Joey Bada$$ has been teasing new music, and Denzel Curry has come to his defense after fans expressed concern over his new sonic direction.
Bada$$ is set to release the KayCyy-assisted “Passports & Suitcases” on Friday (January 19), and a snippet posted to his Instagram earlier this week has divided fans.
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The electro-tinged track features AutoTuned vocals and an accompanying visual in which the Brooklyn native raps into the camera while cruising through an airport.
“I miss the old joey [sad face emoji],” one disappointed fan wrote on X (formerly Twitter), while someone else said: “It’s actually sad because he’s such a talented rapper, clearly wants to go more r&b now.”
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An especially brutal comment read: “Dude drops an album every 15yrs and then comes out with this bullshit.”
Check out the clip below.
Following the negative responses, Denzel Curry also jumped on social media to defend his “Zenith” collaborator.
“I Support my brother Joey Bada$$ new Art and you shouldn’t hold people back for trying new things if you like 1999 then go listen to 1999 it’s on streaming platforms,” he wrote, referring to the New Yorker’s breakthrough 2012 project.
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Joey also spoke up for himself, writing on the site: “Feels good to be allowed to grow. I never needed permission but thanks anyway guys. New sounds all ‘24…. Whether you like it or not,” adding a winking emoji for good measure.
He also said: “Also in the words of Dave Chapelle, ‘Twitter is not a real place’ lol.”
Joey Bada$$ has been making headlines for both his music and acting chops of late. Earlier this month it was revealed that he has been added to the Bonnaroo 2024 lineup alongside the likes of Post Malone and Megan Thee Stallion. The festival is scheduled to take place from June 13-16 in Manchester, TN.
Earlier in January, Bada$$ was active on social media — not to defend new music, but to celebrate the legacy of one of his characters.
The acclaimed actor shared a video montage of Kadeem “Unique” Mathis from seasons one to three of Power Book III: Raising Kanan after his character was killed off the show.
“Unique Forever,” he captioned the post about the fan-favorite character played by him. “Much love to my @raisingkananstarz family. It was an honor and pleasure.”
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A lot of fans were disappointed, with one writing: “I’m so sad, I don’t even want to watch it anymore fr.” Others took a different angle to his departure with comments like “The whole female viewership don’t even care about Kanan growing up now” and “They done killed the finest n-gga off the show.”
