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I generally don't post emails from an artist's manager verbatim, but it's a holiday so consider this a guest post from my man Jack Kellerman, Big City Phil's manager, who's not too happy with Joe Budden. Jack helped make our interview with Phil happen, so I don't mind doing him a favor by throwing up this email that he sent me. Plus, I get a bit of satisfaction in the knowledge that I'm not the only one that Budden jacked an idea from, so I'm not mad at him for calling Joe out on this. Admittedly Jack, like any good manager, is using the situation to promote his artist, but there is some merit to his claim. Read on:
I understand the theme of "everyone's biting off Big City" is getting tiring. But COME ON HERE!!! Look at the shamelessness of Joe Budden. THIS is how he responds to Big City's provocation?
So Joe Budden will take it to anyone, as he stated - "whoever!" So Big City Philadelphia takes it to him on the song "To Da Break of Dawn". And rather than respond and get into it with Big City, Joe decides to ignore the challenge, and instead jack an idea from the South Philly native. The very next track Big City dropped after the Joe Budden diss was an original song called "The One" for which a video was shot. It can be seen here:
Big City Phil - The One
An egomaniac like Joe Budden would surely be keeping tabs on another underground artist who just violated him on wax. Struggling for song ideas, Joe brings Big City Philadelphia's latest concept back to Slaughterhouse, and the result is this:
Slaughterhouse - The One
Can Joe come up with a single original idea? His only hit song, "Pump It Up", is essentially a Melle Mel cover (which embarrassingly fails to pay homage to Mel anywhere in the verses) [Jack is referring to Mel's Pump Me Up]. To make matters even more embarrassing for Joe, he actually disses Mel later on - totally unaware that Mel is the only reason ANYONE knows Joe Budden's name today. Whoever A&Red "Pump It Up" forgot to give Joe a little history behind the song concept.
This issue is covered in the "To Da Break of Dawn" diss track, where Big City properly pays homage to LL Cool J while schooling Joe on how real hip hoppers are supposed to move. It seems, rather than learn a lesson, Joe simply further showed his inability to make any real contribution to the game. He retaliated by simply stealing from the hungry upstart. And the song itself, Slaughterhouse's "The One", is not even a hip hop track. It's a rock song, which draws focus away from lyrical ability, and toward a popcorn hook, and a trendy rock beat. But it's all worth it just to see how Royce sons Budden in the studio session while remaking Big City's underground song. Damn, even members of his own group have no "faith in his pen game":
Royce and Budden making The One
07/04/2009 3:30:01 PM posted by Fresh