You're listening to Song Exploder, where musicians take apart their songs and piece by piece, tell the story of how they were made.

I'm Rishikesh Herway.

This episode contains explicit language.

Joey Badass is a rapper from New York.

He's worked with other rappers like Asap Rocky and Action Bronson,

but he collaborates most closely with his fellow members of Pro Era, a Brooklyn hip-hop collective.

Joey Badass released his debut album on January 20th, 2015, his 20th birthday.

It hit the top five on the Billboard charts.

For the track, Jesus Fue, he worked with Kirk Knight, another member of Pro Era.

In this episode, the two of them break down the process of making Jesus Fue,

and how the lyrics reflect Joey's wide-angle take on religion,

and how the beat was inspired by DJ Premier.

My name is Javar Vajini.

My stage name is Joey Badass.

Talking about Jesus' view, produced by Kirk Knight, he made the beat and the beat came way before the lyrics.

Kirk's AI.

So basically the way how this beat started, basically I made this on the tour bus.

I was actually listening to a lot of premiums.

At the time I was listening to 10 crack commandments like back to back to back to back.

Even the way that he chopped it, it was kind of like on the one chopped up and like thin on the one.

When you nod to your head to the beat, that is like the piano just hits right when your head is bobbing down to the beat.

You know what I'm saying?

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