Sophia Michaels
Joey Bada$$ delivered a soulful serenade during his latest appearance on the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where he performed “Show Me” from his recently released third studio album 2000. The rapper brought along Canadian band Men I Trust for their debut late-night appearance, having sampled their 2018 single “Show Me How” on the record.
Men I Trust’s Emmanuelle Proulx, Jessy Caron, and Dragos Chiriac performed alongside Joey Badas$$ while he sang directly to a woman who joined him on stage for the entirety of the song. “’Cause transparency my love language/Can’t see the bigger picture if your vision tangled,” he crooned while holding her hand across a table.
The performance marks Joey Bada$$’s second appearance on the late-night show this year, having joined Chance the Rapper for a live rendition of “The Highs and the Lows” back in August. The rappers debuted the song — which deals with the stresses of domesticity and navigating difficult emotions — at Art Basel in Switzerland earlier this year. It marked the second time the pair have joined forces, following Joey Bada$$’s 2013 track “Wendy N Becky.”
“Show Me” stands out as a highlight on 2000, which finds the Brooklyn rapper taking stock of his success. In a review of the record, Rolling Stone wrote: “Yet a larger question remains: who is Joey Bada$$ the rapper in 2022? In some ways, he’ll always be that kid rocking ciphers in New York with Steez and Pro Era. But he’s evolved with an airy, melodic pop sound, often supplemented with live instruments, that both brightens and tastefully smothers his idiosyncrasies.”
