Badi is an American rapper, who has a diverse musical background, which ranges from; singing in a gospel choir and playing the trumpet. The first mixtape he released was titled ‘Super Vision’ (2006), and was inspired by experiences from his journey to Thailand where he spent his year of service. His debut full-length album ‘The Departure’ (2008) encompasses the unique style of organic Hip-Hop he has been developing throughout adolescence and early adulthood. It features positive lyrics relating to how hardships in our life develop our spirituality, accompanied by music which incorporates many different styles which adds great depth to his raps.

The album opens up with a definitive introduction to Badi’s mind state about the music industry, and how rap can be elevated to the next level, ushering in a different movement. In the track ‘Fate of the World’ listeners are immersed into the compelling and pressing times we are living in where the fate of the world lies in Badi’s hands, which can extend to how everyone can write their own future. With a moving and catchy guitar featured throughout the track, ‘Be OK’ is almost an uplifting melody to living your life away from the music industry games; the vocals from Kofo The Wonderman add a warm quality to the song. Covering relationships, ‘I Don’t Know’ is a very honest look at how we view so called ‘love’, the beat shows a natural edge with funk and soul influences. Following this ‘Sister’ is great blend of Hip-Hop and R&B courtesy of Donovan, in which the role of women is explored, in his lyrics Badi encourages females to express their true nature rather then embracing the falsehoods the media portray of one’s image.

Aside from the more poetic concept tracks, ‘Sidewalkin’ is hard hitting and can be seen to be a metaphor for the coldness people can show in reality, when busy perusing our everyday movements not being sure of our identity, and others around us. In ‘The Fire’, devotion is likened to a fire which gives us strength, in illustrating this point writings of the Baha’i Faith are mentioned in the chorus. To mark the interlude beat boxing is sampled, and following from this ‘Ain't Sayin Nothin’ appears, consisting of a fully charged more mainstream rap beat. This mood in the music relates to the subject matter, in which Badi is urging rappers to start putting more meaningful content into their lyrics.

The album is a departure from most preconceptions about rap music, both musically and lyrically. There is a pleasant variation to the types of tracks, which make the music go far beyond listening to them once. In fact Badi’s usage of words requires revisiting the concepts in the tracks such as the insightful ‘Full Circle’, while others feature a hand waving vibe, without compromising the quality of the content. Badi’s album is a great opening for people who are new or long time fans of Hip-Hop music.

Badi - The Way

Useful Links:

The Album is available both digitally and hard copy, get it now!

- Myspace

- Official Site

"That's gonna make your Baha'i Blogs!"

-Rainn Wilson (NEBY 2008)

Rainn amuses me already on the television, but this just takes his comedy to the next level :)