If you think of Joe Budden and don’t immediately associate it with sharp lyrics, it’s time to adjust your focus. The East Coast emcee has always and will forever be about developing quality music because that’s where his heart is. Music has kept Joe Budden respected for more than a decade, created a forum for him to share his story, be creative and introspective and proven to be successful in spreading wings to other ventures like his popular I’ll Name This Podcast Later podcast among others. But no matter the road taken, Budden knows his role in rap and is excelling at giving the blueprint of how to gracefully mature in what many would consider a young man’s game.

Heading into his sixth studio album, Rage & The Machine, Joe Budden is leaving behind the headlines of the summer and providing his fans a new experience, just as he did in his start. “In 2001, 2002 and 2003, I was maybe the first or one of the first to begin and start a lot of things and experiment with different sounds and a different way to address music from an introspection standpoint,” Joe shared. “From there I see an entire wave of people who have made an entire career from being weird, or different, just not the norm. Depending on how you look at it, I like to think I’m largely responsible for that.”

Introspection is evident within Rage, but so is comfort with his style and age in hip-hop, experimentation with concepts and more. With Rage & The Machine available October 21, Joe shared thoughts on the creation of the album, his interesting summer, his craft in comparison to the landscape of hip-hop and more. – Shawn Grant