Joey Bada$$ Reveals JAY-Z Once Tried to Manage Him: “That Was the Dream”

Joey Bada$$ has opened up about a major opportunity that nearly changed the course of his career—JAY-Z once made an attempt to manage him. In a recent interview with Red Bull, the Brooklyn native shared details about how the offer came together and ultimately slipped away.

“It was a chain of communication that I didn’t have any part in,” Joey explained. “You gotta understand, at that point I’m a 17-year-old kid from Brooklyn, that was the dream, the highest honor you can have. Jay is my favorite rapper, even to this day, and within a year of being in the game, he wanted to sign me.”

Despite the excitement, the opportunity didn’t unfold the way Joey had hoped. “He didn’t want to sign me as an artist, he wanted to manage me,” he said. “I had a manager at the time and I always wonder if that’s how it got botched.”

This isn’t the first time Joey has addressed the situation. During a 2022 appearance on The Breakfast Club, he expressed similar confusion about how the deal fell through. “I always see him now and I be wanting to have that conversation, but the time…I feel like the time never permits like, where we at,” he said. “I was so young at the time and to me there was no reason not to sign to JAY-Z. But there was other factors involved and shit like that, so I’m not really sure what exactly happened like if the communications channels was like sabotaged or something like that. I don’t know.”

JAY-Z has never publicly commented on his interest in managing Joey Bada$$, and the two artists have yet to collaborate.

In the meantime, Joey has kept himself in the spotlight through music and bold lyrical statements. Recently, he’s stirred conversation with pointed remarks aimed at the West Coast rap scene. On his track “The Ruler’s Back,” Joey threw jabs at Kendrick Lamar and followed it up with a fierce freestyle directed at TDE’s Ab-Soul.

“First off, I could never hate the West Coast,” he rapped. “But since n-ggas comin’ for Joe, fuck it then, let’s go / N-ggas must’ve forgot what Dot said on ‘Control’ / There’s still a buncha sensitive rappers in they pyjama clothes. I guess, this ain’t no East versus West / I just think that I’m the best, as a matter fact, I know / These bars could put bad boys on death row / Kinda crazy how Suge and Puff in jail, though / Yo, I was at the party but I never seen a freak off / Instead a battle rapper on stage showing his cheeks off.”

While fans continue to speculate on what might have been with JAY-Z, Joey Bada$$ seems focused on proving that he’s charting his own course—with or without cosigns.