MUSIC INTERVIEW
MAN VS. MACHINE Once deemed dead after dealings with Def Jam, rapper Joe Budden’s doing things differently in the digital age.
BY DEMARCO WILLIAMS
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OU WON’T HAVE TO DIG LONG on the web to find out where Joe Budden’s been. One of the rap industry’s prized upstarts back in ’03 thanks to a club banger, “Pump It Up,” and well-received self-titled album, Budden became a ghost in the machine once it was time to follow-up his initial successes with a second release. Hip hop sites say a beef with then-Def Jam prez Jay-Z caused the long delay. In this interview, Budden, 28, echoes the same things. But Joe’s not sweating any of that anymore. Consider the Harlem native in the midst of a rhyming re-boot. With an October ’08-released, downloadable-only album (Halfway House) still getting love, a just-dropped full-length (Padded Room) stirring blogosphere buzz and news of a rap supergroup damn near causing a virtual riot, Joe Budden doesn’t need to worry about much besides keeping his Wikipedia page updated. In what ways have you evolved since “Pump It Up?” Business-wise, I kinda grab the bull by the horn. I’ve surrounded myself with my own cabinet of people, nobody was brought to me. I’m kinda taking control of my own destiny. Whatever is going to happen will happen on my watch, which is a big change from when I first came in. Musically, I’d like to say I get better with each day that passes. I’m practicing on my craft, working on my craft. The same advice I give to aspiring artists I take heed myself. It’s constant work.
Is that spat with Saigon old news? Yeah, it’s old news.
Y’all cool? I’m not going to say that we’re cool. I’m not gonna say that I’m going to call him tomorrow and invite him over for lunch. But it’s over and done with in both of our opinions. With Padded Room, what are you most excited about? First of all, I’m excited just to be able to release it. For somebody who wasn’t able to do it for so long, it’s really a big deal to me. And second of all, I’m excited for the fans to be able to walk into the store and purchase a Joe Budden album. I’m excited for them to hear it, take the plastic off, read the credits and do everything we used to do with rap albums that we love and anticipated. Speaking of reading the credits, productionwise, give me a couple of names that helped you out? A bunch of up-n-coming producers. The Klasix did a lot of [the mixtape] Mood Music. Dub B did the majority of my first album. Blastah Beatz is a guy out of France, representin’ Team Jump-Off. He’s a phenomenal, phenomenal producer. They pretty much did the entire album.
Anybody exciting you musically? That’s hard to say ‘cuz music excites me period. So, the list would be extremely long. I could FOR AS MANY FANS AS I HAVE, go on for days and I PROBABLY HAVE DOUBLE THE days. [The new supergroup] Slaughterhouse AMOUNT OF HATERS. I DON’T excites me. Royce da KNOW, MAN. I TRY TO BE AS 5’9”, Crooked I, Juel Ortiz. Those guys make SINCERE AS POSSIBLE WITH me push the pen that THE LISTENER. much harder.
With Def Jam, did you feel like an outsider and that the decisions were made for you? Umm, I was really young at the time. Everything was happening so fast. I couldn’t really come to grips with everything. I was taking a lot of suggestions from different people. Now all of that has changed. I wanna be in control of my own destiny.
Anything beyond music of interest to you right now? We got a black president, so that’s always captivating. Other than that, that’s really the biggest deal to me. It’s what I’ve paid the most attention to the last year and a half. I’m happy with the outcome. I’m up on my current events, but that’s where I’ve spent most of my time. Do the happenings in DC and other current events ever influence what you rap about? No, not at all. Politics is one thing I choose to stay away from musically. I was listening to Sirius Radio the other day and the young lady was doing a poll of who the better MC was- you or Saigon. Most callers chose you. What do folks like about your sound? For as many fans as I have, I probably have double the amount of haters. I don’t know, man. I try to be as sincere as possible with the listener. I’ve done that for so long that I’ve developed a really close connection with the fans and established some type of relationship with them that’s deeper than just fan-to-artist, artist-to-fan. PG 22 • insiteatlanta.com • March 2009
Pardon the ignorance, but do y’all have an official project in the works? Yes, yes. You gotta go Google it. Your ignorance is excused. I released a digital album in October with the song called “Slaughterhouse,” featuring all of us. The energy and response was so crazy. The buzz was nuts. It was something we wanted to continue. It’s something we wanted to keep going. People are extremely excited about. We did a show last week, sold out. It’s been sold out 10 times over. Everybody who’s a fan of hardcore hip hop, where lyrics matter again, they will definitely enjoy what we’re doing. In what ways have the digital movement helped your career? It saved my career. Without it, I don’t know where I’d be. Like I said, it’s public knowledge that I was in a situation on a label where I wasn’t able to release music for whatever reason. When you’re an artist, especially an artist such as myself, it’s therapeutic and your source of venting [to release music]. It’s really important. So, for us to be in the day and age where modern technology can do all of these wonderful, beautiful things where you can release music from your home and have the masses hear it? I can’t imagine where I would be without it.
AUTOMOBILES THE RIDES OF MARCH FAST LANE
BY DEMARCO WILLIAMS Name – 2009 Nissan Murano S AWD Tested Price – $30,920 Engine – 3.5L/V-6 Gas – 18 city/ 23 highway Warranty – Three-year/36,000 miles
Name – 2009 Mazda CX-9 Grand Touring AWD Tested Price – $40,135 Engine – 3.7L/V-6 Gas – 15 city/21 highway Warranty – Three-year/36,000 miles Kids, there was a time when car commercials didn’t focus on highway fuel efficiency or pollutants. 30second spots at one time talked about maneuvering and all the Jetsons-like gadgetry to be found in the cockpit. We all wanted to know what that button was for and what this screen displayed. Now, when people step onto a car lot –yes, there are people who still do that- they inquire about silly thinks emission standards and the cost to fill up. Well, leave it to the forward thinkers over at Nissan and Mazda to spend equal time with gizmos as they do with going green. Before going any further, we have to admit the Mazda CX-9 (and the slightly-less hulking CX-7) is
2009 NISSAN MURANO S AWD
one of our favorite things to gawk at on the road. It’s sleek. It’s ridiculously curvy. It’s the car Doc in Back to the Future would’ve driven had he known about crossover SUVs. Beyond its suave exterior though, the vehicle handles tremendously (Independent Front MacPherson strut, rear multi-link suspension), seats seven comfortably and actually isn’t the gas guzzler you might think. But really, what’s a $40,000 semi-luxury SUV without the bells and whistles? Stocked with a comprehensive DVD navigation system ($2,300) and standard blind-spot monitoring, it certainly isn’t the fabulous ’09 CX-9, for sure. The Nissan Murano, a crossover pioneer and one of the best-selling entries in its class, doesn’t quite hark images of Total Recall with its styling. Still, it turns heads with a unique build that always seems at least a season ahead, design-wise, over most of its competition. (Actually, the stop/start ignition button still generates the occasional Wooow from passengers.) Beneath all the good looks, however, there lies a SUV with a few shortcomings, one of which you’ll notice almost instantly when you sort of spring forward after shifting from reverse. Though there aren’t any other major complaints about the actual ride, the Murano never hugs the road quite like the CX-9 does. Yeah, we know there’s a $10,000 difference in the two stickers, so something surely had to give. But we don’t care if it’s 2009 or 2209, it’s tough putting a price tag on comfort. CX-9 (A) Murano (B)
2009 MAZDA CX-9 GRAND TOURING AWD
