S. Samuel
Former rap rivals Joe Budden and Saigon have placed their past differences aside and decided to exchange verses on a new collaboration track called "Bring Me Down."
Sai believes teaming up with his ex-adversary for his Greatest Story Never Told album would be good for hip-hop.
“I always thought Joe was dope, even when we were going through our little thing,” Saigon in an interview about the collaboration. “I always thought he was one of the more talented MCs. I look at it like you’d rather have a good guy on your team than play against them. I’m sure Dwayne Wade is happy he could pass the ball to LeBron [James] now, instead of trying to have to block one of those thunderous dunks. The timing is perfect…I think it’s good for hip-hop to see two brothers that were duking it out for all this time to make something epic and classic.” (Rap Fix)
Prior to reaching amicable terms, Sai reflected on his 2009 beef with Budden.
“F*ck Budden man,” Sai said about collaborating with the rapper’s rival, Ransom. “F*ck that dude, that dude is a clown. Nobody’s thinking about Joe Budden right now. I’m embarrassed that I let this guy take me out of my zone for a few weeks ’cause that ain’t my thing. I’ve been in this game too long, that’s his alley, he does that on purpose — I’m playing his game, so he’s really thinking he’s out-smarting me. But my whole plan was to just punch his whole head off, but I’m glad somebody got a chance to do it because he deserved it. He deserved it, he kinda ignited that, you don’t invite another man to your d*ck. You don’t say, ‘I don’t like you, you can suck my d*ck,’ come on man. Where I come from, that’s fighting words, you gotta be ready to back that kind of sh*t up on sight. He’s a very talented artist but some of the decisions he makes is gonna get him hurt.” (Ignantwitted)
Sai later came forward and to offer respects to Budden and the rapper’s Slaughterhouse rap crew.
“Shout-out to Slaughterhouse,” Saigon said in an interview. “People going around saying I’ve been talking dirty about Slaughterhouse, nah, I got much love and respect for everybody in that, aside from Joe Budden, everybody else, even Joe Budden, I ain’t really got no issues with that man. Like I said, when we see each other or whatever, we gonna deal with it like men. I’m not saying I’ma do something to him, I’m saying, we need to sit down and polly.” (Vlad TV)
Recently, Budden talked to SOHH about achieving personal and professional maturity just months after turning 30.
“I don’t really want to say [turning] 30 is what’s doing it, I kind of use it as a marker, as a cursor,” Budden told SOHH. “I think that people change everyday and this decade I’ve been putting music out, I’ve seen a lot, heard a lot, I’ve learned a lot. And I just think it’s time to start applying some of these things and start acting wiser. [It’s time to start] making better decisions, being smarter, having better judgements and just start exercising being a better person in general. I think when you practice that it starts to reflect and that’s how I felt [my latest album] Mood Muzik 4 turned out. I was practicing better decision-making.” (SOHH)
Saigon’s Greatest Story Never Told is set to drop February 2011.
Check out some recent Joe Budden footage below:
