Summer Knights

Summer Knights
Mixtape by Joey Bada$$
Released	July 1, 2013
Recorded	2012–13
Genre	Hip hop
Length	70:00
Label	Cinematic Music Group
Producer	Lee Bannon, MF Doom, Statik Selektah, The Alchemist, Oddisee, Chuck Strangers, Kirk Knight, Bruce Leekix, Navie D, DJ Premier
Joey Bada$$ chronology
1999 (2012) Summer Knights (2013) B4.DA.$$ (2015)
Singles from Summer Knights
"Unorthodox" Released: January 14, 2013 "My Yout" Released: September 9, 2013

Summer Knights is the third solo mixtape from American rapper Joey Bada$$, released on July 1, 2013. The mixtape was originally planned to be an EP, to prelude the release of his debut album B4.DA.$$, but was soon announced to be a full-length mixtape. The mixtape features production from Chuck Strangers, Kirk Knight, MF Doom, Statik Selektah, DJ Premier, Lee Bannon, Oddisee, Navie D, and Bruce Leekix. The mixtape features more original instrumentals than his first mixtape 1999 which was primarily samples.

An extended play re-release of the mixtape, entitled Summer Knights EP, was released on October 29, 2013.

Background

Joey Bada$$ worked with many producers for the mixtape including MF Doom, Statik Selektah, DJ Premier, and Oddisee among others.

On May 22, 2013, Joey Bada$$ announced the official release date of his next solo project, Summer Knights EP as June 12, release to mark the 1 year anniversary of his breakthrough mixtape, 1999. On May 28, 2013, Bada$$ announced Summer Knights would no longer be an EP, but rather a full-length mixtape. He revealed the mixtape would feature 17 tracks and production by Statik Selektah, Lee Bannon, Chuck Strangers and Kirk Knight among others.^[1][2]

The mixtape featured various guest appearances by his fellow Pro Era members among additional production by DJ Premier, The Alchemist, MF Doom and Oddisee.^[3] On the announced release date, Joey Badass revealed on Twitter that the mixtape was pushed back until July 1, 2013.^[4] This was also said to be a "rest in peace" mixtape to the Pro Era member and close friend, Capital STEEZ.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
CMJ	(favorable)[5]
Consequence of Sound	[6]
Exclaim!	7/10[7]
NME	5/10[8]
RapReviews.com	7.5/10[9]
Rolling Stone	[10]
Spin	5/10[11]
XXL	[12]

Summer Knights received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 68, which indicates "generally favorable", based on 8 reviews.^[13] Exclaim! magazine's Chris Dart found Badass' rapping versatile and skillful, and said that the mixtape is exceptional at its high points, despite being a few unnecessary songs overlong.^[7] Abrea Armstrong of XXL felt that his lyrics are still confident, but now informed by new life experiences, and recommended Summer Knights to hip hop buffs rather than Badass' typically teenage listeners, although she wrote that "Joey is here to prove that they're one in the same."^[12] In a mixed review, Phillip Mlynar of Spin felt that Summer Knights lacks the immediacy of his early music and found his rapping dull and enervated, which he mused is a result of pressures and expectations from the music industry.^[14]

On December 24, 2013, XXL positioned it at number 19 on their list of the best mixtapes of 2013. They commented saying, "One thing is clear when you listen to the tape, he’s not kidding around, as he unleashes some bone-shattering bars with a calm cold assassin-like demeanor. 1999 was more of a coming-of-age tale from Joey while Summer Knights provides as a worthy follow-up illustrating his maturity and growth. Pro-Era’s boom-bap ’90s chill-vibe is still prominent in the album, however with an extra kick making it sound very refreshing."^[15]

Track listing

All credits are adapted from Allmusic.^[16]

Digital download

Most mixtapes are released on a website called DatPiff and are usually not released for any profit but recently, shortly after B4.DA.$$ was released, 1999 and Summer Knights became available on iTunes and were also sold for profit.

Rejex 2

Like the first Rejex mixtape, Joey released another mixtape named Rejex 2 which contains 14 tracks that did not make it to the Summer Knights mixtape.

Personnel

All credits are adapted from AllMusic.^[16]

• The Alchemist – producer
• T'nah Apex – featured artist
• Lee Bannon – producer
• Collie Buddz – featured artist
• Nyck Caution – featured artist
• Navie D – producer
• Dirty Sanchez – featured artist
• DJ Premier – producer
• MF DOOM – producer
• Dessy Hinds – featured artist
• Kirk Knight – featured artist, producer
• Oddisee – producer
• Pro Era – featured artists
• Rokamouth – featured artist
• Smoke DZA – featured artist
• Statik Selektah – producer
• Chuck Strangers – featured artist, producer

References

External links

• Summer Knights at Discogs