Padded Room (Album Review)
I need a cool background to pose against...notice how rappers always get cool pics like this? Double standards...
King Eljay’s back…sorry if you missed me…album review time. The test subject for today is Joe Budden’s 2nd album, “Padded Room.”
From the beginning of the album, you’re fooled. You actually hear the first line…
“Pump it up if you came to get it on…”
…And you might fall into the category of thinking this is yet another failed attempt at a hip-hop album. It even seems to contradict itself when Joe Budden addresses the name of the album, stating, “I ain’t psycho, don’t belittle me now/It’s just the title ‘cuz they couldn’t figure me out”… So automatically, I have to admit to thinking that Joe Budden might’ve been trying too hard to make an official comeback (although we in the mixtape industry know he’s never left). But before you run with that statement, let me ask you something… When is anything as it ever seems with Mr. JumpOff?
So when the “I ain’t psycho” line came through, I paused and suddenly I because excited because the thing that sets Joey apart from his counterparts is that his insanity is, in a way, what gasses him. Kanye has his ego, Soulja Boy (Tell Em?) has his constant internet/youtube haters, and Joey has his peace of mind… Which might seem peaceful to him, but to US? We know better than to just take his word for it because when he spills his thoughts out over instrumentals, it’s usually something deep and unexpected. But did his “insanity” (using the term loosely) translate into a great hip-hop album?
Yes and no. The issue I had with certain songs on the album like “Adrenaline”, a rock-fueled track that just doesn’t fit, or “If I Gotta Go”, another track that’s weakened by the 45+ second intro and the awkward sample inserted after the hook, is that the presentation of it was just weird. Maybe he meant those tracks to stand out in the way that they did, but compared to his Mood Muzik series, Joe knows about flow, and these tracks really just seem like iPod space fillers…
But the good HEAVILY outweighs the bad, because aside from the two songs I mentioned up top, no song is about what you may originally THINK. “The Future” featuring ex-rap rival The Game (yes, they did beef when Game was in G-Unit) is addressing a guy supposedly telling a girl that he could be her bad guy/future (hypothetically speaking). “Blood On The Wall” has a double meaning to it, as in the first verse he’s addressing his willpower to never stop, and then in the 2nd verse suddenly flips the diss switch on and proceeds to DEMOLISH Prodigy with potent punchlines, ranging from his health disorder, to his previous status before the signing to G-Unit, and then speaking on how even after 50 Cent signed and co-signed him, people STILL didn’t listen to him. Ouch. And of course, there’s the track “Exxes” that basically reassure you that Joe’s brain operates differently than normal people…
I can’t even explain that song. All I can say is you won’t look at relationships the same if you can relate to this. Was he talking about hip-hop? Was it a real life situation? This one raises a lot of questions, but is still potent as ever.
But then…there’s the emotional, “WOW-I-can’t-believe-he-would-put-that-on-wax” tracks that I’ve grown to love from Budden, from “In My Sleep” (my favorite track on the cd), in which his girlfriend addresses him about what he’s doing when he slumbers (and slips in and out of his dreams during the story), to “I Couldn’t Help It”, where he apologizes to a loved one in the first verse, and to his friend in the second verse (which of course, is way more tragically deeper than I made it sound)… The outro track, “Pray For Me”, is a 1-on-1 with God at the gates of Heaven where God present Joe with the question, “Why should I let you in here?”
Overall, this is a hip-hop album. Not necessarily a street album you can market maybe with the force of a Plies or a Ludacris, but as far as pure hip-hop, ad-lids (“ELLLL!!!!”) and storytelling (with a lil’ “Real Talk” laced in every lyric), I’ve yet to listen to someone who can do it consistently than Joe.
Support hip-hop. I got my copy already, ya dig?
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“Padded Room”
Well, it SEEMS comfortable enough... but how's the leg room?
The Good: A second album from Joe Budden is BOUND to please his loyal fans. Or hip-hop fans in general. Took long enough, but with more emotional tracks than ever originally thought humanly possible, it was definitely worth the wait. Punchlines? Check. Shock value statements? Check. “ELLLLLLL!!!!” adlibs? Check.
The Bad: A couple of tracks on here just stick out like a sore thumb (“Adrenaline”, “Don’t Make Me”) and doesn’t flow with the album as I would personally like. Also, the presentation of some songs could’ve been tightened up. It makes no sense to have some songs like “Exxes” that are powerful from the intro to the end, and then have other songs that have maybe 2 minutes of excess noise that takes away from the experience as a whole. But that’s just me. Some might not have a problem with it, so judge it for yourself?
The-Wait, Slaughterhouse-Isn’t-On-this-Album- Realization: No. They aren’t, and it makes me sad, because it would’ve been a PERFECT OPPORTUNITY to get some mainstream support behind them. All it takes is one monster song, and the fans will do the rest if the album moves like it’s supposed to.
Final Word: Slaughterhouse-less, but still all-powerful in its’ own right, “Padded Room” is an album that you at least should hear if you like HIP-HOP MUSIC. There are some gems on here that you can still play years from now…ironically, that’s how his first album worked out too. (“Calm Down” off the first album is still one of my favorite songs to DATE) Maybe he’s smarter than all of us?
Rating: 4/5
