Joe Buddens

It's been awhile since my last series but it's about that time again. This one is not a competition, but a challenge for you guys to find a better rapper out than Joe Buddens. A teammate of mine argues that Lil' Wayne is the best in the game right now, and although I agree his swagger is on Mars, I don't consider him the best. You can say he is the best at what he does, (finding new ways to say the same basic metaphors or relating past topics that make people appreciate where his mind can go) but his rhymes are too basic for me. He doesn't tell a story and I don't FEEL his rap. Plus, with his new Rebirth album, it's obvious he's trying to venture off into other forms of music, and hey if he call pull it off, all the power to him.

But growing up in the Bronx, Hip-Hop was always a culture thing. Between the graffiti writing and the breakdancing, it was all about FEEL and there aren't too many rappers who I FEEL anymore. I still think Eminem is the best at making words rhyme, as well as winning a crowd over in a battle. Nas is the best at telling a story and lyrically no one can touch the pioneers of Tupac and Notorious BIG but the guy atop my favorite rappers list is definitely Joe Buddens.

After his Hip-Hop weekly series Crooked I has stayed a close second and when they came together to form Slaughterhouse, I started to listen to Joell Ortiz and Royce Da 5'9 a lot more and what do you know...they are now 3 and 4 on my list. But back to Buddens. A friend of mine, Mark Williams (who runs TEAM FOOTPRINTZ basketball training) and I were having a discussion of the top 15 Buddens songs of all-time. I put together a little list for him and thought I'd share a couple of my favorite Buddens songs with you over the next few weeks (randomly) to see if you can FEEL Hip-Hop music again.

Do What You Do      Hallelujah Hollaback      ...blackhercules21...