An up-and-coming Jersey City rapper was the target of an attempted drive-by shooting last month, and police say the would-be gunman was arrested that night after he tried to hide - in a police station.
The incident occurred on Oct. 17, just weeks after a gun was fired outside a waterfront hotel while rap superstar 50 Cent was inside the lobby, but police didn't release information about the Budden incident until yesterday, saying they didn't want to jeopardize an ongoing investigation.
Joe Budden, 22, a Jersey City native whose self-titled album was released on the Def Jam label in June, told police he was driving his Humvee with two passengers. He said he was stopped at Gifford and Bergen avenues at about 1:30 a.m. when a man on a bicycle pulled up alongside the front passenger's window.
The man, wearing a ski-mask, pulled out a handgun, pointed it at the passenger and pulled the trigger, but nothing happened, Budden told police.
The man continued to pull the trigger, but the gun only clicked and didn't fire, he said.
The masked man then turned the gun on Budden and pulled the trigger several more times, but again the gun only clicked, Budden said.
The man then said, "Ah, I'm just playing," and rode away on his bicycle, he said.
But Budden followed in his Humvee, getting close enough at Brinkerhoff Street and Bergen Avenue to see the man's face - he had pulled off the ski mask - but then lost track of him on Communipaw Avenue near Crown Chicken, a half block from the West District police station.
The man apparently realized Budden was following him and jumped off his bike, dashing through a nearby doorway to hide.
However, the alleged gunman - Joshua Robinson, 23, of Park Street in Jersey City - was soon arrested because the building he'd run into was Jersey City's West District Police Station.
Police found Robinson crouching inside the doorway and took him into custody, reports said, adding that the officers then found a 9 mm handgun - with a bullet visibly jammed in its chamber - in the garbage can at the top of the police station's front steps.
Police also recovered the ski mask and the bicycle he was riding, and Budden later identified Robinson as the gunman, according to reports.
Attempts to reach Budden yesterday were unsuccessful.
Robinson has been charged with aggravated assault and weapons charges, but the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office may file additional charges against him, police said.
Later that same day, Jersey City Mayor Glenn D. Cunningham gave the key to the city to Budden, whose real name is Joseph Anthony Budden II.
"Jersey City is all I know. My mom's out there. My son's out there. My favorite cleaners, my favorite stores. So really, where do I live?" he said at the time.
Budden has had recent run-ins with the law himself.
Spending his early years in Queens, Budden moved to Jersey City when he was 11. A former choirboy who played the piano, drums and saxophone, he said he became addicted to angel dust as a teen and dropped out of high school in 10th grade. For the next few years, he was in and out of rehab and psychiatric institutions, but he continued writing poetry and rap lyrics.
He recently entered the pretrial intervention program because of an indictment for criminal contempt, terroristic threats, burglary and stalking, and is currently out on a $10,000 bail bond.
The incidents, involving a Jersey City woman, go back as far as September 2001, Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said yesterday.
Budden's self-titled debut album released in July established him as a rising star. When Def Jam released the single "Pump it Up," fame came quickly and Budden was compared to rapper 50 Cent, another underground artist whose success on mix tapes and troubled past catapulted him to stardom.
Budden laughs off
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Rap News Network - Hip-Hop News: Jersey Cities Joe Budden Target Of Gunman
Lyrics
Look I want y'all to understand I never did nothing to hurt nobody
I might have shot at a couple a nikkas never murked nobody
Kind hearted, everybody ain't as good see
I'm one of them nikkas who try to help out everybody in the hood (Chea!)
Always stayed to myself, I ain't start wit nikkas
A class clown dude, I ain't never bothered nikkas
I did minor B&E's, I did minor hustlin
Minor stickups, as a minor, it was minor, it was nothin (nah)
Wasn't caked up, every week buying new sneakers
Nah I never been shot, don't aspire to either (not really)
Never had a ill car with the real thin tires
That all the popular girls that's real thin would admire (ohh)
Yea I always stayed real, some probably a stunt
I guess I never had somethin somebody'll want
Nah
I never fronted hard as shyt
And never had a nikka ride right on the side of my car and click!
Don't know dude, ain't seen him from the past or nothing (Let's Go!)
Wasn't tryna rob me, cuz he ain't ask for nothing
Had other people in the car that I was friends wit see
And he pointed at them first so was it meant for me, but stilll (What?)
God's got a major plan, and I don't need no other sign, God made it jam
So fam I ain't got beef with 50 nah I got beef wit Josh,(Yea!)
And I won't sleep till that beef is squashed (fukker!)
Gotta get em, yea yea, I was thinkin that too
But here's my Timbs nikka, tell me what you think I should do
(What would you do if you me?)
Gun on me, all day I don't blink and I'm drew
Hand on it through the pocket, I dont think that that's cute, I Don't!
I never did that nah remember earlier I said I never lived that
But, gotta live that, I know where you live at
Sit back relax, gotta get at partner, this is get back Joshua!
Verse 2
How could a real nikka really wanna off with my wig
I give it back, I visit high schools, I talk to the kids, (Yooooo)
I do cleanup day in the hood
You gotta pay, so everyday, now is cleanup day in the hood, (Yea)
How could a nikka want my son growing up without a father
Maybe that you can answer me Joshua?
Josh is still some in the mag and I like sayin your name
It feels good knowing who was up under that mask (fukker!)
So they say I ain't got sense, I'm giving nod to my henchmen
Like how I'm tryin to have revenge on divine intervention
Doing the hood a favor, make em lay face down
I'm gettin the jokers out the game y'all we playin Ace down!
I'm not sayin this thoughts is right
But all my life, I've been taught to fight
No recreation, I just bought a kite
Slippin, as if it was all good I was lamping
I was trippin, must have mistaken the hood for the Hamptons (Chea!)
Knowing the leaches is out
Whodini said it, at night the freaks is out
And they ain't leavin without
It's like a nikka need brakes
You left the keys in the Porsche
You in the hood like steak, like you ain't feed for the dogs
Like the wolves ain't hungry, won't get in yours
Can't hang out with pitbulls when you shyt indoors
Then they can't wait to get in your bank
You can't be the only one above water when there's fish in the tank
I understand why nikkas leave ain't they don't come back
It's either that or they family will grieve and they won't come back
Eulogy said and the caskets drop
You blew that young dude
I mean you literally had your shot (nikka!)
nikkas envy what they see
Out of sight, out of mind
So I'mma go on get ghost for a minute
You got a problem in your hood I can help you around it
Cause I've done been through it all I'm here to tell you about it
Na Mean!