in early 2003 opened the floodgates for other street-level, mixtape-bred rappers, one of whom was
, a Jersey City rapper with a distinct loose-cannon style molded from years of freestyling. Born in Spanish Harlem and raised in Queens,
came of age across the Hudson River in Jersey City, which he proudly continued to rep in his rhymes despite its somewhat unsavory reputation relative to more traditional hip-hop breeding grounds like Harlem, Brooklyn, the South Bronx, and Queensbridge. Following some troubled teenage years,
cleaned himself up and focused his sights on hip-hop fame. He teamed up with producer
.
Soon afterward,
Budden was a mixtape fixture, freestyling over popular beats on mixes by New York's leading DJs, most notably
Clue,
DJ Kayslay, and
Cutmaster C. In particular, his "Grindin'" freestyle turned heads, as did one of his
White Boy productions, "Focus." It wasn't long before
Budden joined On Top management and went to work with
Just Blaze, one of New York's hottest producers of the moment, best known for his work with
Jay-Z but also respected for his sure-fire freelance work, such as
Erick Sermon's "React" and
Cam'ron's "Oh Boy." Indeed, a sure-fire hit resulted: "Pump It Up," a club-ready track that connected everywhere, from MTV to the streets.
While all of this was going down, industry heavyweight Def Jam signed
Budden and prepared his debut album
Joe Budden, which charted well its opening week, earned some critical support, and foreshadowed a bright future for the refreshingly unique rapper. Unfortunately, a changing of the guard at Def Jam meant the executives who had signed
Budden were gone. His next album would remain in limbo until late 2008 when the
Halfway House mixtape arrived with an announcement that the rapper had signed with Amalgam Digital.
A year later fans were greeted with a flurry of activity, beginning in February, when his album
Padded Room landed in stores. Featuring
Budden with
Crooked I,
Joell Ortiz, and
Royce da 5'9", the self-titled album from the hip-hop supergroup
Slaughterhouse followed in August, and then he returned to his solo career in October with
Escape Route. In 2010, his Mood Muzik mixtape series graduated from the underground when the eOne label released Mood Muzik, Vol. 4: A Turn for the Worst. He rejoined
Slaughterhouse for their 2012 effort Welcome to Our House, and then returned to his solo career with 2013's No Love Lost, a reflective album with guests stars Lil Wayne, Wiz Khalifa, and Juicy J.
–
Jason Birchmeier, Rovi