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Joey Bada$$ shares how he manifested his role in ‘Raising Kanan’: I just decided it was time

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Courtesy of Starz

Joey Bada$$ knows a thing or two about making dreams a reality. The young Brooklyn rapper, who first emerged in 2012 with his debut mixtape, 1999, is now an Academy-Award winner thanks to his Netflix film, Two Distant Strangers, which took home the Best Live Action Short Oscar. Bada$$ tells ABC Audio that like his dream to become an actor, he also “manifested” his latest role as Unique in Starz’s Power Book III: Raising Kanan.

“One, I was a big Power head — [I’ve] literally seen every episode even of the new spinoff,” Joey shares. “And two, as an actor, I felt like it was time for me to take on a role like this… So back in 2019, I literally wrote down a list of goals and one of them was land THE role.”

That role, Bada$$ explains, was “a street kind of role” that he had previously stayed away from during the beginning of his acting career. 

“I made it a thing of importance to not box myself into… stereotypical type of roles,” the rapper explains. “[But,] I just decided it was time. It was time to put my spin on one of these kind of guys. So once the Power role came, I [was] just like, ‘Wow, this is perfect.'”

Now fans get to see Bada$$ play the complex character of ‘Niq, who Joey says is solely motivated by his desire to “be on top.”

“He wants to have all of the power,” Joey says. “[He took on] the business from an older brother… So, it’s kind of inherited. He’s hungry [and acts] like, ‘Can’t wait to be king.'”

Power Book III: Raising Kanan airs Sunday nights at 8 p.m. ET on Starz

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