New Jersey native Joe Budden is a warrior. He’s had no choice but to be. Whether doing battle with his former label, Def Jam, and its previous president, Jay-Z, over the fate of what proved to be his ill-fated, and eventually shelved sophomore release, The Growth. Or being drawn in to combat with a seemingly never-ending list of Hip Hop adversaries over a laundry list of alleged grievances, "Jump Off Joe" has soldiered forward amidst varying degrees of chaos.

Thankfully for his fans, Budden has successfully battled against the anonymity that usually besets an artist without a formal album release in 5 years. His critically-acclaimed, three installment deep, Mood Muzik mixtape series keeping his name in the mouths of all fans of conceptually and lyrically excellent Hip Hop while patiently waiting for a formal album release from rap’s favorite underdog.

But the “King of New Jerz” can’t be on the music industry battlefield without occasionally tripping a landmine, and after finally severing ties with Def Jam and signing late last year with independent digital label, Amalgam, to release that follow-up to his 2003 self-titled debut, his planned second full-length was once again pushed back, forcing Joe to rush back into the studio to compile a new collection of songs to tide over his starving supporters.

In anticipation of the October 28th release of that new collection, Halfway House, the prequel to his long-delayed second full-length, Padded Room, HipHopDX was granted an exclusive interview with Joe Budden. In addition to discussing his album-before-the-album, Joe also broke down the origins and status of the various beefs that have seemed to engulf his career. While clearly war weary, Budden still offered up a surprisingly sharp analysis of his past and present conflicts with Jay-Z, The Game, Saigon, Prodigy, Royce Da 5’9”, Unk (and maybe most surprisingly producer extraordinaire 9th Wonder), as well as an internal battle between the commercial artist still striving for a limelight that may no longer be attainable and the emotionally-charged everyman who shuns shine to put his life between the pages lines.

HipHopDX: Wanna hit you with a couple loose questions to start. First, Treach from Naughty By Nature [click to read], Wise Intelligent from Poor Righteous Teachers, or Redman, who’s the greatest emcee to ever come out of New Jersey?
Joe Budden: Hmmm…I’m going with Treach.

DX: Any particular reason?
Joe Budden: Uh, well, he came first, number one. And number two, he was able to maintain his lyricism and still have commercial success. I think he did a better job of that than Redman.

DX: And the second loose question I have is in regards to a line you spit on “When Thugs Cry”: “Don’t wanna lose my wiz/Beggin’ her to do this bid/Not jail, but this music shit.” Is being in the music biz really comparable to doing a bid?
Joe Budden: Uh, I think it’s comparable in some aspects. I mean, of course not literally. You’re not in jail. You have freedom. But, only but so much freedom. So, in some aspects it’s comparable.

DX: Now, before we get to the 87 battles you’re currently engaged in, was just wondering if you could do me a favor and just talk greasy about Jay-Z for a minute so I can use that quote for the tagline of this piece? [Laughs]
Joe Budden: [Laughs] Yeah, that’s basically what happens [with my interviews]. I don’t have anything to say about Jay-Z [click to read].

DX: So “Talk 2 Em” [click to listen] from Mood Muzik 3 [click to read], was that the last time you plan to even speak on that whole situation?
Joe Budden: I didn’t even plan on that. I really didn’t plan that at all. Like, the pen went that way and I didn’t stop it. But yeah, those days are over for me. I’m so far past anything that happened with my previous label.

DX: Well, I wish we could just talk about your music and not all the drama surrounding it, but unfortunately whether it’s Jay, Game…
Joe Budden: Oh I know it’s your job, you gotta do it.

DX: [Laughs]
Joe Budden: I know the people like gossip and shit. I’m sorry, this won’t be too good of an interview, Joe Budden is friends with everybody.

DX: Oh okay.
Joe Budden: Well maybe people are not friends with me, I don’t know.

DX: Okay, well let’s start with possibly one that’s not. Have you and Royce Da 5’9” finally had that “conversation” you stated you wanted [click to read]?
Joe Budden: No, I haven’t spoken to Royce.

DX: So as of today (October 9, 2008) do you have any plans to respond to his shot at you on “I’m Nice” unless he takes another shot at you?
Joe Budden: No, not at all. I mean, I pretty much said everything that I wanted to say in regards to the whole Royce situation in my last blog. I have an ultimate amount of respect for Royce as an emcee. But you know, I mean there’s only but so long I can let people drag my name through the mud without responding, retaliating. And the only reason I haven’t responded to Royce is because I respect him so much. And because I said something about him first, so I’m not gonna be the guy that can dish it but can’t take it. But like I said, I have nothing but an enormous amount of respect for him. [But] I haven’t had a conversation with him as of yet. Continued on page 2 »