An uncompromising rapper more interested in working his craft than in keeping the party going, Joe Budden uses his drug-addled past as an inspiration for grim, intense and utterly sincere raps. Rising to the top of the burgeoning New York mix tape circuit in the early '00s, Budden spent years honing his skills as a freestyle rapper before hooking up with producer Just Blaze and getting signed to Def Jam. The Spanish Harlem native's self-titled debut is an East Coast rap triumph that...  [+]