Fresh from his turn in the Oscar-winning short, Two Distant Strangers, the ultimate multi-hyphenate shares helpful tips about focus, mental health, what it’s like being on a major versus an indie label, and much more.
This week Brooklyn-born rapper Joey Bada$$ joins the ranks of Best Advice: The Podcast guests alongside Jeezy, Charli XCX, Russ, and The Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan. Bada$$ also happens to be one of the series’ most open guests. Having been in the game and garnering acclaim off his albums and mixtapes since he was a teenager, the now 26-year-old has broadened his skill-set to include actor, brand ambassador, and label honcho. Most recently he starred in this year’s Oscar-winning short Two Distant Strangers, which, much like many of his lyrics, holds a mirror up to the Black male experience in America.
Aside from popping up on recent tracks by Westside Boogie and Lous and the Yakuza, Bada$$ is currently hard at work finishing his new LP — the follow up to 2017’s All-Amerikkkan Bada$$ — as well as shooting Power Book III: Raising Kanan, a prequel to the original Power franchise.
For Best Advice: The Podcast, Bada$$ shared advice about everything from networking, to focus, to the importance of understanding the worth of your intellectual property. He spoke about his love of self-help books, tips on energy and mindset, and his thoughts on how to balance the many different strands of creativity and ambition.
Listen to Joey’s episode, plus some of his key takeaways below.
Highlights from Joey Bada$$’ Best Advice episode
“If you chase two rabbits you won’t catch either one.”
It’s an old Russian proverb that was the best advice that I got in a long time. I called myself a multi-hyphenate, but over the years it’s always been hard to manage. Once I came across that quote like it really shook my reality up. We've all heard the quote, “Jack of all trades, master at none?” So I just put them together: you chase two rabbits you won't catch either one, and it just made so much sense to me at that point. It helped me get my priorities in order. You're doing three things at once you're going to have three average, average things. You could be that artist and like you have all of these opportunities… but you have to be able to ask yourself which one of these opportunities is going to best serve my highest self.
Recognizing abundance is absolutely transformative.
As soon as I wake up I say prayer and I affirm. Over time it starts just changing your overall psyche. The goal is more about what you're grateful for every day. Once I shifted my energy and my attention towards gratitude, I was able to just be a happier being. The thing is we're all abundant. And once you could accept abundance and be grateful for abundance everyday like your life will truly open up. 'Cause you start to realize, OK, maybe you don't have the most money but look at all the plants you have in your house or look at all the family members you have around you. Like we are all abundant in some type of way. And that's the thing a lot of people get caught up in the destination type of mindset. They can't be happy until they get this. But you could be abundant at any given time so once you start shifting your vibration towards that I feel like it does wonders for you, as it has done for me.
Networking is key.
Understand the power of keeping relationships: you never know who will help you in the long run. You also don’t know who you will collaborate or work with in the future. Having connections and people to reach out to is important and essential. Have a wealth of contacts and resources to be able to reach out to for help or guidance.