Album review i posted for my FB peeps
Joe Budden “No Love Lost” Album Review
1. Intro – Joe starts the album off with a chick singing “our first again” and ends the brief track with the serenity prayer where he notably says “grant me the strength to change.” It made me interpret this album would be somewhat of a mulligan of his debut album. Ironically that’s the last Joe Budden album I listened to in its entirety so I feel qualified to review this one. Dope intro, though.
2. Top of the World feat. Kirko Bangs – SMH. Kirko Bangs, though? The beat got me hyped and the bars are on point but Kirko doing his best (and really his best) Drake impression on the hook made me immediately SMH. Not a bad song at all, but it is setting the tone for the hard crossover attempt I felt this album would be. So far I’m right. I’m still waiting for the Joey that his fans are always telling me about. He does show glimpses of the struggle bars I assume he is famous for. This would be a mild hit for any other artist, but from Joey it seems a tad forced. He is doing the Drizzy esque fast flow that he has been trying since joining Slaughterhouse and I like it, but it doesn’t seem his style. Not a bad track at all, though.
3. She Don’t Put It Down Like You feat. Lil Wayne and Tank – SMH. Budden fans are not normally Weezy fans and vice versa so this is definitely a crossover attempt. With a poor attempt to remake the “I’m On One” beat, this song is just trash to me. I’m noticing a trend where Northeast rappers add more southern twang to their delivery and Joey is very guilty of this. The crossover attempt continues. I really don’t like this joint, especially because Weezy sounds so much better, so effortlessly.
4. NBA feat. Wiz Khalifa and French Montana – Almost SMH off the features alone. Wiz was very close to destroying Budden with his verse, but Joey keeps up with him. The hook “bytch I’m ballin, I fukk her once and don’t call her” sounds built for YMCMB. This joint is a banger when you forget that Buddens is supposed to be a pure MC of a higher standard. Replace Joey with Ross and this shyt is a smash. French Montana, though, continues his unprecedented run of being completely worthless on songs. The beat is hard though. I can see myself listening to this, but I still have yet to hear the Joey I am expecting. I am still kind of disappointed at the direction of this album so far but this was the best song so far because it is easy to like and replay.
5. You and I feat. Emanny – This is the first of MANY R and B love type joints on this album. It seems to be based on his many publicized relationships, most notably Tahiri. Introspective and centered around him admitting the mistakes he made and why the things happened that happened. Ehhh… kind of boring for real.
6. Castles – This is finally the Joey I was expecting. The beat is laid back and Joey spits them Struggle bars about another relationship he has been in. Joey has definitely spent time doubling his flow lately so he picks up speed and slows it down a lot on this joint and that works well. I like this song. He speaks on his drug use and how no one seemed to care they were “ruining” him. This is Joey I expected more of. Dope.
7. All In My head feat. Royce Da 5’9 and Kobe – Another track where Joey spits the bars and subject matter I expected 7 songs ago. This is dope, too. Royce bodies his verse and Kobe’s hook is meh. I can see why he didn’t fill the album with these type of songs at this point. They are very depressing. Poor Joey. His life has been so hard with self-inflicted wounds and trying to find himself after his brief brush with fame in the early 2000s. Is this the type of song I have been missing out on? How many of these can he really make? Dope track but only because I haven’t listened to 6 mixtapes of this shyt already. Maybe his fans will like it, maybe it will be recycled information to them.
8. Skeletons feat Joelle Ortix and Crooked I – This is pretty much the same song as the last two. Skeletons is pretty much a cliché when it comes to Joey’s subject matter. It’s obvious at this point in the album that he is more comfortable rapping about these things and he even seems more at ease when doing so. This song and the last 3 make it seem like the ones prior were a bit forced with all the double ti me flows and southern accents. Problem is, after 3 of these I’m bored with hearing him reflect on what he has done wrong and all that. It’s a dope song but… I don’t know. They all kill their verses though. “I got some skeletons locked in my closet… and I’m hoping no one finds out about it” Really, Joey? Because that’s all the fukk you’ve rapped about for 3 songs.
9. Ghetto Burbs feat Emanny – Typical “my hood was tough” song. Not even being lazy about it. A few bars about stories of people who didn’t make it out and such and such. The hook is pretty generic: “Ghet –Toe Burbz!” The bars are pretty descriptive about different people who fell victim to the “trap” so it’s not as if he isn’t saying shyt, it just comes off as a generic “my hood was tough” song.
10. Last Day feat. Lloyd Banks and Juicy J – Immediate SMH at the Juicy J feature but that’s where they end on this song. THIS is the best song on the album. The beat is dark and fukking thumps. Joey is doing the southern accent over a dark kind of trap beat, I’m going to need someone to explain how a Jersey rapper justifies rapping with a southern accent so much. It’s probably because it’s the easiest way to the double time flow but like I said, someone will explain that. His verse is pretty tough and the hook is money. Juicy J kills his verse because he is obviously very comfortable on these type of beats. Lloyd Banks, though? Lloyd Banks? What the hell has this nikka been doing?! He destroys this track and deservedly on the last verse. This one will make it to the whip.
11. Role Play – Joey is fukking a broad and name dropping rappers as he climaxes using their catch phrases like Big Seans “Oh God”. I want the 61 seconds of my life back. What the fukk was that? Do Joe Budden fans like interludes of him fukking? Why would he do that? SMH SMH SMH
12. Switch Positons feat. Omarion – This is why. Joey is trying his best to write 3 Drake verses with Omarion on the hook in the hopes this will be played on the radio I guess. Generic rapper R and B collab that is even more dissappoiinting considering his Drizzy impression. Drake has clearly influenced what Joey thinks people want to hear. Omarion’s hook isn’t bad though. This sounds like you could insert (pause) any rapper (pause) and it would be on the radio. Literally: Ross, Juelz, Wale, Drake (who would have made a better song) etc…
13. Tell Him Something feat. SLV – Jesus, another R and B ass track. And it’s damn near 7 minutes long. This is about Joey trying to get a chick to leave her dude because he is better for her. He doesn’t care what she says “just tell him something”. SMH. I never cosign simping. Ever. Especially 7 minutes of it. Not to mention dude singing the hook sounds like he looks in the mirror at night and calls himself Trey Songz
14. Runaway – This is about his drug addiction. Molly and Pills. Sometimes he wants to be normal. No you don’t, Joey. Dude singing the hook is so generic, his name isn’t even on the track list. This is still more of the Joey I expected to hear, but after that 3 songs run in the middle of the album, I feel like he has touched on this (pause) enough. This one is a little better because he is more defiant in the face of the adversity he speaks of and I can appreciate that. Throw in dramatic guitar stabs at the end and you have a pretty good Joe Buddens song. This is the type of Joey I expected more of but had to wait til nearly the last song to hear.
15. My Time – A lot like Runaway and a lot more of the Joey I expected. These songs can run together for real. I can see why he tried different types of shyt on this album because I don’t think even he wanted to hear a whole album of this shyt.
Overall: I didn’t hear the “Amazing Joe Budden” I expected. I heard an artist trying hard to be relevant. I heard an artist struggling with the music he wants to make and the music he thinks matters in todays industry. Overall the album had some nice highs and some low lows. A lot of generic moments and only a few standout bars or verses even. I expected him destroy some of the people he had features with and sometimes they sounded better on songs than he did. The crossover R and B shyt was kind of wack to me but if he can get one of those songs on the radio, it will justify the existence of all of them. He tried a little to hard to be commercial and I guess I should check his mixtapes for the substance. Then again this is the last time I will listen to any Joe Budden project. I would definitely like to hear Pat “I’m never wrong when I think I’m right” defend or *gasp* critique this album. If he and Billy don’t have serious criticisms of this album they are crazy. -Roxx
please stop using him
