Joe Budden is one of the most polarizing figures in hip hop and it's been something that's been apart of his career since the beginning. Ever since he popped off with "Pump It Up," the rapper took a very 50 Cent approach to the rap game and pretty much beefed the majority of his peers. He's had beef with the likes of Drake, Lil B, The Game, several members of the Wu-Tang Clan and more. In addition, he also had a little feud with Jay-Z back in the day which resulted in HOV remixing Joe's biggest song and dissing him on wax. Fifteen years after its release and Joe Budden believes it was an "amazing moment in hip hop."
Joe Budden recently spoke to Billboard to reflect on "Pump It Up" which turns 15 years old today. The song is still one of his biggest song's to date and gets played at NBA events. However, one of the biggest moments with the song is when Jay-Z threw a whole bunch of subliminal disses at Budden. While you'd assume Budden would take issue with it, he remembers being in awe.
"That was an amazing moment in hip-hop. I went to him for a remix, and for whatever reason, it didn’t happen. So when I heard it -- I mean, I’m a huge Hov fan, so that was real big." He explained. "He started spitting and he wouldn’t stop. Then I kind of was nervous a little bit. [Laughs.] Now you got the best rapper on your ass with a hundred bars. Boy, that was nerve wracking."
He was asked if it took long to craft a response to Hov.
"One hundred percent. No rewrites. I used to pride myself on not rewriting."
These days, they seem to be in a better space. Hov listed a bunch of his favorite rappers last year and gave Budden a shout out on that list.
