Joe Budden: The Game

Rappers Joe Budden and The Game have a bit of a lyrical feud going on. After an appearance on a DJ Clue song, in which they recorded separately, Game took one of Joe’s lyrics as a personal diss to G-Unit and eventually released the scathing diss song dubbed "Buddens" Set to Ice-T’s “Colors,” the Compton-reared […]

Rappers Joe Budden and The Game have a bit of

a lyrical feud going on. After an appearance on a DJ Clue song, in which they

recorded separately, Game took one of Joe’s lyrics as a personal diss to

G-Unit and eventually released the scathing diss song dubbed "Buddens"

Set to Ice-T’s “Colors,” the Compton-reared

Game says, "You fake like Janet’s t####/one call 300 Bloods in Atlantic

City/You bad boy then dance like Diddy/I give celebrity beatdowns/I’ll bring

the camera with me.”

Wasting little time, Joe promptly replied using

the D.O.C.’s “Funky Enough” to back "Game Over." On

his verse he rhymes, "Heard your diss track and I aint even play all

thatCause I just seen dude and he aint say all that/Was in the same hotel if

dude wanted to do me/I’da been Cassidy and gave him the room key/ Got the

guns and the vest out that I planted/And then woulda had his chest out like

Janet."

AllHipHop.com talked to Joe and got his take

on the conflict and why things are going down this lumpy road.

AllHipHop.com: First and foremost, a lot of people

think that this is headed towards violence. Obviously, both of you are talented

with a lot of potential. How do you feel about that thought?

Joe Budden: I think we can see where beef can

lead us to. And people know that I ain’t never with none of the drama.

I want to do my music and take care of my family. But if a n*gga comes at me

sideways or stupid, as a man you have to retaliate. It’s like in high school,

when you go to school for the first time. You know somebody is going to try

you and if you don’t defend yourself – even if you lose – you

are going to get f*cked up every single day for the rest of the time you are

in there. I hope it don’t go there. Nobody wants it to go there. This has

the potential to go there. If it goes there, it’s going to be some problems.

AllHipHop.com: Can you explain how this started,

because most people don’t know.

Joe Budden: I will tell you what he is going

to say. He’s going to tell you I got on a freestyle on a Clue tape. I called

Clue up before the tape was about to drop and said I wanted to rhyme to the

Westside Connection beat. Clue said there is already a freestyle done to it

already. I said, “Who’s on it?” He said, “Game and Stack.”

I said Stack is my n*gga and never had a problem with Game. So even if I beef

with every other n*gga in G-Unit, I never had a problem with Game. I said “cool.”

I hopped on the end of it. I did the sh*t real quick and I didn’t think

anything of it. I knew there might be some speculation over the G-Unit line

(To generic person: ‘…he should be in a G-Unit vid with all

the gangsta actors’). It was a line that I had been wanting to say but

didn’t because 1. I didn’t want people to take is the wrong way and

2. I had already spoken to 50 at Hot 97 and told him, “Look, I don’t

have no problem with you dudes.” It wasn’t no beef after that so I

thought, “This is a hot line,” Game is on this sh*t with me so I can’t

be dissin’ the n*gga [with him on the same song]. Even after the freestyle,

I gave the n*gga a shout out to confirm its not really nothing.

I’m not with the ignorant listeners. I speak

my mind. I speak real sh*t. A whole bunch of people take sh*t and twist it around..

Game and a couple of people started calling my people trying to inquire whether

I was blowing up Game or 50 or whatever. And everybody on my side was like,

“Nah, nobody is doing all that.” So then I go to All-Star weekend

and I see the n*gga. He was already asking around, “Is he going at me?”

I see him and it was all peace, it was all love. I daps the n*gga up and we’re

standing face to face like m#### fu**in’ men do and it wasn’t nothing.

I asked, “What’s good?” He said, “Nothing, man.” It

was all peace. I went in the club, he went his way, I went my way. I came back,

the n*gga was still there, I gave him a dap again.

It was on some man-to-man sh*t. [I was] waiting

for him to say something. He never said nothing. I was like, “Alright,

cool. n*ggas must have handled the sh*t.” I come back. A week goes by.

Another week goes by. And then there is a diss record out. I was like, “You

can’t be serious. You can’t be for real, because I just seen you.”

I already know what it is, because there is

a whole bunch of behind the scenes sh*t going on that the public never, ever

knows. 50 got in Game’s ear. So bam – 50 got in the n*gga ear and

he’s like how you gonna be on a n*gga freestyle and he’s dissin’

the Unit. Now he goes back, does a little math. If you analyze it like that,

its going to seem like I am going after you.” Any rap that’s on a

mixtape, if you think a n*gga is coming at you, then that’s how its going

to sound. Its all “you, you, you, you.” The whole Westside Connection

song on the Clue tape is about fake gangsters. The original song is about fake

gangsters. That’s the subject that all three of us stuck to. The hood I’m

from – “If it don’t apply, let if fly.” Now the n*gga gets

all rowdied up talking about Joe Budden dissed him. But this goes way back.

You already know. 50 said what he said in the XXL. I sent my shot back. Everybody

in the world knew what I was talking about. I spoke to 50 on the phone and everything

was dead and now we got this diss track (“Budden”)

No rapper, not 50, Game or anybody is gonna

diss and not expect me to tear their head off. It’s not going to happen.

You want to take it to the street, we can take it to the street – whatever.

AllHipHop.com: Do you know for a fact that 50

Cent told him to diss you or is that just speculation?

Joe Budden: No. No. No. No. I know for a fact.

I’m not speculating. I’m not guessing. This is pure knowledge. Factual

sh*t. Two and two makes four. I wish I was a fan so I could sit back and do

the math. If you ask Game about it and why he didn’t say something sooner,

he’s going to say, “I didn’t hear it until after I seen the n*gga.”

He’s a liar. He’s a bold faced liar. When Clue’s tape goes out, people

go and get it to see what the f**k is crackin’ on it. He heard me and we

got the phone calls to way before I seen him asking if I was coming at him.

We already know you heard it. Everybody got this big image to uphold. Stop fronting,

be yourself and stop lying. You heard it, I saw you and it wasn’t nothing.

I know for a fact, that 50 said that to him.

AllHipHop.com: Do you think this might be promotion

for Game?

Joe Budden: I don’t think that. I don’t

think he put out a diss track saying, “Let me get some promo.” I really

don’t think that. Not many people heard the sh*t over this way. A lot of

people heard it on the West Coast. Over hear, people ain’t paying that

too much mind. I think that 50 is a very smart man, very strategic and he knew

what the f**k he was doing.

AllHipHop.com: Why do you call G-Unit and Game

The Five Heartbeats?

Joe Budden: 50 took a shot at everybody. From

Lil’ Kim to Bang ‘Em Smurf, from the biggest to the smallest people.

Its like 98% of people are so scared to respond because he is on top right now.

He is with the squad. Everybody is so scared of dude so they let him say or

do whatever the f**k he wants. F**k him. I don’t give a f**k. Even before

I was involved, I was telling n*ggas, “You are riding this bandwagon.”

It’s a fad for one. For two, dude is doing the same thing that he was playing

Ja [Rule] out for. He’s singing on every f**king hook. The only [difference]

is, he came up through the mixtapes and he got shot. So, he’s so much more

of a street credible rapper – f**k him. So you remind me of the mother

f**kin’ Five Heartbeats. Banks is the only one that is kinda nice, but

when its time to sell records, it ain’t about being nice. It ain’t

about real Hip-Hop. I ain’t about rap. It ain’t about none of that.

Its about the fad, the mainstream, going commercial, BDS, and all that bullsh*t.

I don’t give a f**k about none of that. I make music because I love music.

Everybody was saying, “Are you crazy going at those guys? They are going

to end your career like Ja!”

Let me tell you the difference between me and

Ja. Ja was singing on everything so 50 was able to attack him. Ja sold millions

and millions and millions of records. 50 ain’t destroying my little gold

fan base. N*ggas that went out an bought Joe Budden’s album are die-hard

Joe Budden fans. He can’t talk about me. Everything I go through, I say

it. There is nothing that a n*gga can say about me. If a n*gga want to take

it else where, we can take it elsewhere and that’s it. It just p##### me

off. There are so many d*ckriders. Don’t even get me started on that.

AllHipHop.com: Did 50 ever explain why he gave

you the “Step Your Rap Game Up” in XXL? A lot of people, myself included,

didn’t think that line was weak at all. ["We pump diesel/I aint talking

about jeans or sneakers" from “Focus”]

Joe Budden: That’s another one of those

things that I don’t understand. I’m not a sore loser. If I say something

wack, I’m open do that. I read the lines in “Step Your Rap Game Up”

and them sh*ts be horrible. So, when you put a Joe Budden in there, get a wack

line. If you a fan, you can do the math a little bit, because that line ain’t

too wack. People respected that line. Its some other sh*t. Some vendetta that

this n*gga got with me. I’m the most hated dude in the Hip-Hop nation that

did not go platinum. I do not know why. I don’t know if they see me as

some type of threat. We don’s start no sh*t. We may end it.

Line for line. Track for track, I will run circles

around any one of them dudes. With my mouth closed. You can take my mouth off

my face and I will rhyme circles around them in sign language. Any dude that

calls out Joe Budden on a track has a major problem on their hands.