Joey grew up around the corner from the Macy projects in Brooklyn. Initially he had his sights set on becoming an Actor and was enrolled in the drama class at his school. There he met up with his future Pro Era collaborators and they would rap at lunch, in class, after school pretty much all the time. He knew about Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole before 99% of the world did and studied them as they were coming up. He would find success early when a video of him rapping at 15 would catch the attention of Jonny Shipes from Cinematic Music Group.