After months of being shelved, rapper Joe Budden’s sophomore opus The Growth will finally see the light of day later this year.
“The album will be out in October…It’s crack,” an excited Budden told AllHipHop.com. “The music is definitely nuts. The people will forget I was even gone. I been gone for so long I done worked with just about every producer there is, from Cool & Dre to Swizz to Timbaland, the list can go on and on.”
Budden may have been off the mainstream radar for awhile, but the Jersey-bred rapper has remained busy on the mixtape circuit.
Until his official return, he plans to tide fans over with another underground offering.
“I’m actually gonna put Mood Muzik Part 3 out before [The Growth ],” said Budden. “I gotta do that.”
The Growth will feature production from Just Blaze, as well as Dub B (aka White Boy), who handled the majority of tracks on Budden’s self-titled debut.
The new offering will be released under Def Jam.
But while Budden’s love-hate relationship with his label has been well documented, the rapper continues to remain diplomatic, simply stating “I love Def Jam.”
Despite his solid rap career, fans may be surprised to learn of Budden’s initial entry into the world of entertainment.
“I did used to sing long ago,” Budden admitted. “I was twelve or thirteen years old when my mom used to make me go in the choir to keep me out of trouble.”
But don’t expect Budden to exercise his singing pipes anytime soon.
“I smoked too much weed and all types of stuff to have that going on today. No more singing,” he said. “There’s no chance of me singing. I don’t think I sound as good as I used to. I used to be nice though.”
