Joe Budden On Raekwon Altercation: ‘I Didn’t Think It Was Smart

source: MTV.com

Tension between the Wu-Tang Clan and Joe Budden reached a boiling point on Saturday at the San Manuel Amphitheatre in San Bernardino, California. According to Joe Budden and up-and-coming MC Mickey Factz, Raekwon the Chef and five of his friends assaulted Budden in his dressing room prior to performing at the Rock the Bells tour stop.

Budden and Factz were doing a live Internet stream from their dressing room when Raekwon came in.

“Them n—as came in here with a goal,” Budden said during the webcast. “The goal was to catch the blog king slippin’ and have the big 6-foot-4, 300 … n—a punch me in my eye. I guess it makes me look soft? I don’t really know. My thing is … no comment man. Maybe the n—a watches Joe Budden TV. But I’m all right, I’m safe — still sexy, I think. Eye is a little swollen.”

Budden was then seen asking a friend for some ice before continuing, “Them n—as came in here like this was Staten Island,” he added. “Do they know where we are? I guess in Rae’s mind, they gonna come in here, punch me in the face … shake my hand, force an apology. Then they gonna go off of that and perform and do a show? Is that what’s supposed to be taking place? I am a little confused by that.”

Factz did a Web show of his own Sunday, detailing his account of the incident.

“We was just chillin’ … Rae came in on some peaceful sh– at first, he dapped everybody,” Factz explained. “He dapped Joe — he was dumb peaceful. He took a seat. When he took a seat, everything changed.”

“What happened between Joe Budden and Raekwon is their business,” said Chang Weisberg of Guerilla Union, one of the organizers of Rock the Bells. “They definitely did not want anything between them to impact the show and shared their regret that it could have had a negative outcome. In the end, I’m glad that cooler heads prevailed and that they were able to work out their differences and continue their participation with Rock the Bells. We are grateful for their efforts to keep things moving in a positive direction. It could have been very ugly and I’m proud of their willingness to put their differences aside and handle their business professionally.”

However, Factz said the point of contention backstage was that the Chef was not too pleased with a video clip that he and Budden shot in Boston on July 18. In the vlog, Budden apologized to Method Man but warned any of Meth’s affiliates not to speak his name. “I’m done talking about the entire Method Man/ Slaughterhouse/ Wu-Tang everything,” Budden said. “Joe Budden is washing his hands from this point forward. If anyone of them n—as say my name in a negative light, the peace treaty is over and the no-comment movement is over.

“I’m no chump,” he added. “It’s not gonna continue to happen. Everybody else associated with that n—a, or just feels like my name should roll out their f—in’ mouth the wrong way like I can’t rap a f—in’ circle around them, do it from this point on.”

Budden was apologizing to Meth for comments he made several months ago regarding a Vibe article asking fans to vote for the best rapper alive — Budden took exception to not being in the top spot and singled out Meth, who placed higher on the list. The two went back and forth in interviews and earlier this summer, the Clan’s Inspectah Deck jumped into the fold, dissing Budden on a track called “House N—a.”

Ironically, both Budden and his Slaughterhouse crew were booked on Rock the Bells along with Raekwon and others. During a tour stop in mid-July, Deck came out as Rae’s special guest and dissed Budden onstage.

“Number one homie — nobody ain’t worried about nothing, man,” Rae told us on July 17. “Everybody knows this is hip-hop. Keep it hip-hop. Nobody wants to throw their lives or their careers away for somebody who’s not really near our legacy of what we built. [Budden] could never crush any buildings. He knows that. As far as Slaughterhouse — I know them, they are true-blue friends. This is a Joe Budden and Method Man altercation. Deck got involved, that’s these three’s altercation. For me, the Wu is not even thinking about it on that level — this is not that kinda party. Number one, it doesn’t even match up.

“I already know what it is, because Joe Budden looked me in my face and apologized,” Rae added, addressing a private meeting he and Budden had. “As a man, I look a n—a in his eyes and make sure you being genuine. I guess he feels that he has no beef with me. As far as Wu-Tang, we’re not like how we used to be back then, as far as, like, jump up and do something negative. Cats caught cases like that. Nobody wanna be going through cases, get lawsuits and whatever. You can’t sacrifice when you got children. If they gonna keep it on wax, MC to MC, if that’s what they want to do, then take six paces and draw. As far as anything else, I feel nobody is a threat over there to me. I got Royce Da 5’9″ calling me everyday trying to calm everything down.”

During the New York tour stop at Jones Beach Theater on July 19, Budden and Method Man squashed their differences, but Factz and Budden say Rae was anything but calm on Saturday.

“I didn’t even see the punch, I just heard it,” Factz said in his vlog. “I was like, ‘It looks like n—-s is gonna be fighting today. I’m gonna be fighting a n—a I grew up listening to.’ It was six of them. They was asking us questions. They was just on some ‘Prove to us the video was done before Jones Beach.’ Rae was in another zone, he didn’t want to listen. I feel like that was a bad move on some real sh–. I did think that was a sucker move. Joe did not get knocked out — he barely felt it.”

“My eye’s swollen,” Budden said in his live stream. “I don’t think it will get black later. It wasn’t my eye, it was the side of my eye. I think Rae didn’t [punch me] himself. They were recording, they had a camera on. I don’t think it would be the smart thing for him to do … I didn’t think it was a smart thing to do period. … You guys think this was a tough-guy move? You guys think this was dope? I personally don’t. I think it was a f—-t move, personally. … This is what happens when people lack common sense.”

After the confrontation, Raekwon went on and performed his show. Slaughterhouse came out later on and took to the stage. Although Budden didn’t mention it, his Slaughterhouse mate Crooked I referenced the incident. “Don’t believe everything you see on the Internet,” Crook said. “Nobody gonna disrespect one of my n—-s on the muthaf—in’ West Coast.”

Raekwon could not be reached for comment at press time.