It seems all is good between hip-hop superstar Drake and broadcaster Joe Budden as they appeared together on Budden's Instagram Live, yesterday evening, April 5.
The former enemies talked about why they have never met each other. Budden said, "You're the only one that, like, avoids me for some strange reason." The American broadcaster has previously met with other members of OVO, the Canadian record label Drake himself co-founded.
"Never avoid you," the Canadian rapper responded. Drake added that he does not see Budden, and they were never in the same place. Budden replied, "Cause I'm too broke?"
"I didn't want to say it," Drake finished and drew laughs.
Joe Budden also raised the fact that Drake has gone on a two-hour interview on "Rap Radar" with Elliott Wilson and B. Dot, and asked when he will get his interview with the "Hotline Bling" rapper. The "Rap Radar" hosts showed a sneak peek of his multi-million dollar Toronto mansion.
Drake answered, "When the album's ready."
Budden again quipped that Drake has been saying the same thing for a year and that he now has a "whole leaked album with like 30 Drake joints," which he claimed to be all "old sh*t."
Both Drake and Joe Budden have been in a long-standing beef ever since the broadcaster and media personality has openly criticized the rapper's fourth album, titled "Views" back in 2016. Budden called Drake's performance "uninspired" while calling the music produced by Noah James, "40" Shebib, "real good" and "amazing." Budden even said, "40 continues to progress. Drake, you do not."
Drake then released a single titled "4PM In Calabasas", which contained a few jabs supposedly aimed toward Budden, including the reference to the broadcaster's ex-girlfriend Tahiry Jose. Joe Budden shrugged it off, saying that even if Drake snapped and dissed him, he still did not sound inspired.
Pulling no more punches, Joe Budden released his diss track "Making A Murderer Pt. 1" directly aimed at Drake. Some of the scathing lines said, "My words ain't ghostwritten, I ain't Drake/ That's all gimmick I'm authentic, I ain't Drake." He also rapped "Aubrey when you sub real MCs; you get murdered."
While Drake seems to have quieted down, Budden still wasn't finished. He released "Wake", trying to elicit a response, even sampling lyrics he first used against Meek Mill on "Back to Back."
Together with French Montana, Drake released "No Shopping" in July 2016, setting aside some bars for his foe: "I'm not a one-hit-wonder, they know all my stuff/ You let me turn into the n*gga that you almost was." Drake later addressed their beef during his Summer Sixteen stop in Dallas a few months later. "I should've brought Joe Budden up here and let him do 'Pump It Up' one time tonight. Pump, pump, pump it up. F*ck them n*ggas, man."
Drake, born Aubrey Drake Graham, is a musician and entrepreneur who founded OVO Sound with his longtime associate Noah James Shebib, better known in the hip-hop world as 40. He has five studio albums, starting with "Thank Me Later" in 2010 up until "Scorpion" in 2018.
Joe Budden, on the other hand, is a cultural critic and a former rapper best known for his hit "Pump It Up" in 2003. His shows currently include "The Joe Budden Podcast," streamed bi-weekly on YouTube and Spotify.