Made In Amerikkka

A genre star in search of a wider audience, Joey Bada$$ is balancing a promising acting career with a pissed-off worldview

- Dan Rys

On a clear afternoon in February, Joey Bada$$ is talking about aliens and Donald Trump. “We don’t doubt that [aliens] exist, but we don’t truly believe it because we got so many distractions,” says the 22-year-old rapper, laughing in his black Jeep, which is parked alongside Brooklyn’s Williamsburg waterfront. “Like, ‘Yeah, I know these aliens are going to come, but let me get this selfie, though.’ ”

But now, five weeks into Trump’s presidency, Bada$$ knows it is not the time for distractions. “Now that Obama’s out of office,” he declares,“it’s time to wake the f— back up.”

This mix of wild imagination and social consciousness has been a theme for Joey, born Jo-Vaughn Virginie Scott in East Flatbush, since he broke onto the scene with his debut mixtape, 1999, in 2012. His wordplay had primarily focused on being young and black in Brooklyn, but his sophomore album, All-AmeriKKKan Bada$$ (out April 7), addresses social conflict with an astuteness that recalls J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar, two rappers who also broke through five years ago. The 12 songs have titles like “Land of the Free” and “AmeriKKKan Idol” and straddle the line between justified anger and practical resistance.

“I’ve been feeling helpless,” he says, referencing police brutality and the rising tide of far-right populism. “But I feel like this is where it starts: me opening up the conversation.”