By: Ryan Martin
Joey Purp is a founding member of the collective SAVEMONEY out of Chicago featuring rappers like Vic Mensa, Chance The Rapper, and Towkio. Chance and Vic have already had their share of glory, and Towkio had an impressive debut last April with his mixtape .Wav Theory. After a shining spot on The Social Experiment’s debut album Surf, it was Joey’s time to shine. Joey had already released a mixtape called The Purple Tape which came out in 2012 that showed potential but didn’t quite blow him out of the water yet. Joey has also been apart and still is of the duo, Leather Corduroys which consists of him and Kami. Joey went solo this year though with his sophomore “project” as he describes it; iiiDrops (pronounced ‘Eyedrops’).
Personally, I was big on Joey’s verse on ‘Go’ off of Surf. I heard that hunger in his voice and was eager for more music, more hunger from an up and coming artist trying to compete with his friends who have already made it so big. In hip-hop there is a lot of competition between friends, label mates, etc. A lot of collectives and rappers try to bring their friends to the top of the game with them by retweeting their projects on Twitter, changing their profile picture to their friend’s mixtape cover or stuff like that. It’s a way to get hardcore fans of the initial artist to listen to the friend’s mixtape or at least check it out. But if the project doesn’t capture the attention of the listener in the first couple tracks because it honestly isn’t even that good, then what’s the point? It’s impossible to drag your friends to a higher level or the same level as you if they can’t compete with you musically. It’s a struggle as it is to break out of the label that’s bestowed upon you as the lesser version of your friend that’s promoting you, or the ‘little brother’. But some artists can compete with their friends, they bring that hunger, drive and passion to their music and it comes off in the form of “oh shit, who’s this?” That’s the impact Joey Purp had on me.
When I first downloaded iiiDrops, I was anxious to see what it held but I was honestly worried it would be one of those albums that I wanted to check out but would just sit in my iTunes because I didn’t have enough time to check it out. Immediately after I dropped the folder in my library, the track ‘Morning Sex’ jumped out of my speakers at me. Not only was the beat infectious, but Joey’s flow was tight and his hunger had not been lost. I found that iiiDrops is one of those projects where you hear one song and you think it’ll be the best one on the project until you keep listening and find more and more favorites. As of right now, my favorites are ‘Say You Do’, which is such a groove-filled summer jam. It’s one of those songs that as soon as it hits you can’t stop banging your head. It’s beat reminds me of Fade by Kanye West in that it’s incredibly funky and is a great song to loosely dance to. ‘Photobooth’ is another highlight for me. I totally dig Purp’s flow and his lyrics are tight too. The beat took a different direction for me than I expected though. I expected high-hats and more of a trap-influenced beat after the siren starts blaring at the beginning of the song. At first, I couldn’t get that idea out of my head and just kept craving more drums in the song than their is but the song is again, surprisingly funky. The beat always pumps me up too. ‘Girls @‘ is a fantastically with a Pharrell-influenced beat. Chance sounds incredible over the beat too but doesn’t necessarily steal the track from Joey who proves that he is able to keep up with his more famous friends.
I have big hopes for Joey Purp after this project. When you look at the routes that Chance and Vic took, with Chance having his critically-acclaimed mixtape, Acid Rap which took his from up-and-coming status to a celebrity. While Vic only released his mixtape Innaetape, more recently, his EP: There’s Alot Going On and a couple singles. His Kanye West co-sign put him on the map most effectively though. I feel Joey needs to follow this project up with something different, interesting and exciting to put him at the top. While Joey’s hunger on the mic is a major asset in his unequivocal rise to the top, it’s not something that can carry him all the way there or else this mixtape would have put him there already though. iiiDrops contains some incredible new music though that we haven’t heard from an up-and-comer that's this exciting in a very long time. I’d take this over Lil Yachty or Lil Uzi Vert any day. While you really can’t compare those artists to Purp, I urge you to turn your attention to this artist rather than what the media or the XXL Freshman List has decided on what artists are popping today.
Joey Purp is a founding member of the collective SAVEMONEY out of Chicago featuring rappers like Vic Mensa, Chance The Rapper, and Towkio. Chance and Vic have already had their share of glory, and Towkio had an impressive debut last April with his mixtape .Wav Theory. After a shining spot on The Social Experiment’s debut album Surf, it was Joey’s time to shine. Joey had already released a mixtape called The Purple Tape which came out in 2012 that showed potential but didn’t quite blow him out of the water yet. Joey has also been apart and still is of the duo, Leather Corduroys which consists of him and Kami. Joey went solo this year though with his sophomore “project” as he describes it; iiiDrops (pronounced ‘Eyedrops’).
Personally, I was big on Joey’s verse on ‘Go’ off of Surf. I heard that hunger in his voice and was eager for more music, more hunger from an up and coming artist trying to compete with his friends who have already made it so big. In hip-hop there is a lot of competition between friends, label mates, etc. A lot of collectives and rappers try to bring their friends to the top of the game with them by retweeting their projects on Twitter, changing their profile picture to their friend’s mixtape cover or stuff like that. It’s a way to get hardcore fans of the initial artist to listen to the friend’s mixtape or at least check it out. But if the project doesn’t capture the attention of the listener in the first couple tracks because it honestly isn’t even that good, then what’s the point? It’s impossible to drag your friends to a higher level or the same level as you if they can’t compete with you musically. It’s a struggle as it is to break out of the label that’s bestowed upon you as the lesser version of your friend that’s promoting you, or the ‘little brother’. But some artists can compete with their friends, they bring that hunger, drive and passion to their music and it comes off in the form of “oh shit, who’s this?” That’s the impact Joey Purp had on me.
When I first downloaded iiiDrops, I was anxious to see what it held but I was honestly worried it would be one of those albums that I wanted to check out but would just sit in my iTunes because I didn’t have enough time to check it out. Immediately after I dropped the folder in my library, the track ‘Morning Sex’ jumped out of my speakers at me. Not only was the beat infectious, but Joey’s flow was tight and his hunger had not been lost. I found that iiiDrops is one of those projects where you hear one song and you think it’ll be the best one on the project until you keep listening and find more and more favorites. As of right now, my favorites are ‘Say You Do’, which is such a groove-filled summer jam. It’s one of those songs that as soon as it hits you can’t stop banging your head. It’s beat reminds me of Fade by Kanye West in that it’s incredibly funky and is a great song to loosely dance to. ‘Photobooth’ is another highlight for me. I totally dig Purp’s flow and his lyrics are tight too. The beat took a different direction for me than I expected though. I expected high-hats and more of a trap-influenced beat after the siren starts blaring at the beginning of the song. At first, I couldn’t get that idea out of my head and just kept craving more drums in the song than their is but the song is again, surprisingly funky. The beat always pumps me up too. ‘Girls @‘ is a fantastically with a Pharrell-influenced beat. Chance sounds incredible over the beat too but doesn’t necessarily steal the track from Joey who proves that he is able to keep up with his more famous friends.
I have big hopes for Joey Purp after this project. When you look at the routes that Chance and Vic took, with Chance having his critically-acclaimed mixtape, Acid Rap which took his from up-and-coming status to a celebrity. While Vic only released his mixtape Innaetape, more recently, his EP: There’s Alot Going On and a couple singles. His Kanye West co-sign put him on the map most effectively though. I feel Joey needs to follow this project up with something different, interesting and exciting to put him at the top. While Joey’s hunger on the mic is a major asset in his unequivocal rise to the top, it’s not something that can carry him all the way there or else this mixtape would have put him there already though. iiiDrops contains some incredible new music though that we haven’t heard from an up-and-comer that's this exciting in a very long time. I’d take this over Lil Yachty or Lil Uzi Vert any day. While you really can’t compare those artists to Purp, I urge you to turn your attention to this artist rather than what the media or the XXL Freshman List has decided on what artists are popping today.