State Champ Radio joe budden
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Drake has been seen giving Sexxy Red a lot of gifts and public accolades – but Joe Budden isn’t so sure it’s genuine.
Drake has been spotted giving younger artists, primarily Sexxy Red a lot of support in recent months, calling her “my muse in this short and confusing life”.
The display has Joe Budden questioning the true motive behind it, even going so far as to suggest that Drake is getting financial compensation out of it. In the episode of his namesake podcast which last Thursday (March 28), Budden laid out his theory at the 2-hour mark of the show.
“Respectfully, it sound like a n*gga that could rap at that level that gets paid off of everybody’s deal tryna rap. That’s what it sound like to me. I’m not arguing with none of you n*ggas, I’m not trying to debate,” Budden said. That prompted a question from co-host Trevor “QueenzFlip” Robinson.
“Is this confirmed? Or is this just some inside sH*t that you sayin’?” Flip asked. “Oh, you think he just like being around Sexyy Red that much? I can name some more people.”
The comments caused a stir online, and Drake made it known that he got wind of the “Pump It Up” artist’s words in a highly public way. After his most recent It’s All a Blur Tour – Big As the What? concert tour stop, which was held at the UBS Arena in Elmont, N.Y. over the weekend, Drake posted a photo of Budden to his Instagram Stories with one question: “WHAT’S THE VIBES NY?!”
That same show, he also used his song “Energy” to direct some smoke toward Kendrick Lamar in response to his blistering verse on Future and Metro Boomin’s “Like That”, exclaiming “Fuck these n*ggas,” at the end [view the video here].
Sexxy Red issued her response to Budden’s claim, writing “They so dumb,” while quoting a post of the clip of Budden’s remarks.
Drake’s support of the “SkeeYee” rapper has been lavish, as she displayed in a post on X, formerly Twitter at the beginning of March where she posed with two of four Chanel bags that he apparently got her (they were in pink, purple, burgundy and black) along with $50,000 in cash. “Rich baby daddy gang, 50K n 4 Chanels fa a bad Bthc, Thank You Drake,” she wrote with heart and a kiss emojis.
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Photo: Getty
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Joe Budden is unabashed in his opinions and observations on happenings within the culture, and his vocal support of Russell Simmons adds to that reputation. In a recent episode of his eponymously-named podcast, Joe Budden referred to Russell Simmons as “amazing” and added that despite the allegations, people will continue to love the mogul.
On episode 705 of The Joe Budden Podcast, Budden and his cohosts discussed a recent image of Usher with Simmons hanging out in the background after the R&B singer visited Bali.
The pod noticed that Usher made knowledge of his visit to Bali known after his Super Bowl halftime show performance, which probably could have come with some requisite criticism. Parks, one of the cohosts, pushed back at a point Ice made that nobody is giving Usher grief because he’s universally beloved. Parks confirmed that Usher did indeed catch some heat for the image.
This prompted Budden to launch into a missive stating that people love Simmons and that no matter how heinous the crimes are that he’s accused of, folks will continue to love and support him.
“here’s nothing y’all can do to make people stop loving Russell Simmons. Not a thing in the world. Not a thing in the universe is going to make people stop loving Russell Simmons for as many lives as he impacted,” Budden said.
He then added, “Not to negate anything he has done, that stuff, but to those who didn’t have that experience with him, he has been nothing but kind, gentle, sweet, generous, and amazing if you don’t have that horror story with him.”
Budden then shifted his focus from Simmons and said, “Nobody speaks to the side where the women were auctioning their p*ssy to move up in the ranks of the system.”
Yikes.
Joe Budden clarified again that he wasn’t referring to the alleged victims of Russell Simmons.
To hear this portion of the podcast, hop to the 1:56:00 mark below.
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Source: Johnny Nunez / Getty
Joe Budden, whose only hit single, “Pump It Up,” finally achieved Gold status in 2023, is weighing in on the current state of “girl Rap:—calling the fan-created sub-sector “over.”
During his most recent episode of the Joe Budden Podcast, the former Love & Hip Hop star called out “girl rappers” while sharing his disdain for the bars after Cardi B released her highly-anticipated song, “Like What.”
“Y’all ain’t gonna want to hear it from me, but the girl rapper wave is over. Just telling you what it is,” Budden said. “The cream rises to the top, so Latto shall remain; Flo Milli shall remain; Rapsody will always be there, but she wasn’t really a part of [that scene]. But all of that, ‘Go find a girl, send her to Columbia, get it done, put her in the studio with f*cking Mike WiLL [Made-It] or any one of them n-ggas’—all that planting the girl in the scene, getting the record and it taking off—that wave is over.”
Budden’s scorching hot take came on the heels of Cardi B’s “Like What (Freestyle),” in which during the show, he suggested that the Bronx-bred MC is “scared” to release her highly-anticipated album over fears of the potential backlash awaiting her.
“Cardi B is afraid, and I’m tired of just nobody saying it,” said Budden. “Cardi B is scared to come out, it don’t take this long to come out.”
While Budden made a few valid points regarding the carbon copy method currently being used by the industry across the board, asserting his opinion when women are dominating and their male counterparts are fighting for their lives and starving for mentors is disingenuous. The continued lack of true concern over the problematic messaging that pushes drug use, violence and misogyny toward women in music and male-only podcast spaces aimed at men is alarming.
It also has to be noted that as a former artist, to see Budden play into the attempt to divide women in Rap from their male counterparts is not only reductive but also divisive in a genre that women had a major hand in co-creating. Then to announce that female rappers are “done” as if you have authority in the space is not only asinine but also egregious because it’s not supported by any facts.
In 2021, Cardi B made history in early March, becoming the first female rapper to have five No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Two years after she won Best Rap Album at the 2019 Grammys. That same year, Megan Thee Stallion picked up three awards, including Best New Artist. Doja Cat and Chika each received Grammy nominations in different categories–during that time and since, the new school of male rappers were absent.
Even though she hasn’t released a full album since 2018, Cardi B has been consistently putting out music. Following the release of Invasion of Privacy, Cardi has dropped six Top 100 singles (“Please Me,” “Hot Sh-t,” “Up,” “Bongos,” “Tomorrow 2 (Remix)” and the highly-decorated single, “WAP”)—which is why Offset took to Instagram to post the caption: “Stop being scary and drop the album s–t goes crazy [fire emoji].”
Regardless of how you feel about the messaging of female artists, for the last five years, women have been leading the pack. When gun violence and drugs were taking out some of Rap’s biggest artists, women were stepping up and making a name for themselves by giving listeners an alternative to murder music. The emboldened sound, reminiscent of the glam girl rap Lil’ Kim created, ushered in a new wave of boss women who weren’t taking any mess—but that’s seemingly why Joey and his band of incels are upset.
To continue to use the “BBL” and “lipo” comments as a rule only for women when men are getting them too—we all saw Funk Flex live in action on the table bumping “CREAM.” Let’s not forget Kanye West and Drake (allegedly)—yet no public slander or mention of it while deducing women in the same genre are doing the same thing as gimmicks, doesn’t make sense. Especially when the gimmick being used on young men is to have “opps” or be drug kingpins and gang leaders.
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The truth is, most of these men with opinions on women in anything need to find a young man to mentor and coach to sub-par-dom, because the whole trying to get clicks off of hating on someone who made it further than you thing is over.
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Source: @fatjoe / Instagram
“I never had dinner with the president!” – Ice Cube (“No Vaseline”)
O’Shea Jackson’s jab at Eric Wright on the scathing diss track aimed at his former N.W.A family carried significant weight in 1991. At the time, the president represented the power that was oppressive to the Hip-Hop community. A group like N.W.A didn’t participate in a lunch benefiting the Republican Senatorial inner circle, which was hosted by then-President George H. W. Bush. And the idea that Eazy-E did just that painted him out to be a traitor to the community.
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We fought the power for change in our community, we didn’t fraternize with the power in an attempt to join their fraternity. And any individual in the Hip-Hop community who didn’t adhere to these unwritten laws was subject to being publicly tarred and feathered. No questions asked.
Fast forward to 2024 and, as The Notorious B.I.G. once said “Things Done Changed.”
The power that we were up against in the 80s and 90s has changed shape over the years. It’s a little more complicated to figure out who “The Power” is now when the economics and landscape have been modified, altered and remodeled. In some ways it has changed for the better but, as they always say—the more things change, the more they stay the same.
“Sharing our platforms and our audiences with individuals who have spent the majority of their careers in the spotlight disparaging the very communities we come from is a dangerous proposition.”
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Source: handout / Candace Owens
Candace Owens is making some eye-raising decisions, from meeting up with Joe Budden for an upcoming interview to defending Beyoncé.Candace Owens has long positioned herself at the forefront of Black conservatism in America, quite often criticizing the Black community in the process. And that hasn’t gone unnoticed, with many Black people disparaging her for behavior that ultimately comforts the worst of white right-wingers and conservatives, such as promoting the fallacy that George Floyd wasn’t killed by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. But as the United States is in another tense election year, Owens seems to be shifting her stance ever so slightly within the past few days with two moves – the first being a surprise meeting with media personality and rapper Joe Budden.
Owens shared a photo of her meetup with Budden, which reportedly took place in Nashville, Tennessee to her Instagram Stories. The caption simply read, “It happened.” Budden had previously expressed admiration for Candace Owens, remarking on The Joe Budden Podcast that he doubted that she would ever call in to make an appearance. The author would respond on her own podcast last week, saying: “I’m going to take you up on your offer, publicly.”
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The news of the interview and the photo spread like wildfire across the internet, with many expressing their displeasure over the situation. HOT97 radio host Peter Rosenberg made his position plain in a post on X, formerly Twitter, writing: “So sick of the idea that conversations need to be had with bigots, trolls, and immoral a-holes …exchanging ideas among smart good people is useful … hearing a hateful hack babble on about hate is not worth anyone’s time.”
This follows a surprising position that Owens took in defending superstar singer Beyoncé’s latest single, “Texas Hold ‘Em”. from a slew of detractors believing it’s not truly a country song. “Some people are saying that this is not very country,” Owens said of Beyoncé’s new song. “I’m going to defend Beyoncé on that point because Beyoncé’s kind of always been country. She’s more country than Taylor Swift ever was for sure.” She continued: “Beyoncé is from Houston, Texas. She’s always had a twang… [Taylor Swift] put on a fake twang. Everyone was okay with it. You can’t say that Taylor Swift can do it, and Beyonce can’t.”
1. Everyone’s telling him.
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The Kid Mero, one-half of the former comedy and talk show duo Desus & Mero, has broken the silence around the pair’s split on his new podcast program. However, Desus is pushing back on Mero’s version of the split, calling cap on the whole breakdown.
Today, Mero is a co-host of 7PM in Brooklyn with Carmelo Anthony & The Kid Mero, with the pair taking on conversations in the pop culture space. Joe Budden, who knows a thing or two about professional public breakups, was a recent guest on the podcast and the topic of the Desus & Mero split came up.
“It’s the business, there’s no friends in the business, you know what I’m saying? We was in a situation where I got four kids, two mortgages. The taxes are crazy. I got real life situations going on,” Mero said, gesturing to Budden, and mentioning that he now lives in New Jersey.
He added, “So I’m like, ‘Yo, if we get an offer from DraftKings for 1.5, before they got logos on the NBA court, and you’re like, ‘Nah, bro this ain’t it.’ And I’m like, ‘Nah fam, I’m gambling illegally right now. This sh*t is legal in Jersey, I just moved here. This is going places, bro. We need to do this.’ And they’re like, ‘Nah?’ I’m like, ‘F*ck outta here!’ To me that’s like, the beginning of like, ‘Alright, this sh*t is corroding.’”
Desus, catching wind of the recaps made by various outlets, in this case, Complex, retweeted the article with a gif of the “cap” meme in response although he has elected so far to not say more beyond that.
At their height, Desus & Mero were an unstoppable force that crossed over into the hearts of America by way of their high-profile cable television program and appeared by all measures to become the next big thing in media and beyond.
Check out reactions from all sides below. We’ve also got the podcast episode in full below.
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Nicki Minaj and her beef with Megan Thee Stallion has become quite a hot topic, and a recent chat with Joe Budden displayed the depths of that rift. Via Twitter Spaces, Nicki Minaj went on a rant targeting Megan Thee Stallion, suggesting that the Houston star was never shot among other jabs.
On Wednesday (Jan. 31), Nicki Minaj joined Joe Budden, who maintains a robust Twitter Spaces community, for a 40-minute chat with the unavoidable topic of Megan Thee Stallion at the center. At several points in the discussion, Minaj suggested that Megan was never shot by Tory Lanez and that Roc Nation and an entity she referred to as “the machine” is responsible for the issue between the women.
Minaj also shared that she believes social media users were being paid $250 to disparage her online, only to turn around and say they’re supporting her diss track “Bigfoot” and once more saying the so-called machine is behind all of this.
“This is a dialogue between me, the machine and a bunch of different machines having to come together constantly using different people. When one fails, let’s go somewhere else and try,” Minaj said.
Because of Minaj’s vocal tones and voice changes, some were suggesting, as they’ve done previously, that the Queens superstar has a substance abuse problem. However, Minaj claims she’s never done cocaine and even said she’s willing to be tested.
On Twitter, reactions to Nicki Minaj discussing Megan Thee Stallion with Joe Budden went wide. We’ve got a handful of them below.
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Source: Variety / Getty / Vanessa Bryant
Joe Budden’s interview with the Pan African Avenger Dr. Umar Johnson continues to be the gift that keeps giving. Johnson is now under fire for saying something very ridiculous about Vanessa Bryant.
Dr. Umar had the internet talking about his unnecessary sitdown with The Joe Budden Podcast for saying Eminem is not a Hip-Hop GOAT and for putting pressure on Budden’s co-host Ish for his relationship with a white woman.
When it comes to Johnson, you can always count on him to say some completely outrageous nonsense if he’s given enough time to talk, and that was the case when Vanessa Bryant’s name came up.
The wife of the late Kobe Bryant has seen nothing but support following the tragic deaths of her husband and daughter, Gigi, but that didn’t stop the hater swirling to come for her with some completely unfounded accusations.
In the clip that has gone viral on X, formerly Twitter, Johnson accused Vanessa Bryant, who is of Mexican descent, of not using her husband’s money to help the Black community.
Johnson claims she “inherited [Kobe Bryant’s] wealth, and guess what? Is Vanessa Bryant using any of that Black man’s money to do any good in the Black community? Absolutely f****** not.”
When challenged on his claim, he responded, “She’s a public figure… I do know, and I’m telling you now. Vanessa Bryant just started an initiative with three predominantly white colleges, some sort of a sports initiative with Kobe’s money and Kobe’s name.”
He continued, “Didn’t choose a single HBCU [historically Black colleges and universities] with a Black man’s money.”
Is Dr. Umar Correct?
Of course, he isn’t. Vanessa Bryant and her late husband founded the Kobe and Vanessa Bryant Foundation in 2007, and one of its missions is to provide scholarships to minority college students and other youth globally.
It has since been changed to the Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation to honor Bryant and his daughter.
The JBP pushed back again on Johnson’s claims, adding there are notable Black celebrities who don’t give back to the Black community, and as expected, the man full of hot air had a response for that.
“There’s a difference, and you know what the difference is? If I marry a white woman, when I die, my wealth goes to the very people who robbed everything from my community.”
Yeah, sure.
Vanessa Bryant hasn’t responded to Johnson’s wild claims, but she doesn’t have to; social media is doing the job for her.
“Vanessa Bryant woke up one morning and never saw her husband and daughter again, and she is still (seemingly) functioning. If that woman puts all of Kobe’s money in a fuckin tissue box and wipes her tears with it every day, she deserves to do that,” one X user wrote.
Others point out how Johnson has failed to deliver to the school he’s been asking for donations for since 2014.
Welp.
You can see more reactions in the gallery below.
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Photo: Variety / Getty
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Joe Budden is no stranger to attracting controversy, especially after his ascension as one of the top podcasters in entertainment media. After Joe Budden critiqued the music and talent of NBA YoungBoy, which prompted a fiery response, the retired rapper apologized for the jab.
It has been a month of apologies for Joe Budden, this after he called Lupe Fiasco a “clout chaser” for rapping over one of Andre 3000’s songs from the Outkast rapper’s instrumental New Blue Sun album.
Because of the reach of Budden’s voice, his critiques typically find their way to the target. NBA YoungBoy was a topic on a recent episode of Budden’s eponymously named podcast where he called the Lousiana rapper “horrible” and didn’t understand how he’s got his streaming numbers as high as they’ve been.
NBA YoungBoy went on a fiery video rant, blasting Budden’s fame, and also took a shot at the rapper’s sexual prowess among other choice words. NBA also invited Budden to “Gravedigger Mountain,” which we can assume is the rapper’s residence in the mountains.
On the latest episode of The Joe Budden Podcast, Budden apologized to NBA around the 26-minute mark of the show, explaining that he listened back and didn’t like how he attacked the young rapper’s musical ability. Because Budden is typically masterful at the craft of podcasting, he joked around a bit in his response, but the apology didn’t lack sincerity.
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Birdman, who comes across as someone who isn’t about the funnies, issued a warning to retired rapper turned top podcaster, Joe Budden. The Cash Money Records honcho told Budden to halt his critiques of NBA YoungBoy and leave the Louisiana rapper alone, this after YoungBoy shared some thoughts too.
On episode 680 of The Joe Budden Podcast, the cast spoke briefly about the latest single from NBA YoungBoy, which turned into a moment for Budden to express his disdain for the rapper, who is currently on house arrest in Utah. Among the rappers of his generation, YoungBoy has a lengthy discography despite his relative youth and a highly supportive fanbase.
Although Birdman hails from New Orleans, YoungBoy has expressed sincere admiration for the mogul and explained that the pair are friends despite hailing from two different cities in their home state. That connection was on full display after the New Orleans boss took to Instagram Stories and sternly told Budden to back off from commenting on his young colleague.
“@JOEBUDDEN YOU F*KIN WITH SOMETHIN YOU SHOULD LEAVE ALONE,” read a portion of the message, which features an image of YoungBoy’s fiery response to Budden in which he also took a dig at the “Pump It Up” star’s sexual prowess along with telling Budden to not “rat” on him and inviting him to Gravedigger Mountain, which is presumably where the rapper lives in the Beehive State.
As one can imagine, NBA YoungBoy’s fanbase is giving Joe Budden the business due to the fact that he’s no longer an official Hip-Hop artist. Some on the other side are saying that because Budden was indeed nice in his day, he has a right to his opinion. Further, some are wondering why the opinion of a, in their words, failed rapper, has artists reacting in this fashion.
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