''Halfway House'' is the third studio album by

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rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

Joe Budden 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 ...

, released on October 28, 2008 exclusively in

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through

Amalgam Digital Amalgam Digital is an independent record label based in East Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 2006 by Anyextee, the privately owned label had been home to a variety of artists throughout the decade before significantly downsizing in its later yea ...

. ''Halfway House'' was released when Joe Budden's fourth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

, '' Padded Room'', had been pushed back. Its release marked Joe Budden's first return to the ''Billboard'' 200 in five years, and approximately 3,000 downloads were sold in its first week of release. The album is notable for featuring the first collaboration between the four members of

Slaughterhouse A slaughterhouse, also called abattoir (), is a facility where animals are slaughtered to provide food. Slaughterhouses supply meat, which then becomes the responsibility of a packaging facility. Slaughterhouses that produce meat that is no ...

on the track, "Slaughterhouse."

Critical reception

Upon its release, ''Halfway House'' was met with generally favorable reviews from

music critic ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of mus ...

AllHipHop AllHipHop is a hip hop news website founded by Greg Watkins and Chuck Creekmur in 1998. History The website was founded in 1998 by Greg Watkins and Chuck Creekmur. In 1997, Watkins registered the allhiphop.com domain to promote the artists on ...

's Greg Watkins gave the album a seven out of ten, saying, "While ''Halfway House'' takes a slight dip from the high standards set forth by the Mood uzikseries, it is still a respectable effort. Joe Budden proves that he is still one of the games icbest kept secrets regardless of a release date." Nathan S. of DJBooth.net gave the album a four out of five, saying, "Joe Budden is to album delays what Snoop is to weed smoking – just about everyone does it now and again, but not like these guys. These delays seemingly stem from Budden's refusal to put out an inferior product, which is what makes him so good, but that kind of perfectionism can be paralyzing. Let's just hope the next time we hear from Budden it will be because he released '' Padded Room'', not ended up in one." TC of The Smoking Section gave the album a 3.5 out of five, saying, "Much to Budden's credit, ''Halfway House'' serves as one his more focused offerings, allowing more room for song structure opposed to the long-winded diatribes he's made his forte. Still with yet another album completed stuffed with mood music, and one named ''Padded Room'' looming on the horizon, the prognosis for the removal of the straitjacket that allows him to be Joe Budden while simultaneously restraining his artistic growth, is still to be determined." Punknews.org reviewer, Anchors, gave the album five stars out of five, saying "That never-quit attitude has been Budden's trademark for years, and it makes him somewhat of an anomaly in 2008. There's no niche for that kind of approach. He's too intelligent for the

gangsta-rap Gangsta rap or gangster rap, initially called reality rap, emerged in the mid- to late 1980s as a controversial hip-hop subgenre whose lyrics assert the culture and values typical of American street gangs and street hustlers. Many gangsta rappe ...

tag and too gangsta for the backrap-rap title. He's an East Coast rapper with

Tupac Tupac Amaru Shakur ( ; born Lesane Parish Crooks, June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known as 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper. He is widely considered one of the most influential rappers of all time. Shakur is among the b ...

's West Coast introspection. He's a Jersey City rapper with

Biggie Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997), better known by his stage names the Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls, or simply Biggie, was an American rapper. Rooted in East Coast hip hop and particularly gangsta ...

's Brooklyn storytelling."

Track listing

;Notes *"One Night Fuck" uses the same production as "If It Wasn't for You" as performed by

Day26 Day26 is an American male R&B music group formed in August 2007 by Sean "Diddy" Combs in a handpicked selection at the end of MTV's ''Making the Band 4.'' The group consists of Robert Curry, Brian Angel, Willie Taylor, Qwanell Mosley and Michael ...

. ;Sample credits *"On My Grind" contains a

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from "

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" performed by

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. *"Check Me Out" contains a sample from "Silly Love Song" performed by Enchantment. *"Sidetracked" contains a sample from "

Lost! "Lost!" is a song by the British Rock music, rock band Coldplay. It was co-produced with Brian Eno and Markus Dravs for the band's fourth album, ''Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends''. The song was released on 10 November 2008 as the t ...

" performed by

Coldplay Coldplay are a British rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer Will Champion and creative director Phil Harvey. They met at University Col ...

. *"Under the Sun" contains a sample from "Brothers Under the Sun" performed by

Bryan Adams Bryan Guy Adams (born 5 November 1959) is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, composer, and photographer. He has been cited as one of the best-selling music artists of all time, and is estimated to have sold between 75 million and mor ...

. *"Go to Hell" contains a sample from "Go to Hell" performed by

Alice Cooper Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier, February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer whose career spans over five decades. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusions, including pyrotechnics, guillot ...

. *"Just to Be Different" contains a sample from "

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" performed by

Shinedown Shinedown is an American rock band from Jacksonville, Florida, formed by singer Brent Smith in 2001 after the dissolution of Dreve, his previous band. Smith, still under contract with record label Atlantic Records, recruited the band's original l ...

. *"Better Me" contains a sample from "

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" performed by

Incubus An incubus is a demon in male form in folklore that seeks to have sexual intercourse with sleeping women; the corresponding spirit in female form is called a succubus. In medieval Europe, union with an incubus was supposed by some to result in t ...

Chart positions

References

{{Authority control 2008 albums Joe Budden albums Amalgam Digital albums Albums produced by Scram Jones Albums produced by Cardiak