It’s been 19 years since the death of legendary East Coast rapper Notorious B.I.G – while many fans and rappers have paid tribute to Biggie on various social media outlets, fellow Brooklyn native Joey Bada$$ decided to pay homage on Brooklyn’s Own, produced by Statik Selektah.

After Troy Ave’s diss track [which wasn’t received very well], I think many people were expecting Joey to “destroy” him on a diss track of his own – he instead responded with a couple tweets, which I’m fine with because he probably has better tracks about more interesting stuff to make.

Statik is slowly becoming one of my favourite producers – the production differs from Joey’s previous track “Ready” as we get a more old-school feel complimented by laid-back instrumentation. On the album art is a quote by Biggie, “If the game shakes me or breaks me, I hope it makes me a better man” – taken from “Sky’s the Limit”, which interestingly enough was also used in another Statik track “Game Break”.

Joey gives a bit of reflection after the success of his debut and popular mixtape 1999, while laying out the dangerous scene on the streets and giving advice on how to avoid getting shot or robbed – something that he must have experienced first-hand. This is a nice commemoration for one of the greats, and I can’t wait for more new Joey.

I said, shit ain’t been the same since we made Killuminati

Hex across my chest see it written across my body

Bury me in gold 47 karat casket

Resurrect my soul come back as your favorite rapper

What if I told you there was nothing to be scared of

Nothing but yourself and all the lies they shared ya