Joe Budden can pretty much be summed up as “the average rapper,” defined. A walking one-hit-wonder, Budden broke through in 2003 with his Just Blaze produced single “Pump It Up”, but was deflated when his not surprisingly self-titled debut made little noise on the charts. While “Pump It Up” was a certified club banger, it still only reached #38 on Billboard, getting little love at retail. His follow-up single “Fire”, was also propelled with star power from both Just Blaze and Busta Rhymes, but again neglected to get anything more than a lukewarm response. While the Def Jam machine worked to insert Budden’s songs onto soundtracks (here’s looking at you, “2 Fast 2 Furious”) and his likeness in both volumes of EA Game’s Def Jam Vendetta series, Budden still remains just another a face in the crowd to the rest of the world at large.

Released from Def Jam, Budden is able to re-emerge on the scene independently, thanks to digital music imprint, Amalgam Digital for the release of his second LP, Padded Room. From the jump, Budden reminds us of who we are listening to on “Now I Lay”, regurgitating the hook from “Pump It Up”, letting us know what he’s been up to for the last six years. Here, and in many other places on the LP, Budden speaks about three very important people in his life – he, himself, and him. Yes, Budden sees himself in a bit of a different light the the rest of us, as virtually every line on every song on this album features the words “me”, “myself”, or “I” – unless, of course, he’s referring to himself in the third person, or talking about Prodigy (more on that in a minute). It’s almost laughable the size of ego Budden carries around, considering his almost famous status.

Budden bounces off the walls of his Padded Room, trying different styles on for size at various points on the album. Naturally we get a few poor attempts at crossover play (requisite for any hip-hop album these days), first with The Game featured “The Future”, laced with R&B hook and chants of “ay!”, which fails to accomplish it’s intended goal. Later on “Adrenaline”, Budden attempts to “let it rock”, with live guitars and drums, but again failing to strike a chord. This forced attempt at trying to reach multiple audiences becomes even more transparent when followed by the criminally soft “Happy Holidays”, again aiming for some crossover play, but failing thanks to it’s self-centered nature.

Conceptually, Budden is also hit and miss. “In My Sleep” for instance, is a heavy-handed, confusing narrative about his dreams that seems to go on forever without any sort of meaning or payoff, just like an actual dream. He does redeem himself on “Pray For Me”, however, which finds the rapper having a conversation with God, making it one of the more interesting tracks on the album. But the album’s shining moment is actually when Budden steps outside of his own shoes for 16 bars, and raps about someone else. “Blood On The Wall” is a blistering dis to Prodigy, where Budden truly gets in the pint-sized rapper’s ass, bringing up a lot of valid points that many ex-fans of Mobb Deep will agree with.

Too bad this is one of the only moments where Joe isn’t rapping in the mirror on the album. Far from being wack, there isn’t much on this LP that helps him shake the “average rapper” tag. Split personality disorder or not, Padded Room is an apt title for this LP, as Budden is trapped inside his own ego. – D.T. Swinga