Joe Budden: Padded Room
By Culture VI

“Pump It Up, if you came to get it crunk
A dame? Let’s get it drunk
You came to get it oonnnn”

No, I’m not six years late or reviewing the wrong album. That’s the first line of Padded Room. And how fitting. Joe is always going to be remembered, and in many cases measured, by that hit. It’s both his best friend and his worst enemy. It’s what provided him the platform to do what he does today, but at the same time, what he does today shouldn’t be compared to that one moment. See his struggle?

These are the things that go on inside the mind of Joseph Anthony Budden. And these thoughts, along with his depression and regret are all prevalent throughout this collection.

It isn’t like he has changed much since his self-titled debut. That album, despite the aforementioned single and Fire, was typical Joe. For instance, 10 Minutes could easily have subbed with any track on the Mood Muzik discs. I was fortunate enough to spend a few hours with Joe & Tahiry recently (check out the lunch interview we did on CultureVI.com & HipHopGame.com), so I have a little insight into his line of thinking with this project. He’s caught in the middle. He won’t change who he is or what he does to go mainstream, but I get the feeling he doesn’t want to be independent forever. So, some of the tracks on Padded Room might be somewhat of an audition for the majors. Some more up-tempo sounds, not everything as dark as the Mood Muzik series. But he doesn’t stray far from his formula.

Overall, the album is a step forward for him musically. It’s almost like a “Best of Mood Muzik” collection. It’s in the same vein as the MM, very creative concepts and non-stop barrage of lyrics, but much more focused and a little more listener-friendly.

Every song on the album seems to follow the same theme, and Padded Room was definitely an appropriate title. He mentions his guardian angel on Don’t Make Me. The little angel and devil on his shoulder. It’s a mental battle that’s going on in his head, which reoccurs throughout the project.

That theme pops up again in the Klassix produced “Exxxes”, where he talks about himself through a girl he meets. It seems that this “girl” represents his depression, and the fights that they have with each other are fights that he has with himself in his own mind. Very mellow beat driven by a guitar and bass line and his flow is very Pac-like. He keeps “fucking” this “girl” at the end of every verse, which I take as a metaphor for him constantly fucking himself over. The arguments keep getting physical, and he mentions a knife a few times, which represents his suicidal tendencies and the different ways he has hurt himself, both physically and emotionally. He tries to break up with the depression, but she comes back at the end, meaning he hasn’t quite shaken it.

“Show your face, bitch, stop being invisible.
Is she just my mental? Is she just a symbol?
There for me to look at everything that I resemble” - Exxxes

In My Sleep is like the last episode of the Sopranos. We may never know exactly what he meant, but he left enough clues for it to be left open to interpretation. In the song, he keeps waking up and falling back asleep and having crazy dreams that reflect life. He talks about a man who “walked on water”, which could either represent Jesus or Jay-Z. Think the Jay-Z thing is a stretch? Check out Jay’s verse from Diamonds remix:

How could you falter when you're the rock of Gibraltar
I had to get of the boat so I could walk on water
This ain't no tall order, this is nothin to me
Difficult takes a day, impossible takes a week
I do this in my sleep… -Diamonds remix

Everything in his dream goes back to his real life. It’s the type of track you need to rewind and listen to…then rewind again. There’s probably no one answer. However, knowing how frustrated Joe is with the music industry, my personal take on it was this was a way of venting about his career while hiding it in a dream sequence. The great thing about the song is you can take it and enjoy it however you choose.

I can’t say enough good things about the album’s final track, Pray for Me, which is quite simply, brilliant. Joe gets taken to the gates of heaven and has a conversation with God. They debate about rights and wrongs – and both make great points! The “man with no face” says:

“You’re so close to heaven. Few get to step in.
Now tell me what you’ve done to deserve to be let in.”

To which Joey defiantly replies:

“Look, I’m far from a Christian, not big on religion
But ain’t done too much wrong my entire time living…
…You make mistakes like me, far as I can see
I mean, it’s a mockery whenever rich niggaz win the lottery
Gave us Bush twice, God, I hate to be rude
But you let skinny niggaz starve, give obese niggaz food
The nerve when you telling me I don’t deserve to stay here
When you gave us guns and drugs, you put AIDs here
Now look at you, your ass is cold-hearted
The harsh shit is you bring babies in this world retarded”

It very easily could’ve been corny, but Joe pulled it off flawlessly. The God voice was clear and flowed well, with a believable effect. Perfect way to end the album (I’m ignoring the pointless Family Reunion remix bonus track that God should’ve stricken from the album).

Blood on the Wall is one of my favorite tracks. He talks about losing his brother, but over a pretty hard, quick beat. It also features the now-infamous (no pun intended) Prodigy diss. Since that situation is outdated, I felt he could’ve switched the verse, but still a great song. I Couldn’t Help It is sure to get people talking, as he talks about having a sexual escapade with a famous rapper’s wife in Vegas. He says he feels bad about the situation (“…got on her knees, started playin’ with the head. All her dude’s lyrics started playing in my head”) – but he finishes off with a little laugh at the end, so maybe he didn’t feel that bad! And Do Tell is his apology to everybody he’s ever wronged – his mea culpa, so to speak.

There were a few missteps on the project, including If I Gotta Go. Maybe it’s just me, but I personally find it difficult to listen to this song in its entirety. Obviously, Joe disagrees, since it’s track three. I think the hook is horrible, the intro is way too long and the song just gets boring. The Emmany assisted Happy Holidays was a nice idea, and in fairness, it would’ve been tough to top Star Inside of Me and All of Me. But to me, it had a lame beat (sorry Qwan) and pointless message. And Adrenaline? I can’t make up my mind about that song. Part of me really likes it and part of me thinks it’s cheesy. I’ll have to live with it for a while and see how I feel a month from now.

The production – usually Joey’s downfall – was mostly solid. They weren’t great beats, nor were any of them bad. They complimented Joe well, though it’s scary to think how great of an album he could create if somebody like Black Milk or Kanye crafted his backdrop. The impressive part is, Joe’s lyrics and flow more than make up for anything missing in the production. Maybe he needs to have a conversation with his new BFF Royce, who always seems to get high-quality beats and top producers to back his projects.

Another knock on Joe is that his flow is sometimes repetitive and monotonous. I’m not sure I agree with the criticism, but I’ve certainly read it enough on various hip-hop forums. He certainly curtails any of that criticism on this album. He’s constantly changing flows and does a terrific job riding the beat.

Overall, this is a great collection of work and will certainly add to his impressive catalog. Will this be the album that gets him back on Main(stream) Street? His deal with Amalgam is up and he’s already working on his next album, so we’ll have to wait and see.

Beats: 3/5
Lyrics: 4.5/5
Overall: 4/5