“I’m really happy for you. I’ma let you finish, but Joe Budden had the greatest mixtape run of all time” — or at least the rapper-turned-podcaster seems to think so.
On a recent episode of the always-entertaining Joe Budden Podcast, co-host Ice posed the question: “Who has the greatest mixtape discography?” Budden, to his credit, had a simple answer: “Oh, that’s easy. Me.”
The Jersey City rapper famously took his career into his own hands by releasing his fan-favorite, critically acclaimed and brutally introspective Mood Muzik series after he was having issues with his label Def Jam at the time. The rest of the pod then started to debate other names, most notably the legendary mixtape runs by 50 Cent and Lil Wayne, who — like Budden — used mixtapes as a way to skirt the music-industry machine and up their stature among fans.
50 Cent turned his 2002 mixtape run into a deal with Dr. Dre and Eminem, while Wayne put himself into the GOAT conversation his Drought and Dedication mixtapes. All three rappers popularized the format of taking existing songs, whether they were rap records or R&B records, and making them their own. They also, along with Dipset, made original music on mixtapes a trend as well.
Once the dust settled, Budden settled on six names, proclaiming, “Yeah, I’m stopping it there: Jeezy, Wayne, 50, me, Fab and Kiss [Jadakiss].”
However, one name that wasn’t mentioned in the clip was Future, whose classic 56 Nights mixtape is Lil Wayne’s pick for greatest of all time.
The post “Joe Budden Says He Has a Better Mixtape Catalog Than 50 Cent & Lil Wayne” by Angel Diaz was published on 10/10/2024 by www.billboard.com