Joe left Def Jam with a significant buzz and a respectable following, thanks in part to the mid-to-late-2000s Mood Muzik mixtape series, where he poured his heart out and tightened his craft while growing a dedicated army of “internet warriors” speaking his mind on his vlog, Joe Budden TV. Then he maneuvers his way into another situation, starting the timer again. It’s a pattern that repeats with Joe, one he seems keenly aware of: He builds things. “Nobody is getting promoted the way they should be promoted,” LL Cool J told MTV in 2007, the year Jay stepped down and Budden was released after years of abortive attempts at crafting a sophomore album.

Jay built careers at Def Jam but also made mistakes. It was a bad time for a bad sales showing. Joe Budden, meanwhile, reviewed well but didn’t sell well the solid follow-up single “Fire (Yes, Yes Y’all)” bricked. Lyor left, replaced by Jay-Z, who’d had a tiff with Budden over “Pump It Up” as plans for him to appear on an official remix went belly up, and he released a freestyle over the beat containing snark many believed to be directed at Joe. A lawsuit over rights to early Ja recordings left the label and its president at the time, Lyor Cohen, on the hook for over $100 million. In 2003, when Budden released his self-titled debut - capitalizing on excitement for his single “Pump It Up,” a perfect East Coast hip-hop banger that may or may not be about jerking off - Def Jam made news when its subdivision Murder Inc, run by mogul and producer Irv Gotti and home to those Rule and Ashanti hits, was raided by federal agents investigating money-laundering allegations that Irv would ultimately beat at the cost of losing his distribution deal. Joe Budden signed to Def Jam at a peculiar juncture in the history of the venerable hip-hop label, arriving just as late-’90s and early-aughts heavy hitters like DMX, Ja Rule, and Ashanti had reached the twilight of their platinum hit streaks but before the middle-aughts influx of movers and shakers like Rihanna, Kanye West, Jeezy, and Ne-Yo. Photo: Paras Griffin/Getty Images for Revolt The public, petty firing of Rory and Mal from the Joe Budden Podcast coupled with accusations of workplace sexual harassment seem like the latest bout of self-sabotage for the rapper turned podcaster.

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