Contributed by Brian Wallington on 1/26/08

“They sarcastically ask me when you’re cd droppin’ son!”

Hip hop has undergone a facelift. However, is the new face prettier than the old one? Lyrics have been replaced with dances and individuality has been traded in for conformity. Insert the latest Joe Budden mixtape, Mood Muzik 3 that reaches back to hip hop’s roots with in depth story telling coupled with a unique voice. Hip hop’s earlier generation was easily identifiable via voice recognition and individual style i.e. Slick Rick, Snoop Dogg, and Tupac, which is the mold that Joe Budden closely resembles. He is very distant from the modern day “trapper rapper” or “dancing d-boy”. Budden’s hard bass voice is summoned from his abdomen with a raspy overlay from his windpipes and this is what he uses to assert his position as one of the most legitimate story tellers in his craft.

What makes musician’s material greatly coveted is the connection with the audience, when people feel connected with the person or song it makes the music more personal and not just another good song. If you wrap poetry up with emotion and give it a rhythm then it would be called Joe Budden. He puts things together that most brains wouldn’t let touch the same hemisphere, in his own words he urges “Don’t put ni**az in the same sink as me, I mean metaphors, storylines, deep sh**, club sh**, girl sh**, world sh**, they don’t use the ink like me, NI**AZ don’t even think like me”! With that said, Joe never gets the love he deserves for that talent that he shares. His regular guy, regular issues approach seems to be lost in translation from sender to receiver, although the songs are steeped with talent. Budden’s first and only album to date arrived in 2003 and had a mediocre showing, selling upwards of 500,000 copies. Since then he has released three mixtapes or pseudo albums from his Mood Muzik series that contain intricately woven stories such as “three sides to a story” and personal reflections such as “all of me”. These nostalgic tunes are the grandchildren of songs like Tupac’s “brenda’s got a baby” and Nas’ “what goes around comes around” but without the accolades for the artist. In an era where artists continuously place themselves on a pedestal with an “I have more possessions than you” approach, Budden maintains his common man angle. Budden is a very personal and revealing emcee. He uncovers his struggles with depression and lets you meet his frequent antagonist which happens to be his child’s mother. When he raps the canvas is painted very vividly. The average listener can sit through a song a get a solid grip on what has taken place in his life and who is involved in it. He is the character in the movie that you want things to go right for because you can understand his plight.

Here is the snag, he could not get another album released under his major label Def Jam, and now the inevitable has ensued, a break up. The stand up guy with a good heart has been left for the flashy guy with all the money. Joe Budden will claim that it was not a lack of effort on his part, revealing in a Youtube interview that he has done everything he was asked to do by his former record label. How could he have such a following but no support from his own record label? Is it because he lacked the ad-libs of a Young Jeezy or a friendship with the former president Jay-z? Or was he too much content and not enough gimmick? If Budden would have come around 10 years earlier his spot might be solidified in hip hop, but now with executives and labels focused on marketing strategies and artist image more than ever, it may be too late for Budden. Now the formula is set, you have to make a standardized single or target the ladies, unless you have earned the right to do otherwise. Free expression is now limited, it’s the labels job to label you. It may be too late to let the music speak for itself, either follow suit or suit yourself and stay on the shelf. The new hip hop regime makes ring tones and is no longer concerned with issues, socially or personally. However, Budden seems determined to persevere and remain a link to his predecessors in hip hop. Currently shopping his talent and looking for another deal it seems he will not give up, Heed the words from his Mt. Everest of bars “Dumb out”, “if the game needs a new look I’m between a tummy tuck and a facelift”.

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