From an ugly fallout with his former label Def Jam, to combating erroneous claims surrounding his relationships, Joe Budden has been on the opposing end of a disastrous battle against the world. He was virtually playing one on five. His candor served as a double-edged sword. There were people who loved his intense war stories on fighting against the ills of life and trumping his adversaries. There were also people who hated him because he couldn’t control what he said or how he said it. The odds against Joe were insurmountable. His scars and wounds appeared untreatable. His future was more obscure than ever a few years ago.
Fast track to 2013 and we have a rejuvenated Joe Budden – a man spearheading himself back into prominence. He forged the group Slaughterhouse and signed with Eminem‘s Shady Records. His work ethic is unparalleled. He has dropped mixtapes like Mood Muzik 2 and his most recent work, A Loose Quarter. He has the infectious single in “Put It Down Like You,” featuring the likes of Lil Wayne and Tank, climbing up the hip-hop charts. He’s prepping his third album, No Love Lost, slated to drop February 5, and is a budding reality star being featured on VH1’s Love & Hip-Hop. It seems Joe is in a happier and more secure place now.
We sat down with Joe to talk about his top 10 Joe Budden records, his new album, his NBA comparison, if he’ll be a relationship columnist and his best friends in the NBA in this exclusive interview.
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Dime: The last time we spoke, we narrowed down a top five all-time Joe Budden song list consisting of “Whatever It Takes,” “Calm Down,” “All of Me,” “Walk with Me” and “10 Minutes.” Five years later, let’s complete this list and add five more to make this a top 10. What tracks are we throwing in there?
Joe Budden: Ahhh man! That’s difficult right there. Hmmm, let me see, let me see. Damn that’s tough. I would have to go with “EXXes” from Padded Rooms. I would do “Black Cloud.” I would do – hmmm three more, this is f—— tough. (Laughs)
Dime: You need some help? (Laughs)
JB: Did I say “Broken Wings?”
Dime: Nah, but that’s a good one to throw in there.
JB: Okay. I would do “Broken Wings.” I would do – Hmm. (Pauses) Who the f— is doing doughnuts in my f—— driveway? (Laughs) But this is really hard. Let’s do “More of Me.” After that, damn. I don’t really f—— know. Repeat my first five again.
Dime: You had “Whatever It Takes,” “Calm Down,” “Walk with Me,” “10 Minutes,” and “All of Me.”
JB: Alright. I’m going to add “Pump It Up.”
Dime: I didn’t see that coming. I would have thought “Pray for Me” or “Downfall.”
JB: Oh shit, “Downfall!” I’m sitting here trying to go through my projects and I knew I was missing something. “Pray for Me” and “Downfall” would have to be in there; both of those.
Dime: “Pray for Me” from Padded Rooms or “Pray for Me” from Mood Muzik 4?
JB: “Pray for Me” from Padded Rooms.
Dime: Do you want to throw both in there?
JB: Yeah. F— yeah. I was sitting here thinking of my shows and the songs that I’d have to do.
Dime: I hear you on that. Because you came out with the sequel for “All of Me” with “More of Me,” which record would you considered more sacred to your heart, “All of Me” or “More of Me?”
JB: They are both sacred for different reasons. “All of Me” was a summation of me back then. I would say “All of Me” because it was me. “More of Me” was coming more from a bystander’s point of view. It was more so of watching someone else’s life.
Dime: Five years ago for your second album Padded Rooms, the cover art consisted of you in a straitjacket. Five years later, your new album with No Love Lost has you in a more relaxed position and we even catch a grin. Compare the contrasting album covers and also where you were musically from then to now.
JB: Well with Padded Rooms, I was in the straitjacket. It was coming after Halfway House. It was very dark, very gloomy, and introspective. The straitjacket really sums it up. As some would say, I was “psychotic,” “off,” “borderline schizophrenic,” “bi-polar.” It was that type of music. It was very real at the time. The cover for No Love Lost, I wanted to come off as the exact opposite because it showed I was able to put those demons to rest.
Dime: Obviously we were just touching on some of your more popular records. Do you have any gems that we can expect from No Love Lost? If you do, which tracks are they and why?
JB: On No Love Lost, there’s a few. Like, “Ghetto Birds” is classic storytelling Joe. “All in my Head” was from A Loose Quarter. That had Royce on there as well. That was like my favorite joint on there. I got “Skeletons in my Closet” on there. I got a song called “Runaway.” I got a song called “Castles.” While this album is probably my most diverse album since the debut, there’s definitely a lot of jewels on there.
Dime: Now Joe, I always ask you this question. I hope this time around, I get a different answer. When I always ask you to give me a NBA player comparison, you’ve always said Brandon Roy. We love Brandon Roy. But I can’t have Fab saying he’s Carmelo, Future saying he’s Kobe, and you saying you’re Brandon Roy. I’m giving you the shot to change it right now. (Laughs)
JB: (Laughs) Oh yeah. I remember that. You know people when they name basketball players; they always go for the best. It’s always the top dude, etc. But for me, it would have to be somebody like Oscar Robertson.
Dime: Why Oscar?
JB: He’s one of the greatest to ever do it that people just quietly think about.
Dime: Okay. You know while you were on Love and Hip-Hop on Monday, your Knicks took a loss that night to the Celtics.
JB: Yeah man. They f—— – I don’t know man. I honestly don’t want to see the Celtics in the first round. I don’t.
Dime: Why?
JB: They got a lot of pride and they’re not going down without a fight. They give the Knicks matchup problems. There are teams that give the Knicks matchup problems and the Celtics are one of them.
Dime: And Rondo didn’t even play that night.
JB: Yeah. (Sighs deeply) I know. I know.
Dime: Were you a little bit concerned with ‘Melo trying to find KG after the game? And if so, do you think the Celtics have the advantage mentally over New York?
JB: Yeah I thought ‘Melo fell for it. I mean that’s what they do all the time. That’s what KG does. He talks that shit and gets people going. For the most part it works in the Celtics’ favor but I’m not worried about ‘Melo in the long-term. I think he’ll be fine. I think it’s one of the losses you kind of just learn from. I think it’s a learning year for ‘Melo. He’s surrounded by veteran savvy guys who got rings, and who been to the Finals. So he’ll be fine.
Dime: I remember you did your top 5 contenders for DJ Enuff and I don’t think the Clipper fans were too happy knowing that you placed the Lakers number one.
JB: Yo! The Lakers suck! The Lakers are horrible. If I could do that five over, the Clippers would definitely be in there. Memphis would be in there. OKC would be in there. Miami would be in there. And the Knicks would be in there.
Dime: In that video you also threw a couple stabs at David Stern. With that said, I’m going to allow you Joseph Budden to be NBA Commissioner for the day. If you could implement any rules into the league, what would you change and why?
JB: Hmmm. What would I implement to the league? I would just take away something about the officiating. The officiating in the NBA is horrible. It’s really bad and I understand that they have their own sets, criteria and standards that they have to meet to be able to ref in the NBA, but, it’s horrible! The stars get a little too much leverage. Home court gets a little too much leverage. I might make the playoffs a best of seven again instead of five.
Dime: Isn’t it a best of seven, Joe?
JB: Nah, I think the first round of the playoffs is five.
Dime: Nah, it’s seven.
JB: It is seven?
Dime: Yeah it used to be five.
JB: Ah shit. Damn I’m getting old. Well it’s alright then. (Laughs)
Dime: You’ve been known to always drop sports and NBA metaphors. If you could go down that list and search through the archive for the best ones, which lines would you choose and why?
JB: Oh nah, I can’t tell you that because I have a song. My next single that’s coming out is featuring Wiz Khalifa and French Montana. It’s called NBA.
Dime: I heard about the record. Did you just go straight bar for bar NBA punchlines?
JB: There’s a few in there that’s just mean. I can’t wait for people to hear it. It’ll probably be out in a week or two.
Dime: I hope you didn’t go below the belt with a line like, “the game is uglier than Sam Cassell.”
JB: Nah, nah. (Laughs) I didn’t keep it mixtape. The verse is great. The verse is great because it’s a 16. That’s something I rarely ever do and it truly stuck with the song conceptually and perfectly. There’s no throwing anybody under the bus. No mixtape shit. But I got some mean ones in there.
Dime: I spoke to Fab recently and I had touched on the thought of you guys possibly doing an EP together because people used to go crazy over the Desert Storm freestyles. Before it’s all said and done career-wise, do you feel you two can get that done for the fans?
JB: You know what’s funny? Me and Fab just spoke about that recently because our mixtapes came out the same week. We spoke about it. It’s definitely an idea that we both would explore. We both have the audience for it. It’s just about our schedule. He’s probably busy with his album. I’m real busy doing what I’m doing. So I mean as long as things are right, it’s definitely an idea we’ve spoken about and that we’re open to.
Dime: Switching gears, Steve Harvey came out with the book, Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man. That gave women the homecourt advantage against us men on the playing field. Is it possible in the near future for us men to get an E-Book from Joe entitled Act Like a Man, Think Like Joe anytime soon? (Laughs)
JB: (Laughs) You know people been asking me that. They’ve asked me about that before. I don’t think it’s something I’m going to do. I’m not sure though. Like I’m not sure. I’m open to different shit. If there’s a high enough demand for it, I’ll f— with it.
Dime: You should try to be a columnist for AskMen.com.
JB: Yeah you know the magazines have approached me about doing different things quarterly but it never really panned out just yet but we’ll see.
Dime: You know it’s been 10 years since you’ve dropped your first album. That album consisted of “Calm Down,” “10 Minutes,” “Survivor” and more. Do you ever find yourself bumping “Porno Star?”
JB: No.
Dime: When was the last time?
JB: Shittttttt. It might have been at a show during a fan contest. Yeah. We pulled the fans onstage to sing to a random song. “Porno Star” came on.
Dime: I always said “Ma, Ma, Ma” with 112 should have been your next single after “Fire” on your first album. What happened?
JB: That was supposed to be the next single. Me and Def Jam had different ideas though.
Dime: I was 13 back then and I already knew what you were talking about.
JB: (Laughs) Yeah. That’s crazy.
Dime: I know you used to hang around players from the league like Marcus Williams and Brandon Jennings. Do you still keep in on contact with them?
JB: You know, me and Jamal Crawford kick it pretty often. That’s my guy and he’s killing right now. I still talk to Marcus. He’s doing his thing. There’s a lot of politics in the NBA. So I mean, like with anything in music or business, there’s a lot of great ballplayers and talent out there that’s dealing with the politics so shout out to all them.
Dime: So are you still repping the Nets despite the team moving?
JB: Nah. I’m a Knicks fan all day. I don’t care about the Nets.
Dime: What about Jersey City?
JB: I was a sports fan since I was age of seven. I was in New York. So my teams are the Knicks, Giants and Yankees.
Dime: I know you’re mad about these Giants then.
JB: Nah. I’m honestly not mad about getting a draft pick this year.
Dime: They should have made it to the playoffs though. It could have been their year again.
JB: Yeah but I’ve been a longtime Giants fan. This is what they do: they have a great year. Then they turn around, turn it off, and they relax. But then they come back like they heated again.
What’s your favorite music release from Joe Budden?
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