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Rochester music interviews
We hit up the artists on their way to the ROC
We hit up the artists on their way to the ROC
Joe Budden hasn't always played well with others. Since breaking into the mainstream in 2003 with the club anthem "Pump It Up," Budden had been consumed by record-label strife and beefs with everyone from Jay-Z to 50 Cent. But lately, the usually outspoken MC has reverted to a strict "no comment" policy.
"No comment, no comment, no comment," said Budden during a recent phone interview. "Just seems appropriate right now."
Budden's attitude has a lot to do with the fact that he's no longer flying solo. Late last year he joined forces with Detroit rapper Royce da 5'9", West Coast upstart Crooked I and Brooklyn lyricist Joell Ortiz to form Slaughterhouse, one of the most buzzed-about hip-hop acts in recent memory. The group released its self-titled debut in August to critical acclaim, and rumors have surfaced about a potential deal with Eminem's Shady Records.
Budden did talk with us about the Shady rumors and some other topics from a stop on the K.O.D. Tour, featuring Slaughterhouse, Tech N9ne and others, which comes to Water Street Music Hall on Monday, Nov. 9:
So no comment now, huh?
Yeah. There's a difference between Joe Budden the solo artist and Joe Budden, a quarter of Slaughterhouse. You have to take everyone's feelings into consideration. Not only that, but I just seem to have so much more to lose today. And nobody's fun to beef with [laughs]. The guys that are trying to beef with me, it's not worthwhile.
Do you see Slaughterhouse as a fresh start for you?
All of us individually have our own brands, but Slaughterhouse is something that's very unique. We want to get in front of as many new fans as possible and raise everyone's awareness (as) to who Slaughterhouse is, and hopefully they'll get to know all of us individually more than they did before.
Slaughterhouse started as collaboration for a song on your last solo album. Did you ever think it would amount to this?
Immediately after the song was released, I had big plans. The impact of the song, the way it was received and appreciated — it just felt so good to all of us. It felt like something that I would have wanted to continue and see how much we could get out of this, especially at a time like this in hip-hop when lyricists are underappreciated and pushed to the back burner.
Speaking of lyricists being underappreciated, what do you think about MTV's recent "Hottest MCs in the Game" list? Slaughterhouse was nowhere to be found.
I don't even pay the MTV list any mind. The MTV list is the 10 hottest MCs. Our concerns isn't with being the hottest MCs, our concern is being the dopest MCs.
There's been a lot of buzz lately about you guys potentially signing to Shady. What's the status of that?
I don't really know how close that is to happening. I've been in this business an extremely long time, and I've learned to take everything with a grain of salt. If it happens, it would be great. Me and everyone else in the group view it as a great opportunity to be part of that type of machine and work with that caliber of artist. Eminem behind you, or even working close with you, I would see it as a chance to learn.
Back when you started your career, there was a lot of emphasis in the industry on record sales. Now Slaughterhouse has a lot of buzz without even selling 100,000 records. Are you surprised at how things have changed?
I'm not surprised. Hip-hop evolves every so often. New things come, old things go. You can't expect something to progress without change.
You recorded the first Slaughterhouse album in a rush. What can people expect from the next one?
We locked ourselves in the studio for one week, but we put out a really, really good album. Sky's the limit if we have a little more time. I'm sure the next time out our resources will be a little more wide. I'm excited about that next album.
