Joe Budden and his co-hosts on The Joe Budden Podcast have been giving fans inside scoops of the music industry for a while now. Though sometimes it’s better to take it with a grain of salt, you can’t deny that they often do have better insight on certain situations than others. Sometimes related to drama, other times, they get the exclusive drop on some heat.

On the latest episode of the Joe Budden Podcast. Mal blessed our ears with an exclusive remix of SAINt Jhn’s “Roses” with the one and only Future Hendrix. SAINt JHN’s “Roses” has been bubbling ever since its release, especially with the Imanbek remix that propelled it even further. However, this one feels special since the two are Atlanta natives with Saint JHN being one of the brightest songwriters out right now. Future brings his trap essence to the track. Perhaps this could signify and a new number one hit? Check it out below and decide for yourself.

In related news, Future recently notched his seventh number one album in America with High Off Life. The rapper’s latest project soared to the top of the charts but additionally, it also helped him earn more Billboard Hot 100 entries than Elvis. 

Check out the track below at the 184:40 mark below. Shout out to user JoJoReignsSupreme for the find. 

In the last decade, we saw two superstars emerge as some of the greatest artists to ever pick up a microphone: Drake and Kendrick Lamar. As it pertains to who reigns supreme of those two, that’s still a very valid question in the eyes of hardcore hip-hop heads. They each present such a different view into how we perceive music as great but audiences are still torn on who is the best. On one of the latest Joe Budden Podcast episodes, the debate actually came into question, being discussed as a competitive battle that will potentially end this year after both of their respective releases.

The amount of Drake leaks that have been coming out both intentionally and unintentionally is astounding and points to one thing and one thing only: OVO SZN is coming. As for the TDE camp, they seem to be easing us into something as well, announcing the new media company helmed by Kendrick Lamar and Dave Free. According to Joe Budden, the timing of that announcement could have been to offset the hype that Drake is generating, re-starting their friendly beef.

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“I don’t think that the Drake-Kendrick tension is dead,” says Budden. “I do not think that, in my lifetime, I have seen the end of the stigma, not saying it really exists, but the perception that is Drake vs. Kendrick. I think that last decade, they fought as long as they could fight and the decade ended without us having a decisive winner and I don’t think either of them have gotten off of that. Drake leaks have been leaking for months. When I say Kendrick has eyes, he sees that. […] I think Kendrick is the only one that could and would say, ‘I’m looking for that drop.'”

Are we in for a historic battle between Kendrick Lamar and Drake for 2020 rap supremacy? Listen below at the 37-minute mark.

There was once a time when Joe Budden and DJ Akademiks' strange yet fascinating dynamic on Everyday Struggle made for premium afternoon entertainment. True, they seldom saw eye to eye on matters both musical and philosophical, but seeing them gain begrudging respect for one another made for one of the era's definite feel-good bromances. And then came the split from Complex, which found Budden pursuing greener pastures while Ak stood firm on the show he helped build. 

It's hard to argue that both men made the right choice, given that Everyday Struggle remains successful and Budden's own ventures like REVOLT's State Of The Culture and The Joe Budden Podcast have cemented him as a dominant voice in hip-hop media. Still, there are many who still wonder what transpired behind the scenes, an old wound that was recently poked and prodded when State Of The Culture hit up The Breakfast Club. When the topic of Everyday Struggle was raised, Joe declared the split to be Complex's "biggest business blunder in a decade." "I love Wayno and I love Ak," says Joe. "I appreciate that the show is still on, but it's different."

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Sadly, Akademiks was none too pleased with his former co-host discussing business on a public platform and took to his Twitch feed to unleash an emotional rant. After voicing that Budden essentially used him as leverage during negotiations, Ak claimed that Everyday Struggle was still more successful that State Of The Culture. "Joe probably get ninety percent of the bread," says Ak. "That's all he ever wanted. Great for him, but view-wise? You can say Everyday Struggle ain't what it was in terms of cultural impact when Joe was there, but is anybody talking about State Of The Culture?"

"I'm trying to tell you to tame that ego," continues Ak. "And I've let ego get the best of me at times. I've said certain shit. Just chill out bro. I'm not upset at what your doing, I love what you're doing...It's dope! I want to get in the podcast game, it's never no hate. But when you try to position me not getting down with ya'll.  It's like you wanted me to be your son, I'm not nobody's son in this shit. All ya'll n***as are starting to realize the benefit of a platform." He maintains that he feels like he's been "thrown to the wolves," and reiterates that he would have never done the same to Joe. Yet twenty seconds later, he's claiming that Joe asked Complex for "three percent of the company" during his negotiation -- the plot thickens. 

You can check out the full rant below, as well as Joe's seemingly cavalier response -- perhaps these two need to sit down on one of their respective platforms and hash it out like the buddies they were once growing to be. 

Last week, Gayle King sat down for an interview with former WNBA star Lisa Leslie. The vast majority of the interview was about the legacy of Kobe Bryant in light of his death. Throughout the interview, King made Leslie uncomfortable with various questions about Bryant’s sexual assault case in Colorado from back in 2003. King kept asking Leslie if the case hurt Kobe’s legacy and Leslie continuously said it didn’t. In the aftermath of this interview, King received a ton of backlash and is still dealing with the pushback.

On the most recent episode of the Joe Budden Podcast, Joe, Rory, Mal, and Parks tried to tackle the subject. Mal began by speaking out against Snoop Dogg who threw various insults King’s way. As Mal explains, Snoop shouldn’t talk about an older black woman in such a way and that Snoop was out of pocket. As for King’s interview, everyone agreed the questions were out of line. Joe and Mal were particularly hard on King as they said they were disappointed in her line of questioning.

Budden and the rest of his podcast mates have been incredibly respectful and celebratory of Kobe’s life throughout the grieving process. In the podcast following Bryant’s passing, Joe made sure to have everyone give their favorite memories of the star who inspired millions of people throughout the world.

Let us know in the comments below what you think of Budden’s analysis.

Over the weekend, many were left grappling with a disturbing open letter from Mase to Diddy. Essentially, the former Bad Boy lyricist called hypocrisy on Diddy‘s pledge for black ownership in music, detailing his own experience being signed in an unfair publishing deal. Given the increasing distrust of major labels and their practices, it wasn’t surprising to see a debate on the topic explored. Naturally, the guys over at the Joe Budden Podcast had some interesting and engaging takes on the subject. 

Mal gives a riveting rendition of Mase‘s open letter to Puffy, which details a two-million-dollar offer spurned by the Bad Boy CEO. After laughing that Mase is “snitching,” Budden declares himself to be on Diddy’s side. “Even if they did this correctly, how much publishing do you think he was giving Mase?” asks Joe. “If me and [Parks] do a song, before the song is released, we have to get on the phone and go back and forth about publishing. Who owns what percentage of what record. Those are the conversations that should be shared more.”

Mal interjects that Mase wrote the majority of Puffy’s music, but Joe feels that business is business. “Let’s say that Mase at nineteen knew everything there was to know about publishing. He would have to have the conversation, the back and forth. If the conversation were to be hard, how much do you think he’s coming away with…I’m Puff, coming off all these successful albums, and I have a sound and a formula and a look that’s going to work. I also have the relationships, I have everything. With that said, yes you can rap but I’m going to come in there and construct everything with you and change your life.”

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“What happened here is wrong,” he continues. “20k for fifty years, I don’t know nothin’ about that. But if everything happened correctly, I don’t think Mase is walking away with a lot of his pub at all.” After Parks maintains that he’s on Mase’s side, Budden interjects. “I think all of us with a heart will read this and say something isn’t right. But whatever is done got done. We’re in 2020 and let’s assume the Harlem World publishing is worth what…I have it at eight figures, that’s my guess. In 2020, you come to me and offer two mill for something worth eight-figures. How many people do you know today that’s honoring that and giving it back?”

Mal feels that if someone did some “fucked up shit back in the day,” they should make it right when given the chance. “[He] still gave a new artist a shitty deal,” says Mal. “Someone who didn’t know about the industry. [He] took advantage of somebody. Even back then, [20 grand] was chump change compared to what they were selling. It was bullshit money. Now you’re at a point where you’re going to stand on stage and speak this thing, which is dope, cool. But make shit right with the artist you have wrong shit with…The bottom line is, the deal happened over twenty years ago. We know what we know about business, Mase was nineteen back then, happy to make some money, be driving a nice car. Now, when you learn the business, it’s like damn, you gave me a fucked up deal.”

Joe claims that it’s still going on, further Mal’s point. “You can’t preach this if we enslaving each other,” he continues. “You speaking all this ownership this, ownership that but it’s like, you still signing these young cats off the streets who don’t know about the business, and ya’ll raping them. Ya’ll taking advantage. If it was a white label owner, we’d be going crazy.” Check it out below, with the discussion sparking up around the seventy-minute mark. 

The feud between Eminem and Joe Budden goes back years and whenever the former releases new music, fans will spend some time dissecting the lyrical content to see if they can interpret any Budden shade in the mix. In the biggest surprise of the year thus far, Eminem released a shock album last week called Music To Be Murdered By, which features Juice WRLD, Young M.A, Don Toliver, and members of Slaughterhouse. Unsurprisingly, Budden was not one of the Slaughterhouse members featured on the album, which makes sense considering his recent comments about the group’s ties to Shady Records. There are some lines on the project that clearly have to do with Joe, including the “Traitor Joe” lyric, and the retired rapper is now sticking up for himself on his podcast by suggesting they just put their differences to the side.

As reported by HipHopDX, Joe Budden addressed his beef with Eminem on Episode 314 of TheJoe Budden Podcast. Speaking on the “Lock It Up” bar in which Em spits “Try’na save at Kroger, so why would I give a fuck about back-stabbin’ Trader Joe for?”, Budden had the following to note:

“Trader Joe, Trader Joe, Trader Joe — that’s hurtful,” he said. “That’s not right! That’s offensive, man. Trader Joe? I’m Joe. You’re telling me Joe is a traitor? The same way I feel like [Eminem] should stop dissing Lord Jamar, he should stop dissing me. Hey, whatever we had, that exchange when you did all the [interviews with Sway], and whenever I said whatever I said on the pod, it’s a moment in time. We had our exchange. It’s over. In 2020, I can’t harbor negativity not only towards one of the best rappers, but somebody I’m not angry at. That’s what I gotta stop doin’. I don’t be mad at the people I come in and kill. There’s no hostility after that.”

Elsewhere in the podcast, Joe Budden discusses the newly-released documentary about Aaron Hernandez, Lori Harvey’s clique, the desperation from Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez to pass Roddy Ricch, and more with his co-hosts. Check it out below.

Joe Budden recently took it upon himself to comment on Ari Lennox's response to a Twitter troll who claimed she looked like "a rottweiler," and Joe is getting some heat for it. Last week, a random troll posted a tweet that said, "Ari Lennox and Teyana Taylor's ability to have dangerously high sex appeal while simultaneously looking like rottweilers will always amaze me." Ari was not having that kind of disrespect, quote-tweeting the post with, "People hate blackness so bad," followed by her own tweet, "Moms and Dads please love on your beautiful black children. Tell them they’re beautiful constantly. Tell them Black people are beautiful. Tell them black features are beautiful." She also replied to a different user with the statement, "Black women literally the most disrespected. Period."

DaBaby has requested that everybody stop focusing on his recent arrests but, upon Joe Budden‘s return to his regular podcasting duties, he did quite the opposite. Discussing the hottest topics in hip-hop from over the holidays with Rory and Mal, Joe Budden went in-depth on the rise of Griselda, Drake‘s interview on Rap Radar, and much more. The crew spent approximately fifteen minutes discussing what’s been going on with DaBaby in recent weeks, arguing about his current status in the rap game and how he continually finds himself in trouble. From that incident years ago at Walmart to his most-recent robbery case against a concert promoter, the North Carolina native has found himself being tailed by the police. If he doesn’t switch up his methods soon though, Budden believes the hip-hop community may suffer a major blow.

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If anything happened to DaBaby right now, the rap world would be devastated. He’s currently one of the biggest artists in the world, contributing so much to the genre in such a short time. Budden drew a comparison between the KIRK artist and Bobby Shmurda, although the New York star had only truly delivered two hit records when he was shut down by the cops. Shmurda is expected to get out of prison this year but he spent the last five years of his life reflecting on how things could have been different had he not been involved in street life. Budden thinks that, unless DaBaby makes major changes in his composure, he may have a similar future.

“We were all feeling this exact same way about Bobby Shmurda,” says Budden in his latest podcast, likening the two stars. “[Bobby] was a young kid who came from a certain life and was having a whole lot of fun and making a wave for himself. And then he allegedly didn’t stop certain behavior, [the police] came and snatched him and then hip-hop suffered. Boy, would hip-hop suffer if that same thing happened to DaBaby. And if he continues to allegedly beat people up at potato chip stands, airports and after the show, that is exactly what will happen and we as a whole will be sad about it.”

See what he had to say near the end of the video below.