Joe Budden, hip-hop’s apparent saviour has returned with another mixtape to keep fans interested while he finalises his sophomore set, ‘The Growth’. After Joey’s self-titled debut dropped in 2003 with the ridiculously popular first single “Pump it Up” he’s been a fixture on the mixtape circuit with 3 notable releases in the last two years. This is his best effort yet.

Backed by original music by a skew of producers including Scram Jones and Scott Scorch Budden runs through each track twisting the soundscape to his own design. On the excellent “Old School Mouse” Joe rhymes “I’m a don, show me something with a pool next, and I need four bathrooms, it don’t gotta be a duplex”. The quality of Joey’s lyricism hits it’s peak on “6 Minutes of Death” with snappy one liners such as “And any beat imma air that rappers just gotta wear that, Fox Brown should be the only one that can’t hear that”.

However Mood Muzik 2’s tour de force is the perfect “3 Sides to a Story” on which Joey paints a picture Van Goth would be proud off. 3 Sides is easily one of the best wrote rap tracks of the past few years with only Murs’ “Walk Like A Man” coming to mind as a rival. “40 Licks” is another high point, not only on this album, but in Joey’s career. Over an inspired Nelly Nel production Joey spits “When I seen my first man get murdered, I took a strike from the game like a transit worker”.

“Are You in that Mood Yet” ask s listeners the vital question and evolves into another heartfelt tale of Joe’s home life with painfully truthful lyrics such as “Priority’s are fucked, shit startin’ to gas me, like my little man’s life slipped right past me, his name’s Dwayne so why he callin him daddy”. Other notable moments on the album include “Dumb Out”, “So Serious”, the Scram Jones produced “Stained” and the short but sweet “Ghetto America Snippet”.

This mixtape isn’t the classic people over the internet are labelling it as so don’t be fooled, but this is better than 90% of the album’s being released at the moment. Buy this and wait for your copy of ‘The Growth’ while listening to 3 Sides.

Download : “3 Sides to a Story”, “Old School Mouse”, “40 Licks”, “Are You in that Mood Yet”

Don’t Bother : The Skits, “For a Reason”

Overall : 5 Out of 6 Shots