Joe Budden Recalls Trying To Battle DMX On 'Belly' Set & Swizz Beatz's Failed Group Plans
Joe Budden once tried to battle DMX on the set of the 1998 Hype Williams movie Belly.
The former Slaughterhouse rapper recalled the encounter during a recent appearance on the Flip Da Script Podcast, explaining how he approached the late Ruff Ryders legend after spotting him shooting a scene in the film outside his mother’s home in New Jersey.
“I used to say I battled DMX, but that wasn’t really a battle,” he said when asked if he battled anybody of note during his early career. “I was battling, he wasn’t battling [laughs].”
He added, “It was me just rapping, but he was supposed to rap. This was on — they shot [one of the scenes in] Belly outside of my mom’s building, which was Jersey City. So I caught DMX on one of them nights, but he had to go shoot a scene.”
Although his attempt to battle DMX was unsuccessful, the encounter led to Budden being connected with Swizz Beatz, who he revealed tried to put him in a group with Cassidy and Drag-On. However, that plan also failed to materialize.
“And that’s where I got — damn, who’s number did I get? I don’t remember — brain freeze — but I got somebody’s number and that’s how we stayed in touch,” he continued. “Swizz was trying to put me in a group with Cassidy and Drag-On. That was super early. That was before y’all came into play.
“It just didn’t work. I didn’t even learn about that until a few years later. I was just coming around rhyming, maybe Swizz had plans. This was before anybody was anybody.”
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Joe Budden never ended up working with DMX or Swizz Beatz; instead, he found success with another Tri-State hitmaker, Just Blaze, who produced his 2003 breakout hit “Pump It Up.” In another clip from his Flip Da Script Podcast interview, Budden revealed JAY-Z charged him $250,000 to jump on the remix.
Following DMX’s tragic death in April 2021, the Mood Muzik MC paid tribute to the late rapper during an emotional episode of The Joe Budden Podcast.
“I will always, just always, have not only the utmost respect for him, [but] the utmost respect for the road he paved himself, the role he played in my life, my career,” he said. “X touched so many people through his music, but personally. Most of the times I bumped into X, I bumped into X.
“I was in a studio where I wasn’t supposed to be at and bumped into him. I was walking down Collins in Miami and bumped into him. I was in Atlanta somewhere and bumped into him. You could see him and speak to him — and he would talk to you! No matter what the fuck was going on with him.”
Meanwhile, Joe Budden was recently checked by Swizz Beatz after he co-signed a tweet claiming uncredited singer Jermaine Paul “cooked” his wife Alicia Keys on her 2004 hit “Diary.”
“King Knock it all the way off!” Swizz snapped at Budden on Twitter. “Let’s not do this ! I never get into your zones! Leave my wife out of everything but greatness! Please ……..”