LAND OF THE FREE by Joey Bada$$ Song Info
"Land of the Free" is a song by American hip hop recording artist Joey Bada$$. It was released on January 20, 2017, by Pro Era and Cinematic Music Group, as the second single from his second studio album "ALL-AMERIKKKAN BADA$$". The song was produced by Kirk Knight and Adam Pallin. A political track that brings up mass incarceration, the bitter sweet contrast in American history for Afro-Americans, and Joey’s ambition to create change for the future. The song was originally teased on January 16th for Martin Luther King day. ‘'Land of the Free’‘ was released on January 20th 2017—both Joey’s birthday and the day of Donald Trump’s inauguration—and is a single for Joey’s sophmore album AABA. The artwork shows Joey in a ‘'Make Amerikkka Suck Again’‘ shirt with what seems to be an illustration of a Nazi eagle symbol, (Reichsadler). This can be interpreted as a criticism of Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign slogan ‘'Make America Great Again’'. Trump has been accused of ‘'dog whistling’' to the Alt-Right movement and other demographics who believe in white nationalism. The backdrop is an illustration of inside the boats of the slave handle. We made the beat in the studio, me and my producers, One Nine Hundred and Kirk Knight. We were all just in the studio vibing, like we usually do, and the way we did this album, we would create the sounds first. I would give them the directions of the sound. I would throw some BPM numbers out there and shit like that, and we just got into this vibe right here which eventually became “Land of the Free.” And as soon as my man Nine Hundred started going crazy on the keys, I just felt this immense vibe of just pureism. A classic feel, just the way the instruments were sounding, I was like, “Yo Kirk you got to give me these types of drums. The juicy joints. Don’t sample nothing but just do it like this type of feel.” And then the beat was born. We ended up finishing that beat around 1 or 2 a.m...I don’t like being in the studio late night. I turn off my mind from writing at like 12 a.m. I’m just too tired. So I was like, “Ok, I’ll write to this song another time.” It ended up being probably a month after we made that beat. I finally came back to that beat one morning. I just knew what I had to talk about. The first line came to me, “We can’t change the world unless we change ourselves,” and then it just kept going and going. What really inspired this song, I was binge watching a whole bunch of Doctor Umar Johnson speeches, lectures and whatnot. Not only Umar Johnson, but Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey. There is a line in there that says, “Everything I do today that is worth while, will for sure inspire action in your first child.” Marcus Garvey has a quote where he says, “Everything you do today that is worthwhile, while inspire others to act at some future time.” And I got that from the book. ‘Cause I was reading into him a lot during this album. The part inspired by Umar is, “Leave us dead in the streets to be their organ donors.“ That’s something I learned from an Umar lecture. Sometimes I speak, and I feel like it ain’t my words because that’s how the word were coming to me. I was just receiving them from a higher place, and I’m just channeling right now. I’m just a vessel and the forces is just coming through me. Through this pen. That’s what’s writing this song."
