Before we even get this started lets look at some facts about Joe Budden. Number one, dude is easily one of the illest MC’s walking the planet. (he’s personally my #1 MC breathing) Number 2, he has one of the most successful mixtape catalogues of ANY MC with his Mood Muzik series. Number 3, dude is (and has been) leading the game in the genre of adult contemporary hip hop (you know, cats actually talking about their REAL life) and number 4, this dude ALWAYS keeps a stallion in his stable! (yeah, I know that one ain’t got nuthin to do with hip hop, but you still gotta salute Joe for KEEPING a nice piece of arm candy on his wrist) So, with those facts out the way, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anybody who knows me that whenever there’s some new Joe Budden on tap that the MPC and 2K13 get turned off, couples stop getting counseled, chapters in my book stop being written, videos stop getting shot and all music gets tossed out the whip (including Kendrick Lamar & Elle Varner and ya’ll KNOW how I feel about those two) to make room for Joe and with his newest mixtape “A Loose Quarter” on tap, ain’t nuthin changing with my regular routine, so lets dig into what Joe’s blessing us with this go round.
“A Loose Quarter” sets off with the Arab Muzik produced “Words of A Chameleon” which has Joe spittin “ya’ll call it crazy, I’m the heartbeat of every aborted baby, high off every line snorted in the 80’s/no wonder why his thoughts ratchet, see the world from the shades stack more on his casket/I feel this body from the graveyard on foot ain’t no looking back, bring em on tour with me and when it’s over put em back/if you couldn’t tell the behavior, says if a nigga sent me to hell it’s a favor, I never felt that was major/God may give me or don’t, maybe he’ll help later until I share Pac’s nightmares, post Quad’s elevator.” “What Ya’ll Want” has Joe diving into his past for a quick sec, “quick big up to Wu Tang, deaded all that mess stuff, youngins go and look for beef, adults don’t let it fester/some of ya’ll still judge though, still believe in Ester/ya’ll gonna let that hoe stop ya’ll from hearing what the best does/some of ya’ll don’t know no better so ya’ll just neglect/so they rather compare to my current girlfriend to my ex/they say I’d lose my mind if Kailyn leaves me I digress/I think my track record should show what ya’ll would think about my next” while both “Cut From A Different Cloth” and “Through My Eye” featuring Ab-Soul and TSU-Sure are both bangers and the latter has Joe going in, “so many things about this industry is misleading/filled with so many feminine ways, you would think that’s it’s a miss leading.” “Momma Said” is Joe at his best letting us ear hustle on some of the convos him and his mom have about his pops, “when’s the last time you spoke to your father, I said he’s self centered why bother/cause he only really calls about his needs, and I ain’t got enough time to deal with his greed/cause my days are darker, cut from a long shank but the blade is sharper/I’m making my knot so vague departure, tell pops I’m his son not his spades partner” and his current chick, “she asked me if Kailyn was pregnant, I looked at her like she was crazy/cause that’s my baby, what’s wrong with a baby, she said nuthin at all when you not dating a baby/beautiful girl I like everything about thus far, I just don’t wanna see you fall/just a tad bit young so she’s got some growing up to do, and I replied don’t we all.”
The Arab Muzik produced “So Good” is Joe’s ode to Kailyn & her sex game “we hit the strip club, I respect her different tastes, that’s how stacks of ones end up in disarray/these other broads used to transform my living space, into soliatairy confinement, prison space/they think we acted though, I tell em we not fronting/give her some of everything cause she used to a lot of nuthin/we take our clothes off, get the spot jumping/then she come multiple times, like she forgot something.” “Pain Won’t Stop” has Joe wrestling with is demons, “I got a heart that’s ice cold, I’ve been trying to melt/this talent, honest to ya’ll, all while lying to myself/it seems I do the most damage all when trying to help, and no one asked for it, I decided myself/you think the road a nigga traveled is been long enough for ya’ll to see the winner in him, don’t know if I’m fighting my demons or going to dinner with ‘em/I sit across from that table looking brave and tough, and it’s only right that they get the check, figured that I paid enough.” “All In My Head” featuring Joe’s brother in arms, Royce Da 5’9 has both dudes contemplating their lives and has Royce spitting, “I’m looking around like this can’t be happening, round of applause for the angry rappers/lord, my girl cried me a flood, then me a river, that’s love, depending on me, when I’m independent on liquor/I’m up in the shoe store, she got no love to show, you ever look at a bitch, you was fucking behind your bitch back, like fuck was I fucking you for/I’m an artist, so I’m in intelligent, I would tell you to do some soul searching, but it’s hanging up in my closet, with your skeleton” and instead of “More of Me” being about Joe like it’s predascessor “All of Me” was, this go round Joe let’s you in on his newest chick’s Kailyn’s past, present and what their future together is gonna look like. The gem of this album…is EASLIY Joe’s ode to Tahiry “Off To The Races.” First things first, the beat is just SICK but the way Joe goes in on Tahiry?!?!?!
“Let her know I’m here if she ever need me to be with her, as long as she know I can never be with her/she asks you why, I just need you to jeep it G with her, tell her I found a happiness that I could never see with her/3 years after that break up, should’ve had closure by now, we’d be best friends, you’d have let this end we’d be closer by now/what you want is upset, hostile, angry, evil, jealous, butter, sh-t, f-ck making your bed and lying in it, you brought that house, live with it/I came to you for a second chance, you gave me your ass to kiss, found another salad to toss, how the f-ck is you mad at this/oh, I forgot, you not in love anymore, and I’d believe it, but see I’m not on drugs anymore/that’s based on action, words I stopped believing still I hear it though, would you save them if you knew they become meaningless to me years ago/but if happiness is the finish line, I beat you there, so karma must be real cause since we broke up he ain’t treat you fair.” So while I know there are a lot of dudes out there who still refer to Joe Budden as “that Pump It Nigga” (I know cause I used to be one of ‘em) prayerfully the more music he drops, the more cats will see that this this dude’s legacy in the game is so much SO much deeper then “Pump It Up” and if cats don’t recognize and realize that, ya’ll will just be missing out on one of the illest MC’s the game has ever seen.
3.5 outta 5
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