Joe Budden Quotes

Well, I had a record deal since I was 18, and it got me where I am.

I've never been overexposed or in people's faces, although there are some who argue that in the late '70s and early '80s, I was played a lot!

When you're so out there in the public eye, people are constantly criticizing every aspect about you.

I started my music career at 18 and for a long while I let other people handle my affairs.

This is a very screwed-up business. Record labels don't sign a lot of bands these days. We just want to find a home and stay there and make records and do our thing and not have to look over our shoulder.

We had an EP out and all of a sudden we find record companies are interested in us, and we're thinking, 'Oh, that's really nice, but we don't think we're ready for it.'

I'm really happy with Elektra, I don't have anything bad to say about them at all. I always knew a major label was the right place for me to be. I never really had an opportunity to go to an independent label anyway.

I was kicked off a record label and didn't get picked up again. It was devastating at first because I thought, 'Oh my God. My career is over. What's gonna happen? What am I going to do?' Once I got that I could have a career, a very good career, without having a hit record, then I changed.

Well, I tried to get a record deal in 1966 or '67, and everyone thought I was too eclectic.

I'd done recordings, little demos, since I was in college, which I used to get gigs. But I never thought I'd have a record label.

I owe 90 per cent of my life to people because I am a public figure, but 10 per cent is private to me. And I am not saying it in a defensive way. I feel my life has been made into a TV serial.

I think, back in the day, when I was first starting to make music, all I wanted to do was to get a record deal.

It's funny, when bands or younger musicians ask me: 'So, what does it take to make it?' Well, first explain to me what you mean by 'making it': Do you want to be a rock star or do you want music to be your livelihood?

I was signed at 19 years old to a major label, and dropped by the time I was 22.

I took temp jobs, recorded a demo in the evenings and eventually shopped a record deal. All I knew was that I wanted to write songs; thankfully, I also got to sing them.

I was with PolyGram; that was the big label that I was with for the longest, like 12 years.

My record label is treating me like I'm a new artist, which is exciting after all this time.

I was having a lot of mixed feelings about the independent world as well as the label world. I feel like I've been in the game a long time, and you know, when it come to labels not seeing a fella being around the last five years, it's like, it's hard to convince them what I can do.

When our video of 'Smooth Criminal' came out, suddenly we started getting all kinds of offers. We were getting calls from TV shows like 'Ellen DeGeneres' and from record labels.

If you're an actor, you have to find a way to make peace with all the media attention.

The reason so many celebrities try to keep things secret is you want the chance to get to know someone without the glare of public scrutiny.

If you're a baby about the media, as I was, you can't imagine what it's like when the great approval machine shines its beam on you, when every time you cross the street someone comes out of a manhole to talk about your haircut.

I was initially signed to a German label a few years ago.

There are a lot of actors who try to get records made and try to make record deals, and everybody goes, 'Ugh.' It used to be expected in the entertainment business. I mean look at Sinatra, Bing Crosby. All these guys started out as singers.

I've just signed a contract to make records in Nashville. It won't amount to much at first, but after a year or so, I will really be in the money.