''A Loose Quarter'' is the fifth

mixtape In the modern music industry, a mixtape is a musical project, typically with looser constraints than that of an album or extended play. Unlike the traditional album or extended play, mixtapes are labeled as laid-back projects that allow artists mo ...

by American rapper

Joe Budden Joseph Anthony Budden II (born August 31, 1980) is an American broadcaster and former rapper. He first gained recognition with his 2003 single " Pump It Up", which peaked in the top 40 of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and preceded the release of h ...

, it was released on November 20, 2012. The mixtape features

guest appearance The term guest appearance generally denotes the appearance of a guest in an artistic or pop-culture setting. The guests themselves (referred to as guest artists, featured artists, guest stars, or guest fighters, depending on context), are disting ...

s from

Ab-Soul Herbert Anthony Stevens IV (born February 23, 1987), better known by his stage name Ab-Soul, is an American rapper. Raised in Carson, California, he signed to indie record label Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) in 2007, where he eventually formed We ...

, Tsu-Surf, Mal, Emanny, Trev Rich,

Royce Da 5'9" Ryan Daniel Montgomery (born July 5, 1977), known professionally as Royce da 5'9" (or simply Royce 5'9"), is an American rapper. Best known for his association with fellow Detroit rapper Eminem, they became acquainted in 1997 and formed the hi ...

and

Kobe Kobe ( ; , ), officially , is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. With a population of around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's List of Japanese cities by population, seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Port of Toky ...

Critical response

''A Loose Quarter'' 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 m ...

s. David "Rek" Lee of

HipHopDX ''HipHopDX'' is an online magazine of Hip hop music, hip hop music criticism and news. ''HipHopDX'' has over 3.5M monthly readers, the website encompassing hip hop news, interviews, music, and reviews. The website's founder and CEO is Sharath C ...

gave the mixtape a positive review, saying "Joe Budden plays his part on the Slaughterhouse album, but ''A Loose Quarter'' allows him to really flex his artistry. That's a great thing or just a cool thing depending on how much of a fan you are. But the kind of honesty and open soul-searching shouldn't be taken for granted, especially in a genre that doesn't usually celebrate growth past the obligatory conscious record." King Eljay of

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 artist ...

gave the mixtape an eight out of ten, saying "As far as emotional appeal, that’s here in spades as well. From the emotional dealings of “Momma Said”, to “Off 2 The Races”, which deals with the lack of closure from his ex, Tahiry (she loved it, by the way), Joe has always had a painfully honest way of dealing with his situations. The interesting twist here is alluded to above; it's not all negative as one would lead you to think, thanks to his current girl, Kaylin. He even touches on her personal situation for a couple of songs (notably on “More Of Me“), but although it's nice to know the story behind it all, it doesn't seem to quite fit as well as other featured songs here. Thankfully, he gets back into the pocket with Royce Da 5’9 and

, as “All In My Head” is arguably the best track here."

Commercial performance

''A Loose Quarter'' sold 29,000 copies in its first week. It has sold 87,000 copies as of September 2016.

Track listing

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Loose Quarter 2012 mixtape albums Joe Budden mixtape albums Albums produced by AraabMuzik Albums produced by Cardiak