Third best hip-hop artist of all-time, Joe Budden revealed that he believes that Jay Z outperformed Jay Electronica on his highly-anticipated debut album, A Written Testimony (2020). The opinionated retired rapper and his Joe Budden Podcast associates took the time to indiscriminately analyze the New Orleans rapper’s project in its totality. While many participants in the culture believe that Hov’s contributions to the LP were necessary, well-crafted, and executed to perfection, others believe that Jay Z might have taken the spotlight from Jay Electronica on his own body of work. It just so happens that the coveted hip-hop media personality believes the latter and had some additional views about Jay Electronica’s performance on the album in comparison to Hov’s.  Theo Wargo/Getty Images

On Saturday’s (March 14) episode of the JBP, the New Jersey-bred ex-emcee didn’t hold back regarding his thoughts of A Written Testimony claiming that the “Better in Tune” was outshined by his Roc Nation counterpart and expressed his disappointment with the project that took nearly a decade to release. At approximately the 32:15-mark of the episode, Joe Budden gets candid about his thoughts of the project stating:

“It is a mistake. As a rapper, I’m telling you, he (Jay Electronica) got smacked around (by Jay-Z).” Joe continued, “Granted, this is hate, but it’s rapper hate. Because, when y’all move the goalpost, as a rapper, I see it. For the last decade, y’all have mentioned Jay Elec with Hov. And Jay Elec positions himself that way on arguably one of the greatest tracks ever on ‘Exhibit C.’ That is God level rhyming.”

The 39-year-old media personality then went on to clarify his statement of ‘hating’ A Written Testimony around the 41:00-mark, declaring:

“I hate this album. F*ck what y’all talking ’bout. I hate it. Hate is my underwhelmed. For me to say I’m underwhelmed, I didn’t go into it expecting anything.”

While Joe Budden might have been disappointed with Jay Electronica’s performance on his debut release, ex-Roc-a-Fella associate, Choke No Joke, revealed his disdain for Jay Z’s contribution to the album writing one hell of a soliloquy on his Instagram account taking shots at the Roc Nation head honcho.

Check out the full episode of The Joe Budden Podcast in the streaming link provided below.  

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.”

Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images 

“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.