Joey Badass has declared himself the King of New York.
On Thursday (July 17), Joey released the first single, “ABK,” from his upcoming album Lonely At The Top. On the new track, named after the common abbreviation for “anybody killer” — as in, a person who would kill anyone, regardless of their affiliations — the Pro Era head brings up the topic of who’s the best from New York and thrusts his name into the conversation.
“The question rhetorical, who the King of New York is?” he raps. “If it ain’t me, then who?/I’ma need the proof/If ni**as want to try to dispute, tell them get in the booth.”
Joey’s declaration seems like it’s aimed at young rappers today, rather than all NYC rappers of any era.
“They know who the illest spitter in the city after Nas, Big, and Jigga,” he spits elsewhere on the track.
Ahead of “ABK”’s release, Joey had a slightly more moderate take about ranking himself as one of the best when speaking to TMZ.
“I don’t really think it’s my place to rank myself — you know I’m biased,” he explained to a reporter on the street. “I think that I’m one of the illest, but that’s me and I think I’m supposed to feel like that.”
“I definitely think there’s a lot more work to do, and I’m inspired and charged up to do that work so that the world can get in tune with what I already know,” he added.
Joey’s new album, Lonely At The Top, drops on Aug. 1.
Earlier this year, Joey called out Kendrick Lamar during a diss track aimed at TDE artist Ray Vaughn, seemingly baiting the West Coasters to get in the booth and go against him.
“What kinda Top Dawg is you?/You more Shih Tzu, you was cloned in the lab, dog, you artificial,” Joey rapped about Vaughn on the track. “You known for your label, not because your art official.”
Elsewhere on the track, Joey suggested that their beef did more for Vaughn than Lamar’s former label ever did.
“It’s too bad, n***a, you should have been signed to me/Somebody tell Top we ‘bout to start TD East,” he rapped. “The way you let Dot dick sit in your mouth/This that same dick linkin’ I was talkin’ about/You n***as would do anything for the clout/Crash out over n***as who won’t even let you in they house/I bet you ain’t even got his number/It’s funny how the thirst is bein’ disguised as hunger.”
Joey and Vaughn’s beef originally stemmed from Joey releasing “The Ruler’s Back” at the top of the year, in which he downplayed West Coast rap.
In May, Joey traded bars about the beef with Lamar’s former labelmate, Ab-Soul, during an episode of Red Bull 1250’s Spiral Freestyle series. After Ab-Soul rapped that Joey was “lucky that Soul ain’t stepping in,” Joey suggested that West Coast rappers were “sensitive.”
“First off, I could never hate the West Coast/But since n***as comin’ for Joe, fuck it then, let’s go/N***as must’ve forgot what Dot said on ‘Control’/There’s still a buncha sensitive rappers in they pajama clothes. I guess, this ain’t no East versus West/I just think that I’m the best, as a matter fact, I know/These bars could put bad boys on death row,” rapped Joey.
