as he’s had hits but he’s also had street cuts to earn credit. And finally, my man Ab-Soul. What can I say about Ab-Soul… I think he is one of the best writers in the game and his double/triple entendres have me constantly pressing rewind and then going, whoaaaaa! The new track is called “Red Bull Spiral Freestyle” and it’s not on streaming services. For the record, the track is from the Red Bull Spiral Freestyle series which is worth your time. Before we go any further, here’s the track.
There are a lot of bars here that make you want to press rewind. All emcees got something to say and I feel this is exactly what hip hop needs. We all know the Kendrick and Drake battle from last year but cmon… Did anybody ever feel Drake could hang with K.Dot? Cmon fam… That was never a battle. Kendrick and Drake aren’t on the same level. They’re two entirely different artists yet we put this “battle” everywhere. Kendrick had crazy lyrics and how quick he was with his strikes and his calculated approach was mastery at its finest. Kind of like when he dropped his “Control” verse way back when… You know… The Big Sean track that Kendrick took his jabs at everybody in the game… All on Big Sean’s song. This is another one that is still not on streaming services too…
If you follow the site, I’ve covered Big Sean and Ab-Soul before but I don’t think I ever had an article on Joey. So this is mostly a Joey article because what’s brewing is a Joey Bada$$ and a Kendrick battle. But not on some Kendrick and Drake battle type shit… This is potentially 2 emcees flexing lyricism over beef although there is some low key beef on Joey’s side of the track. Let’s not forget that Joey Bada$$ had a “Control” response to Kendrick on “Killuminati Pt. 2” which dropped back in the early 2010’s… It’s worth your time and it needs to be included in this rap beef that could be bubbling…
Let’s get to some of Joey’s bars in the track that are noteworthy here…
While Joey is going at Kendrick it’s dope hearing Ab-Soul on the verse before telling Joey that he’s TDE til 3000 and forever… He is also saying that these bars are competitive for the sport and I couldn’t agree more. Hopefully it keeps to that and we just get a lot of dope battle bars which the game always needs… Here’s some of Ab-Soul’s verse…
Back to Joey and Kendrick… Joey dropped a few tracks earlier this year with Conductor Williams where he was taking some shots that a lot of you probably missed. Here’s “The Ruler’s Back” which Ab-Soul referenced in his verse on the new track but Joey comes at the west coast and Kendrick on this… lyrics after the video.
Look… I live for this type of hip hop… And by the time I publish this, there will likely be another 2 or 3 tracks that spin off from this Red Bull Spiral Freestyle track… This is dope… Just keep it to the pen all you emcees… Don’t need anything more than that… Here are some of the latest tracks that have dropped in the aftermath of the Red Bull Spiral Freestyle that dropped earlier this week… Emcees moving quick to come at Joey when he’s taking shots at the west and TDE… Here’s Ray Vaughn from TDE with “Hoe Era”… Oh man… Joey’s whole click is Pro Era and now Ray Vaughn is going to “Hoe Era'“… alright… this will prob become real real soon…
and now Joey comes right back with “The Finals” which dropped within the last day… I’m here for all of this… Some new hip hop to have us all pressin rewind!
If you need some Joey Bada$$, Big Sean, and Ab-Soul in your life, here’s the new Spotify Red Bull Spiral Freestyle playlist I’m working on. Don’t sleep on any of these cats… Bars.