No Love Lost (Joe Budden album)

Background

Budden has stated that the album is actually the final piece of the four album concept, which includes Halfway House, Padded Room and Escape Route, as he finally finds salvation and freedom from a sense of confinement that had been pervading his life and career.

On August 11, 2009, Amalgam Digital and Budden released a digital-only album entitled Escape Route, the third piece of the four album concept. Budden said that Escape Route will give fans a taste of what to expect from him on his third studio effort. In September 2010, Budden signed to E1 Music, so the album was not released under Amalgam Digital. At the end of 2012 Joe Budden embarked on the Second First Impression Tour. Budden says this album will show his maturity and growth as an artist.

On November 22, 2012 Joe Budden released the mixtape "A Loose Quarter" to positive critical feedback. It features Ab-Soul, Royce da 5'9" and Kobe, among others.

Guests and production

On August 31, 2009, a potential single for the album named "No Competition" featuring R&B singer Emanny was leaked unto the internet. The song was produced by J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League. On January 29, 2010, Budden released a now-scrapped track for the album named "Downfall" via his Twitter page. Budden stated that he and J.Cardim were not able to clear a sample from the track, leading to it being scrapped from the album. The song was later released as a part of Mood Muzik 4.5.

In August 2010, Budden stated that the producer DJ Premier had a beat potentially for No Love Lost. On January 5, 2010, Budden hinted via Twitter that Havoc from Mobb Deep made a beat for No Love Lost. In an interview on November 18, 2012, he revealed that there will also be tracks produced by Cardiak and AraabMuzik on the album. The next day he revealed Beewirks, gentlemen by the name of Dark Night and 8 Bars, Blessed By The Beats and his own underground group SLV (Summer Leather Vest) also among the production.

Guest features on the album were to include Twista, Wiz Khalifa, French Montana, Lil Wayne and Lupe Fiasco. Joe Budden later said he recorded many songs with Black Hippy's Ab-Soul. In December 2012 Joe said in an interview with Hard Knock TV that there is a song with Juicy J and Lloyd Banks on it. Also saying Omarion and Kirko Bangz will be featured on the album. Budden indicated that this album will have more features than any of his previous albums. The final track list revealed Emanny and Slaughterhouse also as featured artists on the project.

Singles

On February 27, 2012 at a concert, Budden previewed a new track featuring Lil Wayne, and R&B singer Tank called “Put It Down Like You”. On October 10, E1 Music released the first song from the album, "She Don't Put It Down Like You", which featured fellow rapper Lil Wayne and R&B singer Tank. The track was produced by T-Minus. The remix was also included on the album and it features Fabolous and Twista. A music video was shot in January 2013 for the remix. On February 5, 2013, the music video was released for "She Don't Put It Down" (Remix) featuring Fabolous, Lil Wayne and Tank.

On November 28, 2012 he announced his second single to be "NBA". The song features Wiz Khalifa and French Montana. On March 26, 2013, the music video was released for "NBA". That same day it would be released to iTunes as the album's second single.

He also filmed a music video for the song "Castles", for which the trailer was released on February 5, 2013. On March 19, 2013, the music video was released for "Castles".

Critical response

No Love Lost was met with generally mixed reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 57, based on 9 reviews, which indicates "mixed reviews". Roman Cooper of HipHopDX gave the album three out of five stars saying, "The most glaring issue with No Love Lost is the truly terrible production featured throughout. “Castles” and “All in My Head” are more lush and interesting, but too much of the album is glittery, banal R&B a la “Switch Positions.”" Grant Jones of RapReviews gave the album a six out of ten, saying "In short bursts, tracks like "Skeletons" and "You And I" are excellent examples of Joe Budden, and "She Don't Put It Down" is as infectious as any other single in 2013. But ultimately, "No Love Lost" is too inconsistent to leave a lasting impression, and falls short of greatness."

David Jeffries of Allmusic gave the album three and a half stars out of five, saying "So many highlights make the album trophy-case worthy, but the best party numbers sit right next to one another, and long stretches of emo and midtempo threaten to alienate newcomers." Christopher Minaya of XXL gave the album an XL, saying "With No Love Lost, none of Budden’s fans lose. He has something for all of them." Ken Capobianco of The Boston Globe gave the album two stars out of five, saying "Budden has been releasing tart, clever music for a decade, but he sounds completely adrift here, struggling to articulate vulnerability or trying to figure out relationships. More problematic, he seems to have cherry-picked beats off a thrift store rack."

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number 15 on the US Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 30,000 copies in the United States. As of October 2015, the album has sold 86,000 copies in the United States

Track listing

Personnel

Credits for No Love Lost adapted from Allmusic.