New York Giant.

Jordan Mitchell
Jan 21
2 min read

New York Native Joey Bada$$ started the new year off with a bang. On January 1st, 2025 Joey Bada$$ released ‘THE RULER’S BACK’.

On this track Joey seemingly takes subtle shots at the West & Kendrick’s triumphant wins of 2024.

This track sparked controversy in the rap game, with many other artist coming out in response to the initial track. Joey reiterated an iconic bar from Jay Z’s ‘22 Two’s’ in which he raps, “Too much West Coast dick lickin”, this what most likely prompted responses from West Coast acts.

We were promptly given responses & visuals from DAYLYT on ‘HIYU’ in which he raps over a soul sample & portrays his excellent lyrical abilities.

Ray Vaughn, another TDE affiliate also took shots at Joey Bada$$ on, ‘Crashout Heritage’ in which he samples Kendrick's heart part 6 which is technically use your heart by swv, produced by The Neptunes.

Yesterday Joey responded to his naysayers with a visuals to a track titled, ‘SORRY NOT SORRY’.

In this track he digs into his MC bag to bring us some of his best combative work.

In a homage to New York & his upbringing with the Pro Era collective, we get a nostalgic regional feel from these visuals.

The same way ‘GNX’ was able to encapsulate an overall image of LA, this track & visual from Joey was able to portray a image of NY hiphop in it’s prime golden era.

Joey Badass is no stranger to these competitive bouts. In 2013 Joey released ‘Killuminati pt 2’ after the infamous ’Control’ verse by Kendrick Lamar. Despite there never being any response from Kendrick, Joey didn’t hold back & gave it a hell of a shot at just 18 years of age.

Checkout all of the sequenced tracks below, formulate an opinion & let us know.

Sources: Youtube, SoundCloud