A Decade After ‘The Growth’ Joe Budden Experiences True Growth On ‘Rage & The Machine’

Poetic justice.

That’s the way Joe Budden described the irony surrounding the current state of his career. Way back in 2003, the 36-year-old struck platinum with “Pump It Up,” released a successful, self-titled, debut album and seemed to be on top of the world. From there he began working on a follow up, The Growth, that would never see the light of day. Label strife caused him to split from Def Jam but also pushed him to the free mixtapes that cemented his legacy. “I’m not a rapper, I’m a prophet,” he rapped on “Dumb Out,” one of the standouts from his revered 2005 mixtape Mood Muzik 2. Maybe he’s right because over 10 years later, Mouse is finally experiencing that growth he foresaw all those years ago.

Last week Joe released Rage & The Machine, a joyful album, painted in hues that Budden fans may have forgotten even existed on his palette. He begins the second verse of the opening track “Three” with a callback to his Mood Muzik days. “Few years, weights up, still sleep, wake up,” he says, mimicking the opening bars from Mood Muzik 3‘s own opening track “Hiatus.” The similarities to his more emo, mixtape series end almost immediately.

“I think a lot of people have grown accustomed to a certain style of music from me,” Budden said during a phone conversation over the weekend, reflecting on the shocked reactions to what is technically his sixth studio album, and the first on his own independent imprint Mood Muzik Entertainment. “I’ve been around for so long that whatever the notion was, it’s written in stone. Whether you think Joe Budden can’t pick beats, Joe Budden raps too fast, he’s too sad, he’s too emotional. So whatever you thought, we’ve never got an album like this from me.”

He’s right, people aren’t used to this Joe, but with a drastic shift in what he called his “space” in life due to a reconciliation with his 15-year-old son and freeing himself from the label woes that have haunted him most of his career. Fans should probably get used to a sunnier, smiling, laughing Joe Budden.

The ability to create enjoyable music while enjoying his place in the universe represents that growth he teased over a decade ago for Joe. His fans, affectionately known as his “Internet soldiers,” heckle him often on Twitter, waiting for him to go through the break ups and depression that have fueled the New Jersey MC to pour himself into the introspective music that’s become his trademark. The running joke was that was the only time Joe could make good music, a dangerous proposition for a man who has dealt with plenty of substance abuse and depression issues in the past.

“A lot of them were wrong,” he said, aware of the notion. “I have seen maybe three Joe Budden fans say ‘This ain’t emo, so nah, I’m cool.’ Aside from that, this album was about trying to grow, so hopefully listeners are in a space in their life where they want to do so too, or they’re receptive to me wanting to do so.”

The shift in mood not only changed the content, but altered Joe’s recording process as well. “We just had a good time,” Joe said of his time in the studio with AraabMuzik, who produced the entire album. “I was heavily involved with Araab as far as the beats. We were jamming. You know how rock stars and rockers have jam sessions where they just jam out? That’s what Arab and myself did. We just really just, jammed. So that was different. There was a good energy in the studio.”

It’s Araab production that provides most of the overt mood changes to Budden’s work. Over the album’s 11 tracks he provides plenty of buoyant, boisterous and triumphant, sample-laden production to float on. Still, Joe had to supply the content, and the tone and energy of the LP and much of the brighter material comes from Joe’s embracing his age, never more apparent than on “Uncle Joe.” “Look like I’m the last n***a to know I got old,” he raps on the track. “Which is fine, as Uncle Joe I wear that age like it’s a three piece suit.”

Age is prevalent on the album, as well as the idea of embracing his status as an old head in a genre that celebrates youth, “Uncle Joe,” is the clearest example but it’s really just a jumping off point for the whole concept throughout. “The theme (of the the album) was age,” he revealed. “In hip hop, sometimes they make you feel like aging is either a bad thing or it’s a difficult process. If you’re lucky, everybody has to go through it. If you’re fortunate.”

Joe’s embracement of age is refreshing in a time when older figures in the genre spend their time shunning new school kids for making music that sounds nothing like what they define as hip hop in their archaic rule book. He never shuns the new music, instead Mouse points out the differences between him in his mid 30s and the younger generation, in a “been there, done that” sense. “I feel like I could still f**k with 25 year olds and their mommas if they cute enough,” he jokes during a brief break in the track. Later he offers some advise “Same way you know when you up, you better know when you slip / Studies based of years hanging with the boa constricts.” Finally he quips about the youth’s approach to courting women in the club vs. his approach: “You n****s go and look for these b***hes, they come and find me.”

When Budden finally reaches back in the past, on the album’s closer “Idols,” it’s simply to pay homage. In the track and album’s final verse he point out errors in the system in place in the industry, but still he refuses to berate the new era and their music. It’s there he even finds time to celebrate Jay Z, his most famous former foe and label boss at Def Jam.

“If you live long you see your idols be your rivals
Hov was like the GOAT, congratulations on Tidal
Salute, you broke through many barriers for us
When we couldn’t move the needle you carried us for us”

Embracing age in your mid-30s is admirable, especially in rap where the most popular music is made for teenagers, by teenagers or those just out of their teens. Still, that doesn’t totally explain Budden’s shift in tone. That all harkens back to his renewed relationship with his son, and newfound freedom musically that comes with releasing Rage through his own imprint.

“Everything changed,” he said, speaking on both his music and his life. “I went a long time without being active in my child’s life. I think this year, 2016, was just God really coming into effect. My kid is with me heavy. I’m on my own imprint so there’s no need to fight with a record label anymore. It’s like the fight is over. I’m not fighting with my child’s mother to see my kid. I’m not fighting with a record label about music shit. It’s like peace, finally. And those are my two biggest fights always.”

The fight truly feels over throughout Rage. Joe sounds refreshed, shifting from his typical, pessimistic material to braggadocio, party life, women, and of course his son. “My child has inspired so much,” he explained. “He’s inspired this music, this new peace of mind. This new state of mind. He’s just brought so much solace. I don’t even think he knows how much he’s responsible for in me.”

Trey, Joe’s son, is mentioned briefly on the celebratory album. “Pardon me, kid, I’m still learning how to be a dad,” he admits in Rage‘s most introspective, old emo Joe moment on “I Wanna Know.” It’s there he pens a letter to Trey over a cheerful Araab production, complete with bright chimes, soulful crooning in the background and a vivid, gloriously sung hook from Stacy Barthe.

Joe even concedes some fault in the flawed relationship with both Trey and his mother, ever so subtly, saying “Had a power struggle when I thought your mom abused it,” and later compliments Trey’s mom with “I respect your mom’s tutelage.” Just those two lines, the slightest admission of error and respect to Trey’s mom, is a stark 180 degree turn from his Mood Muzik days. Back then, he opened the first mixtape in the series, a tape subtitled The Worst of Joe Budden, with a song titled “I Want You Back,” and despite the title, he spent the better part of five minutes admonishing her.

“I see that she’s my baby mother but she’s not my friend
That was the last straw, it was apparent
We ain’t workin as a couple but lets see if we can work as parents”

So what led to the change? How was he able to reconcile with his son and become cordial with his mother? “You just got to give time time, sometimes,” Joe said, in what was a nod to a few lyrics from his Mood Muzik 3 track “Ventilation,” either consciously or subconsciously. “It was a process. It’s not one thing in particular that occurred and then everything was good. It was just a series of everybody coming together and being willing. And that’s me, my child and my child’s mother being willing to really do this thing and put the past to the side and animosity to the side. It’s God. I really can’t explain it in any other way. God blessed me with an amazing year.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/BL39Ue2haZH/?taken-by=joebudden

What kick started the reconciliation was, oddly enough, something Joe is admonished about online the most: Reality TV. “I wouldn’t have been able to make this album without reality television,” he noted. “So I can’t shame reality TV the way other people can because it’s helped me so much in life.”

The turning point seems to be this moment on VH1’s Couples Therapy, where he spoke the show’s psychotherapist Dr. Jenn Mann. It was a revelation for viewers and those who didn’t follow Joe closely during his time away from the limelight. Joe confessed to the viewers and Dr. Mann, through tears, that he had an estranged son, and the relationship was strained almost beyond repair.

“Couple’s Therapy was so amazing to me,” he recalled. “Couple’s Therapy allowed me to approach my child and his mother with a newfound perspective and a newfound energy, which enabled them to receive me differently, which changed everything else in life once my kid is there. So, I can’t look at reality TV the way other people do.”

So with that newfound bliss, Joe then had to figure out a way to channel a whole new set of emotions. “For me this album was really about reassessing being in a different space, a new space, and wanting to project that properly through the music,” he said about the challenge.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BJx39avB5cB/

And music runs in the family, as the Budden apple apparently fell directly under the tree. “My son loves music,” Joe gushed. “He makes music. He’s like me, he’s my kid. Genes are so strong.” For a man whose music has been so personal in his career, it’s no surprise to learn that it’s the place where Joe and his son have found comfort and middle ground. “That’s what we do. We bond through music the same way I said in ‘I Wanna Know.’ That’s amazing to me that this kid, who, basically is just getting to know his dad and seeing how cool his dad is. That’s gotta be fun for him too. It’s fun for us. We’re having an amazing time getting to know one another and loving one another.”

He feels great. It’s amazing really. After a decade as the quintessential emo rapper, Joe Budden has grown into a place where he can be happy, both in life and in music. He’s grown so much, he can’t even stomach listening to or performing his old music.

So it’s in with the new for Joe, and he’s leaving behind the old, emo rap that made him a mixtape legend. “I can’t listen (to that older stuff),” he admitted. “I got to be in a mood to listen to it. When I went on tour to perform my last album, I put my last album out and then I hit the road right? So by the time I hit the road, I wasn’t in that mood anymore. I was like ‘Wow, I don’t feel like performing these songs. These songs don’t represent the place I’m in.’ (laughs) So I kept that in mind recording this album as well and it just feels good. It’s my shortest album I’ve ever put out and it still feels good. It feels great.”

“I’m in such a great mood and great spirits,” he insisted. “Even if I wanted to, there’s nothing to be emo about.”

Rage & The Machine is out now via Mood Muzik Entertainment. Stream it above and get it here here.