Bars & Drive, North Philly’s Joey DeVille
Joey DeVille doesn’t hold his tongue. He has a rawness that can be both brash and impressive, as it manifests an MC bravado that the hip-hop world needs more of… from rappers that can actually rap, that is.
And Joey can definitely rap.
He’s got no filter and no time for the stagnant. Between songs, podcasts, social media content, and beefing with Joyner Lucas, he’s always creating and developing his brand.
From the outside looking in, the guy looks ready and again, most importantly, he can really rap.
“Smiley”
On “Smiley,” he drops in like Tony Hawk and keeps the tempo moving from start to finish. It’s quality flow and messaging without a drop-off. The pace is comfortable and catchy, but probably most impressive is the fact that he made a solid rap song with a cOrNy opening line, “I’m so happy I woke up” — it’s not easy to make cool rap with cheery messaging but he did just that here.
You can follow him on IG here: @joeyydeville
Impressive Collabs
Through the power of the internet, he linked with Nigerian producer, Mezu Blazz.
Very good song with dope album art to match.
He recently popped up on a long-awaited debut from Nadir Azimm.
His standout feature comes on the song, “Crash” around the 1:30 mark.
“You Love Me”
The intro to “You Love Me” is cute. Not always what you’re looking for in a spitter, but hey, the appeal transcends age groups and platforms (TikTok gold right here). But not surprisingly, Joey comes in clean and rips a verse with reckless abandon after the intro.
On the contrary, the album cover looks like it was made by a teenager and the chorus just feels a little corny to me, but I’m a 30-year-old dude. Maybe high school girls will love it. Not every song is geared toward the same audience, which is another reason I like Joey’s stuff. Variety has its place in music. Throw a singer on the chorus, improve the artwork, and it’s a certified smash—a TikTok trending sound, or whatever it was meant to be.