Are You in That Room Yet?

"Padded Room" Review - Bryan
Joe Budden? The "Pump It Up" guy? He's still rapping? Typical responses from hip-hop listeners unfamiliar with the mixtape scene. However, due to the critical acclaim of Budden's mixtapes, "Padded Room" was a highly anticipated release for his small cult-following.
Overall, "Padded Room" is one of the best albums of the year thus far. Yet it suffers from one of the typical shortcomings that prevent talented underground artists from making quality CDs. Mixtape artists tend to have strong punchlines and verses, but lack in songwriting ability. Budden has no problem with conceptualizing original topics, and showing levels of vulnerability rare in rap; but he seems to struggle with choruses.
Three of "Padded Room"s tracks completely skip any attempt at a chorus. Then again, unique songs like "In My Sleep", "Do Tell" and "Pray for Me" are so engaging that a chorus would probably only be disruptive and distracting. Five of the songs' choruses are supplied either by a sample or a featured singer. It occasionally works with cuts like the aggressive, experimental hard-rock fusion, aptly-titled "Adrenaline", which features the Junkyard Gang band. A song that audiences who can appreciate Linkin Park, should love; but it will probably be too grungy and hardcore for most of Budden's fans. On the other hand, R&B tracks like "Happy Holidays" and "The Future" feel too safe in their commercial attempts. In fact, the latter, which was the failed first single featuring Game, sticks out as the only song that is completely irrelevant and unfitting for this concept album; clearly the worst tune in the "Room".

"Now I Lay" gives the album a strong start; an up-tempo, high energy track, driven by the enthusiastic delivery of Budden's baritone vocals. This first track brings listeners up to speed on who he is and what he's gone through since releasing his only Top 40 hit, "Pump It Up". Throughout the album, Budden describes his unstable mind-state, using psychological self-evaluations. He explores his characteristics of insanity, via lucid dream analysis on "In My Sleep", and symbolic personification on tracks like "Exxxes". On the former, he recounts "Stuck in a room with [an] elephant, opened the closet and dappped up my skeleton." He shares his inability to fully understand the world, and vice versa. Furthermore, he describes his suicidal contemplations, feelings of guilt, and fears of death.
The last three tracks are exceptional. "Do Tell" is something of a will of messages for people and things that he will leave behind once he dies. He says "They say I'm difficult, so to put it simply, tell the world I never cared it was against me." "Angel in My Life", a dark, sinister track with haunting strings, best illustrates what the album is about. It features Budden rapping from a padded room in a straight jacket, frustrated about where his decisions have led him, expressing his fear that his end must be near. This is simultaneously the most serious track and the most amusing. The moody song features sound-bites of a conversation between two of Budden's friends describing the absurd situations that have led him to his insane asylum. The "Room" closes with "Pray For Me", a song that finds Budden facing "a Man with no face". He engages in dialogue with the Voice of God, as they discuss whether or not he deserves salvation. The scenario is supported by the song's echoic and atmospheric, organ-driven music. They converse, (God charges) "You robbed people, stole", (Budden answers) "Yeah, and You made me see jail", (to which God replies) "But I've also seen you lay your hands on a female."
Budden's openness and vulnerability help to make this an intriguing and enjoyable, focused work. 8.5/10