But the rapper admits that he knows better than to surround himself with people who participate in activities he’s distancing himself from. “When you‘re trying to live a certain way you keep good people around you,” he concedes.
But he doesn’t blame fame for his mistakes. “The fame part is the simplest part,” Budden shares. “You’re more recognized than the average person. Whoop-de-do. I’m filled with too much humility for that to move me one way or another. I’m not altered by it. But all the things that come along with fame probably affected me. And the way I deal with those things today is entirely different.”
“[My] music is always inspired from real life … so anything that [I’ve endured] — whether that be television, relationships, pain and joy — anything that causes some type of emotion, inspires the music,” he says. “[No Love Lost] is like the polar opposite from my last album, Padded Room. Not because the approach was entirely different, [but] because I’m different today. The music is still introspective, very melodic, very personal, very graphic, very in-depth, but life is different today. I’m in a better place than I was in 2008 and 2009 and that’s all you can ask for — continuously being in a better place.”
