Hi, everyone. Firstthony Steptano here, the internet's busiest music nerd, and it's time for a review of this new Joey Bada$$ project, Lonely at the Top.

Here we have the newest and fourth official full-length album from veteran Brooklyn rapper Joey Bada$$, the highly anticipated follow-up to his career-defining 2000 record that dropped in 2022, an album that was pretty much an acknowledgement of how far Joey has come personally and artistically since breaking into the industry as a very determined teenager with his 1999 mixtape, which had dropped 10 years prior at the time that he put out 2000.

And the passage of time between these two projects was made clear through Joey's very wise bars and even some deeply personal cuts as well, such as the "Eulogy" song on here and "Survivors Guilt", both of which were very eye-opening.

Now, while there were some underwhelming songs on this record for there, there was also an assuring maturity that made it clear Joey Bada$$ was here to stay, even as he was pushing 30, and many of his underground contemporaries from way back then have grown silent over the years. But in the wake of that record, Joey did spend at least a few years pretty quiet and off the radar, outside of a few singles and features here and there, which left many fans wondering where exactly he went and what his place was in the current rap landscape.

But at the very start of this year, Joey did come back with a bang, dropping the very hungry "The Ruler's Back" freestyle, where he made it clear 2025 was a year in which he would be active. And he also was not super happy with all the hype that the West Coast has been getting as of late, especially with Kendrick Lamar having beaten Drake in their recent beef. And this statement actually snowballed into multiple diss tracks being penned about him by TDE/Top Dog Entertainment signee Ray Vaughn, whose efforts eventually pressured Joey into responding, even though Joey seemingly had his fingers crossed for a Kendrick Lamar response instead.

Still, this resulted in each of them dropping multiple diss tracks to each other, and they each walked away from the whole thing seemingly happy about how they helped to draw more attention to lyricism and the craft of hip hop in general. But even with that music and those responses being as good as they were, there's still the the issue that all this lead up and all this tension really is like raising expectations for this Joey album here, which, again, is very boldly titled Lonely at the Top. But listening to it, I'm actually failing to see anything on this record carrying him there.

Now, Joey wouldn't be the first rapper to obviously build himself up and claim the top spot, but I just don't see what this relatively brief crop of songs does to compete with his contemporaries. I'm not even sure if he's competing with himself on this record because this is far from his most, I guess, memorable body of work. The whole thing starts off with the opening, "Dark Aura", which was also a single. A track I think was more or less fine as a teaser, a taster in the lead up to the album because there is something about it that feels like a movie trailer between the super passionate second verse performance on the track and also the cinematic strings that are laced into the production.

But outside of that, it doesn't really feel like a proper song, and all of the things Joey keeps making allusions to between the three-car garage and needing to feed the family. I feel like we're just getting a bunch of snapshots and not really a bigger picture or direction or message coming out of this track. Because even though seemingly there is a lot of heart going into the presentation on this track, I'm left wondering, what is the target? What is the goal? I'm not really sure.

And that lack of direction, I feel like, is reflected in just how casual many of the following tracks come across, like "Swank White" featuring Westside Gunn, which is a cool cut for sure. One of my favorites. It does have some of the best wordplay and flows on the entire LP. It's also backed by these entrancing, near drumless soul chops and features bars like, "Since I turned 18, I've been my own big homie / Sock you dudes in the off on camera like Mick Foley." Also, "Inshallah, I just made salat / Now I'm on the clock had influence way before TikTok / Been one to watch."

The start of Westside Gunn's verse on the track is also really strong, too. Really one of the best features on the record. The thing is, the track doesn't feel very high stakes, but it's got very good pen game, and it just feels like Joey is crafting one of the most magical moments on this record without over-exerting himself to do it.

The following "Supaflee" is a huge instrumental change, a huge vibe change, as it's mostly some Pharrell and N.E.R.D. worship. Really a 2000s club banger. You wouldn't really think Joey's voice and style would work well over this type of sound on paper, and yet it does. This is legitimately the biggest banger on the entire record in my estimation.

But the impact of this album and its tracklist begins to diminish through a lack of focus and consistency from here. The song "High Roller" is, I think, the first big in misstep in the tracklist. As the A$AP Ferg appearance is pretty forgettable. Kelz2busy's hook sounds like an off-brand Weeknd feature. Meanwhile, the production is super washed out and feels like Joey and his collaborators grabbed some washy, filtered out radio sample and just mangled it until it was completely unrecognizable.

Following this, "Ready to Love" is a stereotypically spacey slow jam featuring Ty Dolla $ign. With a lot of romantic lyrics that I can certainly commend, Joey is basically penning a portrait of a grown man love on this track. But musically and instrumentally, I think the track is much blander and more uninteresting than the obvious heart Joey is putting into this track, going the extra mile to write what he's writing.

Then there's "BK's Finest", which, given all the names involved, from Rome Streezt to Statik Selektah, you would think this is a posse cut that is going to be just packed to the brim with fireworks. But sadly, we just some very chill, laid-back jazz rap on this one, where it sounds like CJ Fly is the only person who really wants to grab anyone's attention.

Then there's "Underwater" "3 Feet Away". Two solo moments where Joey experiments quite a bit with mixed results. On the former, with some unlikely flows and Bossa Nova beats, jazzy chords. Meanwhile, the latter is an even softer cut with a lot of rap-sung flows that I just don't feel are Joey's strong suit, even if he is versatile enough to mostly pull them off.

Now, "Speeding Through the Rain" I thought was actually a great food for thought cut where Joey, better than on any other song on this record, just writes a very clear picture of his current state of mind and where his life is at, the memories of the early years of his career, pro-era New York, that clearly still haunt him to this day.

Then following this, we have "Still", which was another single from the album, one that features not just Ab-Soul, but Rapsody as well. Someone who I wish got a full proper feature from on the track. But still, Joey and Ab have quite a bit of creative chemistry still to this day. But it's shocking to hear that on this track, Joey comes across hungrier and more determined than he does on the closing title track of the record, which is a cut that is clearly so deeply inspired by groups like A Tribe called Quest and features some of the most thoughtful bars on the entire record. Obviously, I understand why this song would make the cut, but as a closer this is just such an inconspicuous moment on the album.

Look, here's the thing. Overall, do I think this is a bad album from Joey Bada$$? No, absolutely not. There are a lot of good and quality and decent highlights on here. Some of my favorite Joey tracks in a minute, a few that can go toe to toe with the best on 2000.

But by that same token, this does feel like the loosest grouping of songs that he has ever put together on an album. It feels less like an album, especially in comparison with All-Amerikkkan Bada$$, for example, and feels more like just a compilation of moments he just happened to string together recently.

While I still think Joey is a massively talented artist, it just feels like there's a lot less at stake here on this record than there was in any of his Ray Vaughn responses, for example, which, comparatively speaking, had much more fire writing and without some artistic goal to achieve or complete on this one over here. I just feel like Joey isn't putting forward his best work, which is why more or less I'm feeling a light to decent 6 on this one.

Anthony Fantano, Joey Bada$$, Forever.