Did Jay-z really ruin Buddens career? Where did it go wrong for him?

[Sad Bunny]

He was pretty much Drake before Drake

 

[TheAlbionist]

I was a big Joe fan... still throw the first album on occasionally, the Mood Muziks were my sort of shyt at the time and I even enjoyed a lot of Escape Route... but Joe Budden is who stopped Joe Budden being a bigger star in rap.

Just listen to his raps. He told you every record why he was never gonna work long-term as a hitmaker.

 

[TheAlbionist]

I was banging Focus in the car literally today

 

[Ineedmoney504]

Nah. Joe blew up off a song he had no shot at replicating cause he was a bar spitting rapper.

And wit that being the song he was known for, he was gonna get out in that box when he was the opposite.

 

[Shadow King]

A lot of these answers are applying a lot of hindsight/later developments to the 02/03/04 period.

Joe like other rappers in that time fell into the chasm between the end of the mainstream label era and the blog rap era, where the formulae for blowing up became fragmented.

2003 is not yet this era you're speaking on.

He was taking a lot of Ls back then too. He was the 1st to go viral for getting socked in the eye, his homeboy got slapped at his font door, the vlogs he used to w Tahiey were cringe. DV allegations, relapse, chasing teens like a fiendish crackhead. Jacking dogs, naked, prowling porch pirate. (I couldn’t stop was I got started. Dude and Game are the 2 best representatives of water finding its level in the rap world.

*In My Sleep >

All of this was after the initial period where he could've/should've blown up.