On Friday night, Joey Bada$$ and the rest of the rap group Pro Era will be performing at BU Central. The show is expected to reach capacity, and BU Central have advised to get there early (or, at the very least, on time) in order to make sure you can get in. But who are Pro Era, and why are they poised to “sell out” a venue that Titus Andronicus couldn’t even fill last year?
Pro Era, or, more formally, The Progressive Era, are a Brooklyn based rap group. They are both virtuosically talented and incredibly young, having met and formed while attending Brooklyn’s Edward R. Murrow high school. Joey Bada$$, the group’s breakout member and de facto leader, is 18. The oldest member is 21, maybe.
But age really doesn’t matter. What does matter is just how incredibly good this group is. They’re heavily indebted to early/mid-ninties New York hip-hop, a style most famous for it’s “boom bap” production and dense lyricism. They’ve become so associated with the style that producer Chuck Strangers said in an interview with Pitchfork, “Contrary to popular belief, though, I don’t just sit around making boom-bap beats all day.” And I suppose he doesn’t. He’s got a penchant for hazy, drifting keys, among other things.
But Pro Era are just so good at rapping over boom bap beats that I’m not sure I want to hear them do anything else. Seriously, check out the gang track “Suspect” off of Bada$$’s mixtape, 1999. The way these kids trade verse after verse, with a sense of lyricism and confidence that’s amazing considering the fact that some of them are still in high school, is unbelievable. Check out their episode of Selector for another example. Pro Era avoid being some kind of 90s rap tribute group by executing the style with a skill I haven’t heard in years. They’re both strikingly modern and refreshingly old school.
Bada$$, though he doesn’t like to call attention to himself, is certainly the star of this group. He features the most on their excellent PEEP: The APROcalypse mixtape, although it was 1999 that really brought the group recognition. The album, like most of Pro Era’s material, is very much a paean to 90’s hip hop, and it’s damn good. Tracks like “Hardknock” (which has apparently gotten play on Hot 97 and MTV2) is a great example of Bada$$’s ability to sound incredibly old while rapping about being young: “One day I’m trying have a wife and kids/So I just can’t live my life like this/And I ain’t trying to learn what lifeless is/So I just can’t live my life like this.” He raps, somehow exhausted with the world, at only 17.
The tape’s–and really, Pro Era and Bada$$’s–breakout track is the absolutely brilliant “Survival Tactics.” Combining Bada$$’s great lyricism (Get your intel right, your intelligence is irrelevant/It’s definite I spit more than speech impediments) with incredibly tight production, it’s an unbelievably fierce track that might (might) be my favorite rap song ever. It also features a fantastic verse from Pro Era member Capital STEEZ.
And here is where I have to end this article on a sad note. STEEZ–real name Jamal Dewar–was emerging as Pro Era’s second star member. His relaxed, almost sardonic flow was a perfect compliment to Joey’s complexity. He also had a sense for lyrics that were both profound and hilarious (Better play your cards right/No booster packs). Unfortunately, he passed away on December 24th, 2012, of an apparent suicide. It’s an incredible loss for both Pro Era and the rap world and I still haven’t really processed it. It will be incredibly strange to see Pro Era without his presence.
So, in closing, should you go to this show? The answer is pretty clear: yes, an emphatic yes. Pro Era are a quickly rising and talented rap group, and it’s not often you get a chance to see something like this for free. Just get there early.
(Note: Chance the Rapper is also performing at the show. I’ll readily admit that I’m not super familiar with his work, but I know he has a song with Joey and he’s gotten good buzz everywhere I’ve looked.)
