Bonnaroo 2024 Artist Spotlight: Joey Bada$$

Like we’ve been doing for many years now, we’re making it our mission to help you get acquainted with many of our favorite acts from Bonnaroo‘s 2024 lineup. After roaring back to life in 2022, after two years off due to Covid and weather, and feeling fully like its old self again with a great fest last summer, this year marks Bonnaroo’s 21st installment (and 23rd anniversary), boasting not only another great and varied lineup, but also a continuation of some of the big changes and improvements rolled out over the last couple of years, with more flexibility in ticketing and camping, a reimagined “Outeroo” campground area, new activations, and further new ways to Roo. Back once again in its usual June 13-16 timeframe, we’re counting down the days until another great weekend on the farm.

As we dig through the entire schedule, we’ll highlight a spread of performers spanning across genres and stages, big and small, new and old, to bring you some of the most interesting, lesser-known, and most highly-recommended among this year’s crop of artists. And as our time at ‘Roo approaches, we’ll also be bringing you some special features and full list-style daily lineup guides, to help you plan your weekend ahead of the fest. While these previews won’t span every artist, and might omit some more obvious must-see acts, we hope they’ll serve as a way to help you navigate Bonnaroo’s gargantuan lineup, and to make the most of your busy weekend at the fest!

Grab your tickets right here if you haven’t already, and read on for our Bonnaroo Artist Spotlight!

LEARN

Born in Brooklyn to Caribbean immigrant parents, Jo-Vaughn Scott, better known by his artist name Joey Bada$$, is one of the freshest, most gifted, and celebrated figures to emerge in East Coast hip hop in the 2010s. Originally drawn to acting, as he enrolled in a public arts school in Brooklyn, Joey gravitated towards music as a teen, refining his skill as a rapper, poet, and lyricist, and linking up with some friends to form hip hop collective Pro Era, and later Beast Coast. His debut mixtape, 1999, dropped in 2012 when he was just 17, and channeled hip hop greats like Nas, Black Thought, Jay-Z, Wu-Tang Clan, and Tupac more than anything happening in the Soundcloud or pop rap mainstream of last decade, adopting a ’90s inspired, thoroughly East Coast sonic style and skyrocketing Joey to acclaim as one of the most promising young MCs in the game, especially for fans of real, lyrically-refined, old school hip hop. 2013 mixtape Summer Knights and 2015 debut LP, B4.Da.$$, would follow, as Joey attracted attention and landed features, shows, and shoutouts from artists like Juicy J, A$AP Rocky, The Roots, and Mac Miller. In 2016, he made a high profile foray into acting, landing a recurring role on drama Mr. Robot, before dropping his lauded sophomore full-length All-Amerikkkan Badass the following year. Acting’s been a major part of his artistry since, with roles on TV shows Wu-Tang: An American Saga, Grown-ish, and Power Book III: Raising Kanan, as well as Oscar-winning short film Two Distant Strangers, in 2020. He hasn’t been slacking the music department either though, channeling the spirit and ambition of 1999 with 2022 third LP 2000, and a new album, United States of Amerikkka, set to drop this year. At a time when a lot of rappers in the mainstream seem determined to iterate on only whatever’s current, with little regard to their forbearers, Joey- and his peers holding it down in the underground and progressive hip hop scenes- is a refreshing nod to, yet update of, hip hop’s golden era, with every bit the flow, lyrical prowess, and delivery to channel the greats that influence him. With more than a decade of popular records to his name, he’s hardly obscure at this point, but if you’re a rap fan who’s been sleeping on Joey Bada$$, he should be at the top of your list for Bonnaroo!