The Shadow War: Joey Bada$$ vs The West Coast

Now that the dust has seemingly settled in what some are calling the most unnecessary, necessary rap battles, coming out of the wreckage that was the Drake vs Kendrick battle, many wondered where hip-hop was headed with Kung Fu Kenny coming out as the victor and apparent king of the industry, while Drake went on to lick his wounds after the battle.

Was it finally the West’s turn? To be the mecca of music long held by the South? (Atlanta in particular)

With New York being long and forgotten for its MC's -- the days of The Lox, Dipset, 50 Cent and others ...

The LOX pictured left, Dipset pictured right.

Jay-Z still has pulse on the hip-hop scene with his partnership with the NFL, leading to what some have called the greatest Super Bowl performance ever by Kendrick Lamar.

Jay isn't as active of a rapper these days -- his role is more spokesperson or ambassador for hip-hop. And with the tides slowly switching to the West, many view New York's rap scene as a afterthought, especially with the rise of drill music or sexy drill. And while you have the occasional Dave East, nothing has really jumped off the page in terms of the new rap scene.

Then along comes Joey Bada$$ (real name Jo-Vaughn Virginie Scott) from the ashes. Many know him his early rap success in the early 2010s with the group called Pro Era -- a well-known collective of young MCs from New York that includes Joey, Capital Steez, CJ Fly & Kirk Knight.

Joey Bada$$ in 2025.

With Joey being the standout, many could see his potential. And with the death of Capital Steez, it forced him to go harder for his rap career and that's where our war begins.

In 2014, Big Sean released a song called Control with Kendrick Lamar as the feature. Kendrick took this moment to put the whole rap game on notice, proclaiming to be the top MC -- not in a malicious way but more for sport.

One bar that didn't land so well was the "King of New York" line which led to multiple NY artists responding, including Joey with these bars:

“The king of New York?

Ha! We ain't just gon' let that one hang

Last nigga got dethroned and you ain't from my zone

The rest of the real niggas is dead and gone”

Kendrick wouldn't get the response from Drake that he wanted, and Joey would not receive one from

Kendrick. Fast-forward, and Joey isn't the music scene as much, taking up a new lane in acting, appearing in such projects as Wu-Tang: An American Saga, Mr. Robot, and most recently as a series regular in the STARZ hit show Raising Kanan as 'Unique.'

But in the spring of 2024, the entire hip-hop landscape changed. Kendrick Lamar and Drake finally engaged in a historic rap beef with Kendrick coming out on top. Along with this win came 'The Pop Out' that celebrated West Coast hip-hop. The West, from a industry standpoint, was on top again.

On January 1st, Joey released 'The Ruler’s Back' where he spit:

“Too much West Coast dick lickin'

I'm hearin' niggas throwin' rocks, really ain't shit stickin'

'Cause if we talkin' bar-for-bar, really, it's slim pickings”

This ignited a coastal war. The first to clap back at Joey would be Daylyt and Ray Vaughn. The two are closely associated with Kendrick and his former label TDE. Ray dropped 'Crash Out Heritage' in January. A couple of months later saw Joey appear on the 'Red Bull Spiral Freestyle'...

...alongside TDE artist Ab-Soul where Joey fires back at both Daylyt and Ray Vaughn while still calling out Kendrick. Ray Vaughn would respond with 'Hoe Era', a play on Joey's label 'Pro Era.' In the diss, Ray would make reference of Joey’s close relationship with Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs, who's currently facing

charges of sex trafficking, among others.

Ray would also mention how Joey mention how Joey is more actor than rapper these days, and that he let Ice Spice turn into the 'King of New York.'

"Why you say fuck me for?"

Joey would respond with 'The Finals.' In it, Joey made it a point to point out that Ray in no way is original and is just a Kendrick clone who's getting his biggest moment because of him.

Daylyt would jump back in with 'WRD2MIMVA' where he rapped on a New York instrumental with multiple triple entendre bars that really made you have to think.

Joey again responded with 'My Town' going directly at Daylyt, but this time he was not alone. Joey had a

surprise feature on the track -- none other than fellow battle rapper Loaded Lux. The reason this is significant is because Daylyt and Lux haven't battled, and Daylyt would back out of a scheduled bout between the two MCs.

And while this was going on, you had AzChike as well as former TDE artist 'Reason' and also Kai Ca$h

all throwing their hats in the ring for their respective coasts. Along with this, Ray would drop another track titled 'Golden Eye' which was more of the same about Joey's connection to Diddy and doing it on the classic 50 Cent 'Back Down' beat.

Joey had a response that put the nail in the coffin with a track titled 'Crash Dummy' where he countered each and every one of Ray's bars -- this time pulling a "reverse Uno" and flipping the classic 2pac diss 'Hit Em Up.'

Daylyt would also respond with multiple disses with the final one being a call for peace -- because unlike the Drake v. Kendrick beef, this beef was not malicious in a way -- in fact, most of the competitors have mutual respect for the others. As the West Coast would say, this was just a friendly fade.

But now that it's over, what's next? Does Kendrick give Joey the response that Joey's been waiting for?

Can Joey snatch the 'King of New York' title, or does he just pretend Joey beating the West Coast down never happened?

If Kendrick does finally engage Joey in a battle, it would quite literally be years in the making.

One thing for sure? New York won't forget.