Joey Valence & Brae - Punk Tactics

The album that broke them. Punk Tactics arrived in 2023 and took Joey Valence and Brae from viral TikTok curiosity to a genuine touring act — fourteen tracks of breakbeat-driven, Beastie-indebted rap built almost entirely out of two voices shouting over blown-out drums.

The title track is the calling card, a two-and-a-half-minute barrage that does not waste a syllable. "Watch Yo Step" and "Hooligang" got the videos and the streams, "Startafight" and "Kill Bill" keep side A moving at a sprint, and "Tanaka 2" pulls in Logic for the record's biggest guest turn. "Dance Now" flips a Jean Bouchéty sample, "Delinquent (Teen Titan)" lifts from Keys, and the closing "Club Sandwich" sends the whole thing out on a grin.

What separates it from a straight homage is the punk in the title — the tempos are faster, the mixes are nastier, and the pair play the whole thing with a hardcore band's sense of momentum rather than a rap group's sense of pocket. It is a party record with real teeth.

This is the RCA reissue featuring alternate artwork, housed in a full-color gatefold jacket with creative direction from Roger Gastman of Beyond the Streets. A limited edition of the record that started it all.