Was good with cabin fever, and maybe that helped create the spaceįuck your good intentions, more concerned with what’s taking placeīut everyone feels entitled, made up their mind they got a right to “My castle started shrinking, I tried my best to fight itĭon’t know how it happened, don’t know how they got invited Musically it is a relatively understated track, allowing the rhymes to take prominence, which require plenty of digestion as every other line makes you think:
“Castles” is another single, this time exploring the theme of loneliness and a place many will relate to overthinking when alone in your room. Thankfully Joey doesn’t adopt this method, and kills his verse. I know the whole ‘let’s say something, then end the line with a phrase that’s related’ technique has been the fashionable thing to do over recent years, but there is a thin line between dope and corny, and the majority of bars I hear using this technique tend to be corny. “She Don’t Put It Down” is as catchy as anything available in the charts, with Joey out-Wayne-ing Lil’ Wayne “her ass is so mean, I’m always on her bad side”, whilst Wayne himself drops some good one-liners but is always guilty of a clanger “I went dummy in that pussy, crash test”. It can seem a little hypocritical, mixing tracks about being up in the strip club with ones proclaiming his love for exes, friends and everything in between. Where Joe excels most is on the soppy “You And I”, a love letter of sorts aimed at a female in a similarly downtrodden time in their life. It’s more strip club than nightclub, but Joe’s flow is on point and his demeanour lends the track an essence of fantasy that stops it from being too generic. “Top of the World” is an oddly upbeat piece of music from Joe, which although devoid of any real emotional value, is insanely catchy thanks to the Drake-like hook from Kirko Bangz. “NBA” is not a comparable analysis of basketball to the rap game, but a garish boast-athon about money that doesn’t suit Budden at all. Perhaps this is why the release of “No Love Lost” feels like the perfect opportunity to strike out to a market not really targeted since LL Cool J started showing his six-pack: love rap. There’s no denying the lyrical ability of Budden, he is a fantastic writer particularly on story driven material such as “In My Sleep”, but when teamed with Slaughterhouse he is often “out-rhymed”. But Joe Budden just never really struck me as the great rapper some proclaim him to be. Ortiz usually adds some much needed tomfoolery whilst remaining the most down to earth guy too. Royce is an animal, and Crooked has proved time and again how impressive he can be (personally he is my favourite member, minus the ridiculous tattoo incident). Speaking of Slaughterhouse, the four headed monster of hip hop that released a superb mixtape and equally impressive self-titled album (the less said about “Welcome To Our House” the better), I’ve always felt Budden was the weak link (cue mass amounts of hate mail). Much of Joey’s work blurs the line between mixtape and fully fledged album, but it’s fair to say that “Joe Budden”, “The Mood Muzik Trilogy”, “Padded Room”, “Escape Route” and “Halfway House” have each had their fair share of acclaim, albeit none have granted Joe with “best in the game” status that fellow Slaughterhouse-member Royce Da 5’9” was rightly lauded with back in 2008/2009. Not because it seems like yesterday, but because he has put out a constant stream of work each year, knocking up at least twelve solo efforts that makes it seem like he has always been here. It’s hard to believe it has been ten years since Joe Budden debuted with his self-titled Def Jam release that contained the hits “Focus” and “Pump It Up”.
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