Joe Budden: Returned Ransom Note
October 29th, 2007 | Author: Francesca Djerejian« Prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | Next » View All Pages
There are two sides to every story, sometimes even three if you ask Joe Budden. So in the midst of his feud with fellow New Jersey rapper Ransom, HipHopDX caught up with Budden to gain some insight into his perspective on the conflict. Clearly a fan of the now disbanded A-Team duo, Budden seems both bewildered and indignant about Ransom’s negative reaction to hearing himself reunited with Hitchcock on Mood Muzik 3. Never one to retreat from a battle, Budden rapidly mounted a strong offensive with “Heart of the City” and “Ransom Note,” a scathing diss which his opponent cried foul.
As he prepares to drop Mood Muzik 3 to expectant fans in December, Budden also discusses his long-awaited release from Def Jam, the mind state behind the mixtape, and his marketability in today’s rap climate.
HipHopDX: Let’s start off addressing the beef with Ransom. Is he still going to be on Mood Muzik 3?
Joe Budden: Yes, yeah, he’ll still be on there, whether he likes it or not.
DX: What was your motivation in putting him and Hitchcock back together on the same track?
JB: Well, I was more so putting their personal issues to the side for the good of the record. I felt like our camp had already lost one person, that being Stack Bundles, may he rest in peace. I just felt like frivolous nonsense shouldn’t put a halt to great music. And I figured there were people out there that would like to hear him and Hitchcock on the same track together, even if they weren’t performing as the A-Team, that it would’ve been nice for certain people to hear. And it was; people enjoyed it.
DX: So why do you think Ransom was so offended by it?
JB: I don’t know, that I don’t know. I think maybe he might have had some issues with me prior too, and just used that as a scapegoat and a reason to start dissing me out of the blue. Either that, or he could’ve really felt like I disrespected him or had some malicious intent towards him. That would be stupid, that’s my man, but Lord knows some of the things that go on in these people’s heads.
DX: It’s known that you helped put the A-Team on, but there are some conflicting stories coming out of the disses, with you saying [on “Heart of the City”] that you were ready to sign them but they went to Clue instead, and with Ransom saying you abandoned them after the success of “Pump it Up”. What’s the story behind that?
JB: You can’t believe one word that comes out of their mouth. That’s a bull face lie. I haven’t abandoned anybody, not at all. What happened was me just making a foolish mistake due to thinking everybody’s intentions are great like mine. When I met Ransom and Hitchcock and I had the idea of forming a group and putting them out, they were f***ed up. They were starving and thirsty for a deal, niggas was hungry like every rapper is when they are unsigned. And then you start to bring them around, and they start to see things that they wouldn’t normally see, and [they] start wanting to cut out the middle man. That’s the case in most business deals, so they felt like, “What’s the point of signing to Joe if we can sign directly to Clue, and get the same benefits, if not more?” And in the long run, I’m right and they’re wrong. I told them that wasn’t the best move, and they went and did it anyway, and look how far it got them.
DX: You talk about mentoring people and hinted in the diss record that you gave advice to Ransom to be more introspective, would you say that his shift to sounding more emotional on his records was your influence?
JB: Definitely, definitely, definitely. Hell yeah. I hate to pat myself on the back, but anybody who I’m closely affiliated with, or anybody from New Jersey, especially Jersey City, who is talented like he is- nine times out of ten, I’m more experienced than them and I’m a bit wiser in certain areas. Not all, but certain areas. So I tried to give him a couple words of advice, but some niggas don’t want to hear everything. I did tell him that the introspectiveness was needed to kind of get away from being so repetitive, and to create your own lane and get out of that whole guns and ratchets and sex, money, murder shit that he was doing, and he then started to do that, which was great.
DX: What is the JC disease you refer to in “Heart of the City”?
JB: Crabs in a bucket. The minute somebody doing good, you gotta hate him. It’s been like that for quite some time. And I only call it the JC disease cause that’s where I’m from and that’s where I see it. Jersey City is only 8 miles long, it’s a very small place and the amount of hate that comes out of there is just uncanny.
DX: A lot of people think you already kind of did him in with “Ransom Note.”
JB: I didn’t though, and I keep telling people- if Ran wasn’t a friend of mine- not even a friend, I don’t want to use that word too loosely- if me and Ran didn’t have the type of relationship that we have, after I put my initial response out, I could’ve put three more out the same day and the next day I could’ve put two more out. I could’ve really kept going and said some hurtful things to make niggas really not want to f*** with him anymore. But I didn’t do that. I was cool, I was mellow about it I went really, really light. But even with me going light and him going hard, he’s still not going to be able to f*** with me lyrically.
Ransom: f*** Joe Budden!
October 29th, 2007 | Author: Quinton Hatfield« Prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | Next » View All Pages
As you already know there was some diss shots coming strong from two of New Jersey's finest with Joe Budden and Ransom. First, you had Ransom come at Joe Budden with the diss track, “Kid Brother” (which Ransom states isn't a diss) and before you know it Joey comes back strong with “Heart of the City”, spilling bars for days. Ransom on the other held his own firing back with “Somebody Gotta Die Tonight”, putting some things about Joe Budden on blast. Then, once again, Joe gives another round with “Ransom Note” giving all he’s got, coming for Ransom’s neck. Now the streets are talking and many want to know how this shit started anyway? Why are two of New Jersey’s finest going hard at each other?
We could only a**ume why until HipHopDX caught up with Ransom to see what the deal was. The former A-Team member explains the reason for the diss tracks, how he prevented Joe Budden from being stomped out, why he’s the reason New Jersey doesn't have a presence in the rap game, and why he’s the "overall" better rapper. The dichotomy of an overnight rap beef before your eyes.
HipHopDX: Ransom, there's a lot of talk in the streets, so let it be known what is the problem between you and Joe Budden?
Ransom: It ain’t really no problem, everybody thinking this nigga came at Joe for some buzz. My thing is if I wanted to go at somebody with some buzz it wouldn’t been him. The nigga ain’t drop an album in five years, why would I diss him to get a buzz? Actually something happen between me and him when I did some shit for him on Mood Muzik 3. I had did this like nine months ago, he called me and ask me to do a verse. I went over there and did it so nine months later through our mutual friend in the studio is like, “Yeah, Hitch (Hitchcock from A-Team) over there putting some shit on the joint that you did.” I said, “Yeah,” I thought the nigga was going to at least send the joint over before he put the joint out. He’s like, “Yeah Joe told me he was going to send it over and let you hear it before he put it out.” I’m like, “Alright” the next day niggas call me like, “Yo the A-Team back together,” I’m like, “Nah." They like, “I hear this joint with you and Hitch.” I’m like what the f*** is going on, he ain’t call me or nothing. He didn’t send the joint over for me to hear it or nothing so we had problems after that. That’s why I did the “Kid Brother” shit, I wasn’t dissing him I was just telling the truth. Everything you hear me say on these tracks is the truth. It wasn’t even a diss, it was just the truth.
DX: Y'all were cool before all of this, right?
R: Well you gotta define cool, I guess we said what’s up when we seen each other. That pretty much sums that up.
DX: I was listening to one of the disses and you mentioned “How you the king of a city you can’t even come to,” can you speak on that?
R: What I meant by that is that he keeps on saying he the king of the city, well why the f*** you can’t come here then? I live here, as we doing this interview I’m sitting in Jersey City right now. I don’t wanna be here, but I’m here. Even if I get bread I’m still gonna be able to come back, ain’t nobody gonna be able to keep me from my city. You the king of the city, but you can’t even come here. It’s niggas out here that just want to put something on him. I heard one of the disses he’s mentioning selling niggas broke uzis. I’m like “Damn when has that ever been cool?” That’s like one of the only true things that he said. He actually gave somebody a broke uzi and that’s just one of the reasons he can’t come here.
DX: You mentioned him sleeping on your floor, what’s good with that?
R: Yeah. Like all this shit he was talking about like [The A-Team] is signed to [DJ] Clue. Clue never even brought out a contract, me and Clue never even discussed a contract or nothing. He got on the freestyles with us when he did it in my studio, it ain’t like we was over at his shit. He came up to my studio, with my niggas, and we paid the rent for it when he did those freestyles, like 18 freestyles or whatever. He use to sleep on my studio floor with my niggas paying the rent, while me and my niggas paid the rent, he slept on the floor. They wanted to come over and bust his head open and I’m like, “Nah not in my house, you can’t do that over here.” It was his niggas, the niggas that he left in the hood. They was like, “Nah, Ransom we got to get this nigga.” I’m like, “At least wait until the nigga leave, not here.” Everything I say is true and he knows it. This is why he puts 230 bars together for me, because everything he hears from me is the truth. He’s stretching and reaching when everybody is seeing into that shit. He’s lying and it don’t even matter, I’m not going to even respond, all that shit is lies.
DX: Basically you are letting the streets know that it is what it is?
R: Yeah, it’s the truth. The shit with Game all that shit is the truth, all that shit happened. I was in the office when Game, [Jimmy] Henchmen, and all them came up there and this nigga was squeaking like a mouse. That’s why his name is mouse, because every time he scared he squeaks like a mouse.
DX: Oh, so that’s what happened when you said in the line how some dudes came in the studio to stomp him out?
R: Yeah, his man and niggas from the hood. Hood niggas that he used to f*** with that he left in the hood when he got his little money. He was rapping with these dudes, they had a group or whatever, he got on and left these niggas in the hood. They found out he was in the hood and came back to see him. I’m like, “Nah dog, not in here.” I had to get him some help, them niggas had respect like, “Alright Ran, whatever,” he know what it is.
DX: So Ransom, were you serious when you said you regret that you didn’t let them dudes stomp him up?
R: [Laughs], I’m saying it was my studio so I wasn’t gonna let that go down in my shit anyway, but if it was anywhere else I’ll let him have it like, “Let niggas f*** 'em up, I don’t care.” You know he’s calling out blocks, other names, calling out other hood niggas names, but he’s getting himself into trouble. He good with me, I ain’t got nothing to do with it, I’m rapping, I ain’t tryna do nothing physical to him unless he really crosses the line. He’s saying other names, talking about selling niggas broke uzis, this nigga, that block, he’s crazy. He just digging a deeper hole and that’s all he doing
read more:
http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/features/id.907/title.ransom-f***-joe-budden/p.2
Show Posts