Joe Budden Says Jay-Z Wanted $250,000 to Be on ‘Pump It Up’ Remix

Jay-Z recently said he doesn’t charge to appear on tracks these day, but that wasn’t the case nearly 20 years ago, according to Joe Budden.

The rapper-turned-podcaster recently appeared on Queenzflip and DJ G Money’s Flip Da Script Podcast for an episode that aired on Monday (July 18). Joe shared his account of Jay-Z quoting his A&R a price of $250,000 to hop on the remix of Joe’s 2003 hit song “Pump It Up.”

“I don’t think that was a big number, I think that was his number,” Joe Budden explained at the 2:44-mark of the interview clip released on YouTube. “‘That’s my number to rap on this new artist’s remix.’ It was just big in my world, but it wasn’t a big number.”

“Listen, again, I’m super young in that moment. I wasn’t in the studio when [Jay and Budden’s A&R Skane] had the conversation,” Joe continued. “I knew that they had some type of relationship. It was a Just Blaze beat and I was green behind the ears. I just thought that it would get done. I didn’t know anything about the business and how things like that are supposed to go. That was par the course.”

In the end, Joe could not afford Hov’s asking price, so Jay didn’t hop on the song officially.

“It was big to me because it was unattainable,” Joe explained. “It was outside of my budget, but the blessing was that he gave a number.”

Jay-Z ended up dropping a freestyle over the “Pump It Up” beat a month after Budden’s song came out, which appeared on Hov’s 2003 mixtape The S. Carter Collection. The song featured subliminals Joe took as shots aimed at him and he returned fire. Jay-Z became the president of Def Jam, Joe’s label, the following year. Joe eventually parted ways with the label after his sophomore album was shelved for years.

Watch Joe Budden’s Interview on Flip Da Script Podcast Below