During a recent interview, Joe Budden opened up about how he initially reacted to Jay-Z becoming the president of Def Jam and said he didn’t react in the best way.
Budden said, “When JAY-Z got his role as president of Def Jam, I was a young artist on Def Jam trying to work on my second album. And at that time, a lot of the artists on Def Jam had an issue with JAY-Z being the president.”
He continued, “This was the first time that a rapper, our peer, was calling the shots, in charge of DMX’s release date and [LL COOL J’s] release date, and none of us took that well. And I really didn’t take it well.”
He added, “I didn’t handle myself well at all. Every interview that they booked for me, I kicked their back in. Every chance I got in front of a microphone, I had disparaging things to say about people who, ultimately, were maybe trying to help me.”
Joe continued, “Even if they weren’t trying to help me, if I would’ve helped myself, I would have been in a different predicament. But I didn’t. Gas on the fire.”
