Joey Bada$$ has revealed that he originally wanted to be signed to Lil Wayne’s Young Money during the early days of his career.
During a brief conversation with Baller Alert before the Black Music Collective Global Impact Awards, Joey Bada$$ said he prefers Young Money-era Lil Wayne to Cash Money-era Weezy and added it was his dream as a kid to be signed to the former.
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“YMCMB one was crazy. I wanted to be signed to Young Money, fun fact,” the 2000 rapper said. “When I was a kid, word. I had a little bar I was like Lil Diggy and Twista ain’t got nothing on this. I was with the smoke.”
While Weezy and Joey have never linked up in an official capacity, the former recently paid tribute to another Hip Hop legend: Mos Def. During a recent performance on triple j’s Like a Version series, the New York MC covered “Umi Says,” and was joined by rising Zimbabwe-born, London-raised, Melbourne-based singer KYE, along with a live band, as he put a dreamy spin on Yasiin Bey’s spiritual ballad.
“It’s such a spiritual connection that I have to this song,” Joey said after the performance. “I feel like I could almost relate to what Mos Def is speaking on. As an artist I can tell this was a song that wasn’t written. This was a song that truly just felt, you know what I’m saying? And that’s probably what I admired about it the most.”
He continued: “I think it’s one of those songs that immediately follows the experience that inspired it. Whether he spoke to his homie and went to the studio that same day or he went the next day or the week after, either way, you can tell that moment resonated with him deeply and it opened him up.
“We have blocks emotionally, spiritually, mentally and this song just feels like a moment in Mos Def’s life where a block was lifted for him, you know what I’m saying? Because sometimes we feel like we need permission to share our light.”
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Elsewhere during his visit to triple j, Joey Bada$$ also performed his track “Show Me” off his latest album 2000, which he dropped last July.
The project debuted at No. 25 on the Billboard 200 chart and featured appearances from Diddy, Westside Gunn, J.I.D, Chris Brown, Larry June and Capella Grey.
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As for Weezy, he’s currently hard at work on Tha Carter 6, and on Sunday (February 5) performed his “God Did” verse in full alongside JAY-Z, Rick Ross, John Legend and Fridayy at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards.
