Joe Budden wasn’t surprised that he had such a prominent role on VH1’s Love & Hip Hop New York when its third season premiered earlier this week. But it was because he had already seen the episode. He does claim to be shocked that his sarcasm was lost when he stated he was 27 years-old during the episode, which set the Twitter peanut gallery on fire.
“To me it was like, obvious that I wasn’t 27 years old when I said it,” Budden, 32, tells Hip-Hop Wired. “But apparently it wasn’t so…”
The New Jersey rapper’s wry sense of humor, personal life, assorted beefs, drug use habits and more has been on open book on social media platforms, and his music, for years. So despite it being his first time on reality TV, he had no worries about trotting out his life on the screen.
“I’m perfectly pleased with the edit thus far,” says Budden. “I mean my motto is they can’t edit what you don’t give them. So I don’t ever expect to be depicted as anything but myself. I’m not worried about. I’ve heard other cast members complain about the edit already. But no, not me.”
The Slaughterhouse rapper continues, “I didn’t have any conversations with the producers prior to filming. This is my first experience ever dealing with reality TV, So it’s like I wouldn’t know if they normally I can only go off based off what you hear from people. But people are f-cking crazy in the universe so I don’t really lend too much to that. But I’m always myself. So if you depicted me as anything but, you’d be doing a hell of a job. You’d have to have them cameras rolling 25, 8. It’s not possible.”
But he does feel certain cast members started changing their behavior for the cameras, saying, “Perception is a hell of a drug, fame is a hell of a drug.”
For now, Budden will continue taping the show until February and is prepping the release of his latest album, No Love Lost, which is due in stores February 5.
“My career has played out like a rollercoaster. I’ve gone through the label bullsh-t. The bullsh-t with other rappers. There was a point in time where I was probably the initiator of it all. Today at 32, no desire to live like that anymore. I’m just good, on all accords. And I think it shows.”
Watch Joe Budden’s full commentary on his new reality TV stardom below.
—
Photo: Hip-Hop Wired
