If you follow hip-hop closely enough, every once in a while you can catch a rapper in love. Joe Budden is one MC who wears his heart openly on his sleeve. From Twitter to Instagram, he's offered up the most intimate moments of his personal life to the public. As the temperature drops and the rest of us work on finding a boo to hole up with through "cuffing season," Joe and his lady get cozier and cozier.

"I have the big Bose box in my room," he tells The BoomBox, "There's another one directly next to my bed. The first five months of our relationship, we didn't even cut the TV on [laughs]. We went to bed with music, different playlists... I try to not deal with anybody who doesn't have a certain taste in music or doesn't appreciate good music. You don't have to be familiar with it but you do have to appreciate good music, especially being with a musician."

After the release of Budden's Loose Quarter mixtape on Black Friday, which he declares to be "incredible," the New Jersey-bred Slaughterhouse member will be dropping his third solo LP through E1 Music, entitled 'No Love Lost.' The album features jazzy production from Cardiak, the SLV camp and others. Budden explains that he hoped to highlight his love for the live instrumentation that's made R&B great through generations. After all, Rhythm & Blues is the only genre Joe listens to religiously, claiming Sam Cooke, Anita Baker and Babyface to be a few of his favorites.

"It's sexy," Budden says of the LP, "You gon' see, you gon' see ... I still have songs on there where I'm tearing n---s' ass up, and doing what Joe Budden is known to do, but I definitely kept it sexy. I wanna encourage people to get out there and cuff something."

And what about the cynics who believe Joe Budden just loves to be in love? "I wouldn't say shit to 'em," he exclaims. "I'm of the belief that love is a lost concept. It's not something that many people believe in because it's not something that people see very often. It's not something people feel very often."

"We live in a world of hatred," he continues, "But for those of us who've actually been in love? Like, a real love before? It's a feeling that you wanna feel again. So for people to say that, it definitely doesn't strike as an insult to me. It more so speaks to them."

Here at The BoomBox, we thought it would be fitting to ask Joe Budden to give us his top 10 songs for cuffing season, so that maybe everyone can have a shot at making a love connection before the holidays are in full swing.

Joe Budden's Cuffing Season Playlist

1. "You," Jesse Powell: "Jesse Powell didn't have too many songs. I like another song of his, but that particular one is just a classic record. I'm not sure if some of the youngins would know about it, but he went there. He went there on that record. It's many people's wedding song."

2. "What It Gonna Be," En Vogue: "Classic! From "Set It Off" soundtrack, in the video they had all the makeup smeared and a lot of females question the men today, so that question is always prevalent."

3. "Sex Therapy," Robin Thicke: "It's just sexy. It's really just that sexy."

4. "What You Trying To Do," Jagged Edge: "Another real sexy record. Another classic record from Jermaine Dupri in his heyday. That record never fails."

5. "Ready For Love," India Arie: "This is another one that never fails! Every intense record, every graphic, every detail... That one I'm sure a lot of women relate to as well."

6. "Can You Handle It," Usher: "I'd be a fool not to go with this one. But I'd even add this one slash "Seduction.""

7. "Nice and Slow," Usher: "You can't play Usher's catalogue without playing those two I just mentioned, with this being the third."

8. "Signs of Lovemaking," Tyrese: "Only because my girl's a Scorpio and she gets really excited when he sings the Scorpio part [laughs]."

9. "Say Yes," Floetry: "This one we have to add! We just have to..."

10. "Would You Mind," Janet Jackson: "Ultimate sex song! Ultimate! Like, for people who actually know how to fuck. Fucking is a lost art nowadays [laughs]."



See 10 Outrageous & Extravagant Hip-Hop & R&B Weddings

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