TEMPTATIONS- Joey Bada$$

Joey Bada$$ dropped his new album “ALL-AMERIKKKAN BADA$$” on Friday the 7th. From the songs on the album I decided to review “TEMPTATIONS” Something about this song makes me want to replay it over and over. The song seems upbeat but the song has a simple message : why should someone’s skin colour and ethnicity have bearing on their  worth?

The song starts with an excerpt from a speech given by Zianna Oliphant:

“I come here today to talk about how I feel
And I feel like that we are treated differently than other people
And I don’t like how we’re treated
Just because of our color doesn’t mean anything to me”

Zianna is a 9 year old, who in September 2016 did a speech in a council meeting in North Carolina. This was just days after Keith Lamont Scott, a 40 year old African American who was killed by police after he was believed to have a gun however his family claim he was holding a book. Footage was released and there was no evidence of him having a gun in the footage. Her speech talks about the injustice that many black people face because of they’re skin colour and this song mirrors her message.

“And I really can’t take it no more
I’ve been fighting temptations, my Lord
I’m young and I’m restless
(And I really can’t help it)
I never felt selfish before
I’ve been living so reckless, I know
Tell me Lord, can you help me?
(I said Lord, can you help me?)”

The chorus is talking about how Joey is struggling to help fight the problem and spread the message: that people shouldn’t be prejudice to each other. He’s been tempted to give up and he’s asking god to help him on his journey. However this album shows that he didn’t give up and he fought his temptations of giving up.

The government been tryna take away what’s ours
It’s really all about the money and the power
I just wanna see my people empowered
Uh, uh, tell me how we gon’ shape this vision
Complainin’ all day, but in the same condition
If you wanna make change, it’s gon’ take commitment

In this verse he basically saying that to fight this problem people need to change the way they are dealing with it. He says complaining is not enough anymore and that conditions won’t change without commitment.

The song itself is really nice to listen to and it has the simple message: we should not have racial prejudice in our society anymore. I think this song is a good way to show this message. It shows it simply and it is effective at doing it. Joey should be proud of this song as it is perfect from start to end.