Flo Reviews "Mood Muzik 3" by Joe Budden

Posted on Tuesday, January 29, 2008

I’m not ashamed to say that I wasn’t a huge Joe Budden fan. I’m not gonna lie and tell you that I have all his shit or even heard all or most of his shit. I haven’t. I am here to tell you that because of Mood Muzik 3, I’m going back to get all his old shit. I’m here to tell you that because of this shit right here, I’m a Joe Budden fan. As an artist myself, Joey makes me think harder and write better. I listened to this project and couldn’t stop scrunching my face up. Dude is so ill with his wordplay, so deep with the emotions and so clear… I’m telling you. Joe is so slept on! I had to change the way I review music based on this project. I’d normally go track for track and give you a review of each record. I had to cater my writing to Joey and give you what I feel was an incredible line in each track instead. I mean, dude just is that dope. Despite the Def Jam drama, the subliminal and not-so-subliminal shots at Jay and the bullshit beef with Ransom (who?), etc., Joe Budden is now one of my Top 10 lyricists… Just that simple. Here’s what I felt:

Dear Diary: So many quotables but my favorite was “Dear diary, how could she deny me? How she go to bed without it fuckin’ with her psyche? Is she wrong using him so I can come back? Or am I wrong for wishing I could get my cum back?”

Hiatus: I loved the jab at Hurricane Chris but I gotta go with this one: “Hours pass, no sleep. Cowards get a slow leak. Shower twice the whole week. Powerless control freak. Thinkin’ about suicide. Won’t though I’m scrutinized. Life, nigga do or die. Hood want him crucified.” And I don’t know how to type it out but Joe’s signature bar-emphasis did just that on the track: “Eeeoooow!”

Family Reunion: He got the A-Team on this one: Ransom, Hitchcock and Fabolous. Fab really made the other two look like they were lucky to be on this track but Joe came at the end to prevent a reoccurrence of Em on Renegade with this one: “Take the ratchet, go home and just Chris Benoit. I tell a bird like it is. You promise the broad. I one line ‘em. You Isiah Thomas the broad.”

Get No Younger: Shout out to the “whipper snappers” on this track… “When you’re young and reckless, nevermind who the best is. They need to get rid of their style; put it on Craig’s List. You ain’t crazy. Stop it. If you was wild like Randy Moss, start feeling patriotic. How I’m gonna lose with Tom Brady in the pocket?” But I also loved… “On some Jetson shit. But if the shook-type approach me, I fill him with metal til he look like Rosie.”

Un4Given: One of the few tracks I just didn’t like but Joe still hit me with “Had product but ain’t supply it then. High off more than weed so the product just got me higher then. Product of my environment.”

All Of Me: “I reintroduce myself to the world. I’m Jerz. I’m a artist. I paint pictures. I don’t rhyme words. More than a rapper; I pay attention to detail, but how I do in retail tells me if I prevail.” That doesn’t even do the song justice. 8 minutes of pain and I can’t lie, the shit made me tear up. It played like a movie and I couldn’t stop listening…

Long Way To Go: “Life is like a beach chair when you can afford one… And fuck a drink and my two-step. Nigga, I’m two steps from a drink. Pressure either bust pipes or it make diamonds… Freedom, I keep chancin’. So if I fall like Beyonce’, I just get back up and keep dancin’.” Oh and… “Speed jogging through the quicksand. I’m juggling three medicine balls.”

Thou Shall Not Fall: It’s hard not to quote the first verse because he starts so strong but I gotta take it from verse two where he addresses the controversial Allhiphop battle that he didn’t appear for. He takes it to them all but this line is for someone special: “He could snort lines with his dick and won’t cum dope. They stringing you along. Don’t take it and try to jump rope.”

Ventilation: Kool G. Rap used this beat back in the day so I’m already noddin’… “I was at a loss for words like Fiasco-Gate. So I figured I’d say a prayer for him. Got on my knees quick and realized I don’t never pray until I need shit.” I fuckin’ love this song… Another one they faded him out of while he was still rhyming. Jesus.

Warfare: What up, Joell Ortiz???? Joell gets his own off EPMD-style here but Joe hurt em with, “Damn moolies. Chain of command’s ran through me. You and your man’s uzis slow down like Brand Nubi. Can’t do me, cramped to me like a man groupie. If that’s the number one pick, then he’s Sam Bowie.” Google it… You’re killing me.

Roll Call: The whole song is worthy of me typing out the lyrics to it but I gotta give you the real and what you wanna know. Joey goes in on Def Jam something fierce. “If not Method Man, then Redman, Ghostface, Young Gunz. Need I say Freeway? The proof is me. Still don’t believe me? Then, where’s Peedi Peedi? They ain’t really givin’ a fuck unless you Jeezy. That’s what my mind say. Just know if you ain’t the president or Kanye, you won’t see the time of day.”

Secrets: Y’all in that mood yet? I can’t take anything from this one. Me giving you two or three bars is like me taking two sentences out of a script from “The Wire.” You wouldn’t be able to visualize the realism.

Send Him Our Love: Tribute to Stack Bundles… RIP. “No matter who you are, you gotta answer when the Lord callin’. I told you to go and fuck with Jimmy. That’s before ‘Ballin’.”

Star Inside Of Me: I had a hard time digesting this track too. It sounded like it didn’t fit here at all; completely misplaced. Still, there are gems throughout. “Fans wanted the real, I went and gave it to ‘em. I’m not a street nigga now, just relate to ‘em. I just relay through ‘em. Show the way to ‘em. Never fake to ‘em. That ain’t inside of me.” The beat was corny for this set. It completely derailed me for a sec.

Still My Hood: And then I was right back. “Dudes stand on the corner like ‘If life passin’ us by, at least we wanna watch.’ Clowns get extorted. Gangsters get recorded. Mommy don’t know if she should keep it or abort it. Cops will never catch me. I’m aware of all my warrants. And I’m not going down. No, that’s not going down.”

Whew… I feel like I need a shrink. Not a drink, a shrink. Shit, go on and let me get a drink too. Press rewind when you get up. I feel bad I got a free copy. I’m buying it when it drops… Do hip hop a favor and do the same. Thanks to Amalgam Digital for the copy...

Peace,
FLO