Joe Budden says he once curved Kanye West when he tried to open up for him at a concert.
Almost every artist has a story or two about times when they were turned down or rejected for opportunities in the music business before they finally hit it big. Looking at the megastar that someone like Kanye West turned out to be, it’s hard to imagine a time where he had to still ask for favors in the industry. But Joe Budden recalled a time he turned down Kanye early on in both of their careers.
During a conversation on Wednesday’s episode of “The Joe Budden Podcast,” the host was saying that fans shouldn’t believe rappers when they say they got passed on by a bunch of record labels before signing their first major deals. The hosts mentioned a time when Joe Budden actually overlooked an artist which was none other than Yeezy himself.
The “Love & Hip Hop” star said years ago he had a show in New Jersey at the height of his career when his hit single “Pump It Up” was topping the charts. He said he was running really late for his performance and it was a sold out crowd in his hometown that had gotten really restless by the time he showed up.
“I’m looking to run in, just get something to drink and hit the stage,” the former Slaughterhouse MC explained. But back stage, Joe said he ran into Kanye West, who at the time was just a producer and hadn’t started his career as a rapper just yet. “Kanye is there and he says, ‘Yo, do you mind if I can rock just before you go out?” Joe claims his response was “N*gga, no.”
Budden said he was there to do a service and the crowd was too rowdy to delay his performance any further. “The crowd is screaming ‘Joe!’ and you don’t have a record anybody knows. This just isn’t a great idea,” he said.
Budden said he isn’t sure it went over so well with Kanye but they never spoke of that moment again. “Once you ascend the way he did, you don’t need to refer to anything that happened before. N*ggas just know.”
