Joe Budden

Ask Joe Budden what was the rap record that changed his life and he laughs. “All of them. I’ve been doing hip-hop since I was 10. I was raised with hip-hop. This is my destiny.”

Joe’s destiny is now your reality with the release of one of the most talked about debuts in years. ----- is no frills,hip-hop that doesn’t rely on gimmicks and formula to get the job done: just a wicked beat and ingenious flow.

Feel good songs and club bangers are certainly part of his arsenal but there’s more to Joe Budden. “A lot of artists keep their art and personal lives separate. I can’t do that. Rap is more therapeutic for me. Whatever I’m going through or feeling I put that into a song.” Such is the case with moody cuts like “Survivor” or “Walk With Me”, which document the changes Joe has undergone since making the move from the street corner to the record industry. ”I want to be multi- faceted,” Joe says. “I got club songs, I got girl songs. But a lot of my songs are personal.” Helping to keep his songs personal and devoid of formulaic beats is his producer Dubbe, one of the core members of Joe’s production unit, On Top. Most of Joe’s album was produced by On Top and sticking with his boys was crucial. “I’m not really into having a lot of big names producers on the album. I’m not putting out a compilation and I want to give people more of me, as opposed to me and this established artist.”

Joe has been a fixture on the highly competitive mix tape circuit, appearing on compilations of nearly every major DJ including street slingers DJ Clue, Kay-Slay, Cutmaster Cee and Green Lantern. In fact it was the buzz from those mixtapes, chiefly a sizzling freestyle on a Lil Mo/Fabolous cut, that helped Joe nab his deal with Def Jam.