It looks like Joey Badass is still feeling just as ornery as he was earlier this month when he released “Ruler’s Back.” In his new video for “Sorry Not Sorry” — which appears to be a possible response to Ray Vaughn’s “Crashout Heritage” — Joey doubles down on his combative comments from that song over a pair of jazz-infused Conductor Williams beats, refusing to back down or apologize for seemingly looking to reignite coastal divisions.
“51 Hart Street, 193 Vernon Avenue / N****s Wit Attitude mad I’m bigging up my city, that’s something I had to do,” he jests, obliquely referencing the competitive reactions from West Coast natives like Vaughn to his New Year’s declaration of supremacy. And in the spirit of keeping the same energy, he tosses in a nod to J. Cole’s halfhearted Kendrick Lamar diss record: “Might Deletе Later, I know damn sure that Joey won’t,” he vows.
Joey’s latest releases have adopted the tried-and-true promo strategy of courting controversy for views, but fortunately for him, he’s got the bars and the track record to actually make it worth fans’ whiles to pay attention. I wouldn’t be surprise if it turns out that all this was just a prelude to an album announcement — and that a new album would be his most commercially successful yet, beef or no. The only real potential loser here is J. Cole, who is probably going to be catching strays all 2025 for waving the white flag last year. The winner? Conductor Williams, whose soulful samples have backed two of the most viral standouts of the year.
Watch Joey Badass’ “Sorry Not Sorry” video above.