Joey Valence & Brae are an American

hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...

duo from

State College, Pennsylvania State College is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough and Home rule municipality (Pennsylvania), home rule municipality in Centre County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is a college town, home to the University Park, Pennsylvania, University Park ...

, consisting of rappers Joseph Bertolino (Joey Valence) and Braedan Lugue (Brae). They gained internet recognition thanks to their breakout song "Punk Tactics", the title track to their debut album.

History

Bertolino and Lugue met during their

freshman year A freshman, fresher, first year, or colloquially frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational in ...

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsyl ...

, where they became friends and started creating music together. Their first single "Crank It Up''"'' was released in 2021. Their seventh single "Punk Tactics" was released in 2022. The song was compared to the music of the

Beastie Boys The Beastie Boys were an American Hip-hop, hip hop and Rap rock, rap rock group formed in New York City in 1979. They were composed of Ad-Rock, Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (vocals, guitar), Adam Yauch, Adam "MCA" Yauch (vocals, bass), and Mike D, ...

(Bertolino calling them their "number #1 influence and inspiration") and older alternative hip-hop songs, with frequent references to

video games A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

, and

internet memes An Internet meme, or meme (, ''MEEM''), is a cultural item (such as an idea, behavior, or style) that spreads across the Internet, primarily through social media platforms. Internet memes manifest in a variety of formats, including images, v ...

. The song went viral on

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

. The music video for the song was entirely filmed on a

Nintendo DSi The is a foldable dual-screen handheld game console released by Nintendo. The console launched in Japan on November 1, 2008, and worldwide beginning in April 2009. It is the third iteration of the Nintendo DS, and its primary market rival was ...

. In February 2022, the duo was featured as special guests on ''

The Ellen DeGeneres Show ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'' is an American first-run syndicated talk show that was hosted by Ellen DeGeneres. The show ran for nineteen seasons from September 8, 2003, to May 26, 2022, in which it broadcast 3,339 episodes. It was produced by ...

'', and later appeared at the So What Music Festival in May, and

Aftershock Festival The Aftershock Festival is a hard rock and heavy metal festival in Sacramento, California, started in 2012. History In 2019, the festival expanded to three days, and in 2021 Aftershock expanded to four days, October 7 to 10. In 2022, Aftersho ...

in October. They opened alongside The Interrupters on

Sum 41 Sum 41 was a Canadian rock band formed in Ajax, Ontario, in 1996. The band's final lineup consisted of Deryck Whibley (lead vocals, guitars, keyboards), Dave Baksh (lead guitar, backing vocals), Jason McCaslin (bass, backing vocals), Tom T ...

's final tour, Tour of the Setting Sum. Their second album ''

No Hands "No Hands" is a song recorded by American rapper Waka Flocka Flame featuring fellow American rappers Roscoe Dash and Wale (rapper), Wale from the former's debut studio album, ''Flockaveli'' (2010). It was written by the artists alongside producer ...

'' was released in 2024 to critical acclaim, and featured contributions from

Z-Trip Zach Sciacca (born July 22, 1971), better known as DJ Z-Trip, is an American DJ and producer. He is a pioneer of the mashup movement. He was the 2009 recipient of the "America's Best DJ Award". As a producer he has worked with artists across ...

, Terror Reid and

Danny Brown Daniel Dewan Sewell (born March 16, 1981), better known as Danny Brown, is an American rapper, singer and songwriter from Detroit, Michigan. He was described by MTV in 2011 as "one of rap's most unique figures in recent memory". After amassing ...

, with the album's singles "The Baddest" and "Omnitrix" gaining popularity on short-form social medias including

Instagram Reels Instagram is an American photo and short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters, be organized by hashtags, and be associated with a location via ...

and

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

. In 2024, the duo was featured on

Pendulum A pendulum is a device made of a weight suspended from a pivot so that it can swing freely. When a pendulum is displaced sideways from its resting, equilibrium position, it is subject to a restoring force due to gravity that will accelerate i ...

's song "Napalm". Later that year they would release the deluxe version of ''No Hands,'' including three new songs, a remix of "The Baddest" featuring Ayesha Erotica and a cover of the

Charli XCX Charlotte Emma Aitchison (born 2 August 1992), known professionally as Charli XCX, is a British singer and songwriter. She began posting songs on Myspace in 2008 before entering the London rave scene. Signing a recording contract with Asylum Re ...

song "

365 365 may refer to: * 365 (number), an integer * a common year, consisting of 365 calendar days * AD 365, a year of the Julian calendar * 365 BC, a year of the 4th century BC Media outlets * 365 (media corporation), Icelandic TV company * 365 ...

". In 2025, the duo released the single "Clover" in collaboration with fellow American rapper .idk.

Discography

Albums

EPs

Singles

Features

Tours

*JVB Summer 2022 Tour (First tour) *JVB Welcome To The Club Tour (2023) *Punk Tactics Tour (2024) *No Hands Tour (2024)

References

External links

Official Website
American hip-hop duos Musical duos from Pennsylvania Musical groups established in 2021 2021 establishments in Pennsylvania {{Hiphop-group-stub