Joe Budden has stated his belief that The Joe Budden Podcast‘s current iteration is the best so far — without former co-hosts Rory and Mal.
Budden sat down with his former Everyday Struggle partner Akademiks on his Off the Record podcast and discussed a myriad of topics surrounding the music industry, media landscape and more.
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The brash rapper-turned-media mogul made it clear that he prefers his existing podcast lineup of Ish, Ice, Parks and newcomers Melyssa Ford and Queenzflip.
“I think this is the best that this podcast has ever been,” he professed, which Ak agreed with. “By far to me, though. I’m not saying that people out there would feel like another era was the greatest era. I’m saying that this is the best that this podcast has ever been.
“And I’m saying that in the ability to what we can speak about, how we can speak about it, how many opinions and different perspectives, how many people are researched and well-versed in these different topics. There’s topics that come up and I gotta shut the fuck up and throw the ball to my older co-hosts.”
Elliott Wilson reposted the clip on Twitter and fans flooded his replies by chiming in with their preference of Rory and Mal joining Joe or even the original era featuring Rory and Marisa Mendez that began in 2015.
“Lies. No such thing as a cohesive pod with 5+ mics. But I still listen cuz I like Ish and Ice,” one person wrote, while another added: “Joe doesn’t even believe that. This is version is such a tough listen (especially with Flip and Mel) I don’t even look forward to the episodes dropping anymore. I actually started listening to the old episodes again.”
Mal stepped away from The Joe Budden Podcast shortly after Rory was fired in May 2021. Last February, Mal joined The Personal Party podcast where he revealed there’s no chance of reconciliation.
“I don’t respect him at all,” Mal stated. “Shake his hand? I’ll shake the room before I shake his hand. That’s just what it is. It’s not even about the business or the money. It’s a lot of money, it’s a lot of money, bro, that me and Rory walked away from. It’s a lot of money that was taken out of our pockets. It’s a lot of money that still to this day, we don’t have no lawyers going after it. Keep it. We got our own bag.”
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He continued: “But, with that money that we walked away from, with that, what was owed to us that we walked away from, that was also me walking away from a relationship and a chapter of life that, once I walk away, you know, that door never opens again.”
