Joe Budden

The song received a Grammy Award nomination for the Best Male Rap Solo Performance at the 46th Annual Grammy Awards.

Joseph Anthony Budden II (born August 31, 1980) is an American media personality, broadcaster, cultural critic, and former rapper.

Budden was born to Joseph Budden and Fay Southerland on August 31, 1980, in the East Harlem neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, New York City, New York.

He moved to Jersey City, New Jersey, at the age of thirteen with his mother and older brother, where he attended Lincoln High School.

Budden's father was absent from his life during his childhood, a subject he would later address in his music.

Budden was a troubled youth and sent to Laurinburg Institute, a boarding school in North Carolina, where he began to hone his skills as a rapper.

After returning to Jersey, he began using drugs, developing an addiction to angel dust.

After an emotional confrontation with his mother, Budden voluntarily went into rehab on July 3, 1997, in exchange for him being allowed to attend his senior prom.

Budden did not earn his diploma and fathered a child with an older woman by the age of 20.

With his son on the way, Budden began taking music more seriously.

In 2001, he teamed up with producer Dub-B, also known as White Boy, and began releasing his first mixtapes and demos, one of which ended up in the hands of Hot 97 radio host and Desert Storm Records label head DJ Clue.

Budden quickly became a mixtape fixture, and secured a major deal with Def Jam Recordings in 2002.

He first gained attention through the promotional single "Focus", which spent seventeen weeks on the US Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, peaking at No. 43.

He first gained recognition in the latter occupation with his 2003 single "Pump It Up", which peaked within the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 and preceded the release of his eponymous debut studio album (2003).

Met with critical and commercial success, the album peaked within the top ten of the Billboard 200, although it served as his only major label release for Def Jam Recordings; he thereafter released seven albums independently to continued critical praise.

On May 8, 2003, Budden released "Pump It Up" as the lead single for his upcoming album.

The song, produced by Just Blaze, was a commercial success, charting at No. 16 on the US Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, as well as its Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart at No. 18.

The song peaked at No. 38 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, No. 10 on the Hot Rap Songs chart, and No. 39 on the Radio Songs chart.

The song was also featured on soundtracks for the hit films 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) and You Got Served (2004), as well as the video game Madden NFL 2004.

Def Jam Vendetta, Def Jam Fight for NY, and Def Jam Fight for NY: The Takeover where Budden appeared as a playable character.

On June 10, 2003, Budden released his eponymous debut studio album Joe Budden.

It debuted at No. 8 on the US Billboard 200, selling 95,000 units in its first week, and going on to sell over 420,000 copies in the United States.

Its second single, "Fire (Yes, Yes Y'all)", featuring guest vocals by American rapper Busta Rhymes, peaked at No. 18 on the US Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart and No. 48 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.

Budden made a remix featuring Paul Cain and Fabolous, which appeared on the latter's mixtape, titled More Street Dreams, Pt. 2: The Mixtape.

In late 2003, Budden guest performed on the R. Kelly-produced single, "Clubbin" by Marques Houston, which peaked at No. 39 on the Billboard Hot 100.

While on Def Jam, Budden released two mixtapes, Mood Muzik: The Worst of Joe Budden on December 9, 2003, and Mood Muzik 2: Can It Get Any Worse? on December 26, 2005.

Both were critically acclaimed with Complex retrospectively naming Mood Muzik 2 as one of the best mixtapes of all time.

Around this time, Joe Budden also began recording his intended second album, The Growth.

Originally scheduled for a June 21, 2005 release, The Growth suffered continuous delays, due to disagreements between Joe and Def Jam executives over the direction of the album.

On May 25, 2005, Joe released "Gangsta Party" featuring Nate Dogg as the album's first single.

The Growth was eventually shelved and Budden was released from Def Jam.

In December 2007, Budden signed a multi-album deal with independent distributor Amalgam Digital, His first release on the label was Mood Muzik 3: The Album on February 26, 2008, a retailed version of his mixtape Mood Muzik 3: For Better or for Worse, released previously on December 15, 2007.

Although it sold poorly, the album received universal acclaim from critics, who praised Budden's willingness to discuss personal issues.

On October 28, 2008, Budden released his third studio album, Halfway House, exclusively in digital format.

While doing so, he performed as a member of the hip hop supergroup Slaughterhouse, which were signed to Eminem's Shady Records in 2012; the group released two studio albums.

In 2017, he had a much-publicized run as a co-host (alongside DJ Akademiks) for Complex magazine's web show Everyday Struggle.

In 2018, he retired from recording and shifted focus onto his career in broadcasting.

Three years prior, he began hosting The Joe Budden Podcast, which was received positively and ran for seven hundred episodes.

He hosted State of the Culture alongside Remy Ma for the network Revolt from 2018 to 2020.

Re-emerging for his outspoken views on prominent hip hop figures, Budden has been described as "the Howard Stern of hip hop".