Joseph Anthony Budden II (born August 31, 1980) is an American media personality and former rapper. He first gained recognition as a rapper with his 2003 top 40 single "Pump It Up" and as a member of the hip hop supergroup Slaughterhouse. In 2018, he retired from rap, and found success as a broadcaster, having a much publicized run as a co-host on Everyday Struggle for Complex. He currently hosts The Joe Budden Podcast, released twice a week on Patreon and YouTube, and State of the Culture on Revolt. He has been described as "the Howard Stern of hip-hop".
Budden was born to Joseph Budden and Fay Southerland on August 31, 1980, in the East Harlem neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, New York City, New York. He moved to Jersey City, New Jersey, at the age of thirteen with his mother and older brother, where he attended Lincoln High School. Budden's father was absent from his life during his childhood, a subject he would later address in his music.
Budden was a troubled youth and sent to Laurinburg Institute, a boarding school in North Carolina, where he began to hone his skills as a rapper. After returning to Jersey, he began using drugs, developing an addiction to angel dust. After an emotional confrontation with his mother, Budden voluntarily went into rehab on July 3, 1997, in exchange for him being allowed to attend his senior prom. Budden did not earn his diploma, and fathered a child with an older woman by the age of 20. With his son on the way, Budden began taking music more seriously. In 2001, he teamed up with producer Dub-B, also known as White Boy, and began releasing his first mixtapes and demos, one of which ended up in the hands of Hot 97 radio host and Desert Storm Records label head DJ Clue.

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