Joey Bada$$ took a hands-on approach to his new LP. The New York rapper told Ebro Darden that he orchestrated the production for his upcoming album All-Amerikkkan Badass.

“All of the music on this album, we really made from scratch, from the ground up with my direction” he said around the 30-second mark of the interview. “I orchestrated it. I put this musician with this musician and paired them together, and I told ‘em where to go.”

Joey also got into a deep discussion of his album’s content. The “Land of the Free” MC said the deaths of Freddie Gray, Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin made him feel the need to rap about more sociopolitical topics.

“I just started feeling responsible,” Joey said around the 4:10 mark. “The real side of me, just the human side of me was feeling connected to it cause I felt so close to it. The musician side of me started feeling responsible, and not responsible for what was happening, but responsible on how we can change it, how we could bring more awareness to certain situations. This project, it's about my experience as a black man in America, but it's not just my experience. It's your experience. Our brothers. I felt like I was responsible to make this music and deliver this message.”

Check out Joey’s entire conversation with Ebro below. All-Amerikkkan Badass drops this Friday (April 7). You can pre-order the album now on iTunes.

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