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.