Rude Jude calls himself a shock jock. If you listen to him on the All Out Show on Sirius Radio’s Shade 45, you’ll hear him get into fights and adopt a generally surly demeanor between popular hip hop tracks. The Floyd Mayweather beef is particularly entertaining, and, frankly, even more poignant than Michael Rapaport calling him Floyd Kardashian, which is also kinda dope.
If you read his memoir, Hyena — or better yet, listen to the audiobook to hear Jude read it in his captivating voice — you’ll hear him take his shock jockery to unprecedented levels in true accounts of his exploits of degrading sex and drug abuse.
In our interview, Jude comes across much less calculated than the shock jock term implies. This man is without pretense, often to his own detriment. In response to my comment that most people who’ve been through the kinds of things he has keep to themselves, he says, “Those are the smart people. Those are the people who can keep a girlfriend."
But it’s working for Rude Jude. He was hand-picked by Eminem to host what has become the channel’s #1 show, and has kept that job for 11 years. Hyena has been optioned for a show at HBO that Jude is currently writing, in addition to a second book.
Along the way he’s learned some incredible lessons:
On getting out of his comfort zone - If you’re comfortable you’re not growing. Keep putting yourself in situations where you’re uncomfortable.”
On the power of a job well done - Anything I do you got to do that shit 100%. My poles at the strip club were clean as fuck.
On knowing his strengths - Everybody has an advantage. Figure that shit out and leverage it. It’s like X-Men characters you got to figure out your shit and work it. I’m the crazy don’t give a fuck white dude. I know that shit and it looks like a fucking pedophile. It works for me. I leverage it as much as possible.
Oh, and on East Coast rap - You ain’t done shit dope since the 90’s. Like there’s 10 million people in your city, think about it per capita how wack you are. Fucking lames. And then you can’t say, “Oh we invented rap.” Fucking 40 years ago. What have you done lately? Nothing.
Listen to our interview as we dig into inspiration, aspiration, and what pushes Jude to stay rude, as well as the times he thinks he may need to be a little less rude.
Mix Engineer: James Soriano