Though artists tend to stand by their work, it's not uncommon for them to re-evaluate their takes in hindsight. For KXNG Crooked, veteran rapper and member of the legendary quartet Slaughterhouse, his discography has become quite massive throughout the years. Seeing as he's become one of the more interactive rappers on Twitter, directly engaging with his fans about hip-hop history, his own career, and the art of rap in general, he ended up fielding an interesting question about the one song he'd like to delete from his memory banks.

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After being asked about a song that still haunts him to this day, Crook took things back to the Slaughterhouse Shady Records debut album Welcome To Our House.  "Slaughterhouse “Throw It Away," he admits. "I think the song’s title was trying to tell us something." Though he didn't elaborate much more than that, many fans were quick to point out how the track was ultimately a single, complete with a music video at that. Knowing what we know now, it stands to reason that Crook must have been outvoted on that particular front.

Regardless of how you feel about the dEnAun produced track, which also features a chorus from Swizz Beatz, it's still cool to see Crooked speaking openly on his musical journey. You have to admire a rapper willing to take a step back and reflect on the missteps, so much respect to Crook for answering the question in the first place. How do you feel about "Throw It Away" after all these years?

Joe Budden, SZA, and more shared some beautiful messages about their late friend, Jas Waters, also known as Jas Fly, who passed away earlier this week at 39 years old. The news broke on Wednesday (June 10th) that Jas, a prominent hip hop journalist and TV writer for shows like This Is Us and Kidding, had died. Although her cause of death is still unknown, the news was devastating for those who knew and loved Jas. Many took to social media to pay their respects.

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Late Wednesday night, Joe took to Instagram to remember Jas. "Many of us are in a lot of pain tonight," he wrote on a photo of Jas, "and the person who would know the perfect thing to say to brighten our spirits has gone home..... i love you, trust you and will miss you.. Rest peacefully Queen Jas."

SZA also paid tribute to Jas on social media by retweeting one of her old tweets with a kind message. "You had a purpose before anyone had an opinion," Jas had written back in 2015. "Remember that. And when asked 'who do you think you are?' answer 'whom I was created to be.'" SZA quoted this wisdom with, "Thank you for your time here and honest perfectly put words. Rest in Love queen."

Joe Budden and Nicki Minaj have a long history of throwing jabs at one another and that continued following the announcement of the Queen's new collaboration with Tekashi 6ix9ine.

Updating her merch shop, Nicki Minaj announced her new single with 6ix9ine called "Trollz." The song will be available at the end of this week and a part of the proceeds will be donated to a bail fund for low-income individuals. 

Though Joe Budden‘s breakout single “Pump It Up” has occasionally been used as ammunition against him, those who remember growing up in the early millennium still hold love for the Just Blaze-produced banger. It’s easy to forget that the single stemmed from his full-length eponymous debut album, released seven-years ago to this day.

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Boasting tracks like the Busta Rhymes-assisted “Fire,” the lengthy “10 Mins,” and another Just Blaze collaboration in “Give Me A Reason,” the project served as a reasonably decent showcase of Budden’s abilities — albeit tailored heavily toward the mainstream.  Though Budden would go on to shed some of those habits on his ensuing Mood Muzik mixtapes, it remains an interesting starting point for one of the game’s esteemed lyricists. One that Budden himself, currently enjoying his run as a reigning media mogul, took to Instagram to celebrate.

“It’s called a journey because you have no idea what you’ll embark on,” he captions, alongside the Joe Budden album cover. “But you’ll know what to do not only by what you find, but by what those findings do to you. Happy Anniversary to me.” All things considered, it has been one hell of a ride for Jumpoff Joey, who has since provided countless gems whether as an emcee or a podcast personality. When all is said and done, we can only hope that the game starts recognizing Joe Budden for everything he has brought to the table. Happy anniversary, Joe!

It was a rough day for Virgil Abloh on Monday (June 1). The wealthy fashion designer and CEO of Off-White captured attention after he shared his anger over his friend's store being looted by rioters taking advantage of protests. After being criticized, Abloh issued an apoloy. "I apologize that it seemed like my concern for those stores outweighed my concern for our right to protest injustice and express our anger and rage in this moment," he said. "Buildings are brick and mortar and material things can be replaced, people can't. Black lives matter. In this moment, those other things don't."

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In an effort to make amends for his remarks, Virgil Abloh shared that he'd donated $50 to Miami-based organization Fempower to help toward paying legal fees for detained protestors. He was quickly scrutinized for the amount of the donation, especially considering the cost of Off-White apparel, so he returned once again to explain that he has donated over in thousands to various efforts.

Never one to miss an opportunity to comment on the culture, Joe Budden took to social media to tease Abloh. "Y’all still buying 'Off White' ? Whole different meaning now huh lol," he tweeted. Budden later followed it up with, "Virgil’s response was the wild part… 'i did that to inspire the brokies' lol smh." He topped it all off over on Instagram when he shared a photo of Abloh's face on a $50 bill. Check out Joe Budden's message below.

Troy Ave debuted his brand new podcast, The Facto Show, last week and he just had to get the ball rolling with some dramatic ish. 

On the first episode, he started speaking about Joe Budden, who he refers to as “Hoe Buttons.” Just about an hour through the podcast, he started talking about the retired rapper, calling him “emotional” and claiming to know the reason why.

“Hoe Buttons, Joe Budden, you emotional motherfucker,” he said. “That n***a’s always emotional, man. I don’t know what the fuck is going on. I think it’s the drugs, he’s a fucking junkie, man.”

Expanding on his drug theory, Troy Ave then claimed that he and Fabolous may have something to do with why Joe Budden is always stirring the pot.

“It’s either the drugs or it might be… you know what I think? The main thing that makes this n***a emotional is probably because me and Fab fucked all the women that he’s ever loved in his life,” he said. “Between the two of us. We fucked every woman that he’s loved. So, maybe it’s like a Desert Storm thing when he goes at Fab or throws a little shot at me or whatever. It’s cool. Just know I didn’t forget.”

The Joe Budden Hoe Buttons talk begins at the 52:05 point.

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Joe Budden is not totally sold on what they’re telling us about the rampant coronavirus pandemic, indicating that he believes it’s really just “some form of population control.” On Monday (May 11th), a clip was posted of Joe’s virtual chat with Lupe Fiasco over IG live, in which the two of them discussed the impact that the pandemic has had on New York, known as the epicenter of the virus in the United States. After Lupe tells Joe that he looks like he hasn’t been outside in years, Joe points out that it’s because, “I’m actually abiding by what they’re telling us to do, which is stay in the house.”

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Despite declaring that “New York is fucked up,” Joe has faith that, along with his home state of New Jersey, the Empire State will be able to “bounce back” and recover. “It’s just gon’ be a slow, slow process,” he says, before casually mentioning his developing conspiracy theory. “I believe all this shit is some form of population control anyway.” He doesn’t elaborate further as Lupe quickly changes the subject, seemingly uninterested in discussing the theory with Joe. Watch their full IG live conversation below:

The Verzuz battles have gone from a COVID-19 quarantine phenomenon to a full-on business move for Swizz Beatz and Timbaland. Their series quickly shifted from two artists “battling” it out on Instagram Live by playing their best career hits to a celebration of music that boasts over one million viewers. While there have been plenty of rising artists of recent years who want a piece of the Verzuz pie, Swizz and Timbaland remain dedicated to showcasing the icons and legends who have helped pave the way for many of the artists topping the charts today.

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While speaking with Joe Budden on Instagram Live for Beatz’s Zone Radio, Swizz shared that he believes newer rappers should be “paying taxes” to the icons. “We can’t mix the hype with the reality of what this all started from,” Swizz said. “I want to raise a million dollars for each icon that started hip hop. Kool Herc on down.” Budden agreed.

“The fact we’re not paying taxes on who started hip hop shows we don’t f*cking really love hip hop,” Swizz continued. “The fact we don’t pay taxes as artists to those icons that paved the way, took the lower cut for the music that allow us to feed our family… F*ck the government. We need to be paying taxes to the creatives of hip hop that gave us freedom of speech to move forward. I’m going to go so hard with that.” Swizz added  “Melle Mel, Grandmaster Flash, and Sugar Hill Gang, minimum a million a piece.” Watch Swizz Beatz give his passionate petition for legends of hip hop below.

6ix9ine's ability to stir the pot is still as strong as ever, even if it's unintentional. The latest episode of The Joe Budden podcast touched on the rapper's return to the limelight following a year of controversy inside of the judicial system. Unfortunately, Natalie Nunn got caught in the crossfire of it all and recently retaliated.

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“I chimed in there for a quick second and I wasn’t looking at him or the numbers. I was looking at the comments [to] see which one of you n***as was being nasty and I saw the same nastiness — Natalie Nunn," he said. "I saw Natalie Nunn in there giving it up! Nasty ass Nat!"

Of course, it didn't take too long for Natalie and her husband Jacob Payne to catch wind of these comments. "You gon' get some smoke comin' your way," Natalie said in response during an IG Live. 

Before she let off a formal response, which I will get to momentarily, Payne issued a warning to Joe Budden. "Whoever know Joe Budden tell that n***a i said watch his mouth before he get himself is some sh*t he don't want no parts of," he wrote on an IG Story. "Bitch ass n***a stay talkn bout females like a female hiding behind a mic talkn bout he doing a podcast," he added. "Its gone be a pleasure to meet you my n***a."

Natalie shared the clip with a lengthy response but prior to that, she shared a DM she sent Joe Budden aggressively telling him off. Though he didn't respond directly to the DM, he tweeted, "Lol" with a facepalm and crying emojis, but Natalia directly aired him out along with evidence that she was called "Nasty ass Nat."

"DONT WORRY ABOUT WHO LIVES IM IN WHAT I THINK IS FUNNY WHO IM LEAVING COMMENTS PICTURES UNDER! I DROPED LAUGHING EMOJIS IN @6ix9ine live yesterday when he posted he’s watch up and said “I can’t beef with no one who ain’t got this watch” I’m here for the trolling I love the hip industry and the beefs JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE! BUT WHEN NATALIE DOES SOMETHING YALL GOTTA RUN MY NAME IN THE MUD NAHHHH N***A U SAID WHAT UR BITCH ASS SAID NOW DEAL WITH IT! FUCK NIGGA NEVER MET U A DAY IN MY LIFE U DONT KNOW ME AND U SPEAKING ON MY NAME! U CLICKED IN THE SAME LIVE LIKE EVERYONE ELSE IN THE WORLD DID BUT U WANNA COME FOR A FEMALE UR SUCH A FUCKING BITCH @joebudden HOE N***A."

Catch up with all the drama below. 

We’re not sure if you caught Joe Budden‘s previous podcasts, but the rapper made claims that if he was to enter the Verzuz Instagram Live Battle arena, he knew he would be able to beat Lloyd Banks and Fabolous. Then, after some thought, Budden decided to return with an apology. “I don’t think I’m beating Banks if he’s adding G-Unit stuff,” Budden said. “I think I lose that.”

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The Joe Budden Podcast may be social distancing, but that doesn’t keep the heated debates at bay. Budden’s co-host Rory stated that when it comes to just mixtapes, Joe Budden still would lose (by five) if he was up against Lloyd Banks. Budden was insulted by the remarks, so while filming a recent episode, he called up Banks to see what the former G-Unit rapper thought about the conversation.

After giving a chuckle, Banks admitted that he saw a tweet about the topic. He added that he has a few mixtape eras, so it all depends on what records are included. Rory chimed in that Joe has two eras, as well, calling one of them “sad.” They all shared a laugh over Rory saying Joe Budden could play his classic hit “Pump It Up” 20 times and still lose. Watch the discussion below and let us know if you think this would be an evenly-matched battle.