Joey BadASS

There are two extreme approaches to successfully introducing somebody to a song. It's like when giving someone a cookie - you either let them fully experience the flavor or you tell them all they need to know about who and how that person baked the cookie. The first approach would leave the tasting process into the hands of the receiver altogether. Overwhelmed by his senses, the one eating the cookie might relish on it way too much, missing out on the how's and who's of the matter. The second approach would steal some of the magic behind the actual unbiased contact with the object, but, nonetheless, would leave the one experimenting the taste more enlightened on the matter at hand. We like the second approach better. Here are both methods in one luxurious example:

1st attempt: Joey Bada$$ - Perception Vs. Reality

Producer Kirk Knight sensed the adequate conjunction between rapper Joey Badass (whom he helped launch several songs already) and a rather old-fashined beat. Joey carried out the load of synchronizing old rap to new musical methodology, adding a bit of laboratory catalysts to the chemical equation. Stopping when you least expected him to, mashing up some of his words, lowering the pitch on the final skit, using scratches here and there, Joey revives this 90s flow to a fine contemporary critique of the consumer society: a violent struggle unleashes between perception and reality, what we put on and what we are inside, who we trust, the man being severed by the circumspect eye, or the man reflected in the mirror?

2nd attempt: **Joey Bada$$** - Perception Vs. Reality

There's nothing sharper than the blade Joey Badass points at us. His 3 minute song cuts straight to the chase, so there's no reason why we wouldn't do the same. Bar after bar, Brooklyn emcee takes us through murkier waters. Examining his verses, we figured we'd better bring in the poetic noun litotes. He's definitely saying more than he's meaning with each verse. This song, taken as a whole, could be talking about the vicissitudes of one's life in today's society, but could be equally talking about life and death in general, about belief, about the stupidity with which most men label others, hell, it might even be talking about the Ferguson events, for what we know.

Take a look at the verses:

"Perception or reality, now what's realer?!" Of course we're inclined to say reality, right? Well, think again? How much does our ego really allow us to conceive about the 'other', before reducing him mentally, before setting him aside and turning him into a vague memory?

"And can I really trust that man in the mirror?" Who's to say we're not as insignificant as we often accredit our peers are.

"The death span of the human mind gets nearer". The LIFE span usually refers to how much time a human's BODY lives. The mind usually halts any activity soon after the body dies. So what's up with this verse? Who's to say a human MIND has a DEATH span?! It's really metaphorical, I can tell you that much. The deathspan, though not a real word, stresses on the fact that people tend to live in the afterlife more than they do in this life. So they don't have a lifespan, they have a deathspan. But the mind's deathspan? Can someone imagine human beings walking around for years and years with their brains dead and their bodies alive? Because that's what this line is all about. Sure you can! Just imagine the illest place you can live in, a place where you can't think because of hunger, disease, filth, shouts, beatings, denial, resent, and you'll soon come to realize what "the deathspan of the human mind" is all about.

"Can't withstand time when you're raised out here". You withstand time by creating an everlasting memory of yourself. If people remember you after you're dead, then you've beaten time at its own game. Living in the ghetto, or wherever Joey's alluding "you" cannot withstand time, implies not making it. People forget you as soon as they meet you, that's how close to the present this battle with time is being fought.

"It's hard to stay alive when one side don't share". Who is this "one side", we ask ourselves? Is it society in general? Is it the rich and indifferent? Is it the white and out-ruling? Open question.

We abruptly end this analysis with this: the whole song lays its path in this dim, mischievous manner. There are multiple ways you can get out this forest. Do you chose to go one path, or do you chart this forest and shine light on all its dark woods? The choice brings you back to the two approaches we've mentioned in the beginning of this post.

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