Joe Budden isn’t the greatest rapper alive, by a long stretch, but he may be the most honest. Where Eminem tries to glam up his psychopathology, Buddens is known for honest, self-disclosing rhymes about his upbringing, his own drug use . . . He doesn’t bang or even pretend to bang. This year, he dropped the hotly anticipated Mood Muzik 3, and it lived up to all the hype. It’s one of the best street albums of all time.
But he’s best at battlerapping. Here’s a few reasons why.
1. Kid Brother-Ransom. Ransom and Joe played together with The A-Team for years, producing some of the greatest underground East Coast gangsta rap of all time. But they’ve fallen apart, and here’s why.
2. Joe retaliated with this: Heart of the City (Ransom diss)-Joe Buddens. Using Jay-Z’s beats to respond to a battlerhyme over a Kanye tribute to Jay-Z. Brilliant.
3. And if Ransom didn’t get the message: Ransom Note-Joe Buddens. The spoken intro to this is hysterical. “Someone gonna die tonight. And what do you know? I’m alive!”
4. Joe famously attacked Jay-Z on “Talk 2 ‘Em,” and Jay’s reponse wasn’t so great. A great article about it is here. Joe Budden Diss-Jay-Z. Jay’s more of a braggart than a battle rapper, and he says he’s not coming after anyone in particular, but everyone knew the beef with Joe was on.
5. But Joe’s most famous battle was against G-Unit. Breathe (Freestyle 50 Cent Diss-Joe Buddens).
6. Heartbeatology (G Unit diss)-Joe Buddens. 50 a singer, calls G-Unit the 5 Heartbeats; says 50 will always be a Onyx type. And yeah, I didn’t upload any of G-Unit’s attacks because they’re lame.
7. Lonely At The Top (Game Diss)-Joe Buddens. Joe’s biggest mistake was to attack Game. It was back with Game was still affiliated with G-Unit. But Game never gives up.
8. Buddens-Game. To Ice-T’s Colors, Game murders Joe.
9. Joe tried to spit back with Game Over-Joe Buddens, but he’d already been killed.
10. Last but not least: Def Jam Diss-Joe Buddens. This is more of a bitter story of how Joe’s major record deal fell through, but it’s a great rap.
