Joe Budden is a figure who, over the past decade, has had an extreme resurgence. The New Jersey emcee first emerged in the early-2000s and was a big name on the New York City mixtape circuit. In 2003, he released his well-known hit ‘Pump It Up’.
However, he didn’t have a tremendous amount of success with his follow-up singles, and his album was not commercially successful. Joe Budden was initially signed to Def Jam, then moved to Roc-A-Fella Records with CEO Damon Dash.
Although Budden was widely considered one of hip-hop’s most gifted lyricists, during the early-2000s, potent artists such as Eminem, Lil Wayne, and 50 Cent quickly eclipsed Budden. After becoming a one-hit-wonder, the New Jersey act struggled with drugs and has since been open about his ongoing struggle with addiction.
After ‘Pump It Up’, only the rhymer’s cult fanbase paid significant attention to his music. He formed a supergroup with Crooked I, Royce da 5’9″ and Joell Ortiz in 2008, named Slaughterhouse. However, even with the support of Eminem, the collective failed to become commercially successful.
Budden re-entered the public eye in 2012 after he joined the reality TV show Love & Hip-Hop: New York and shortly after began his successful rebrand as a cultural commentator, first becoming a co-host of the Complex YouTube series Everyday Struggle. He then became the primary host of the series State Of The Culture before eventually forming his podcast, The Joe Budden Show.
As a frustrated musician and outspoken commentator over the years, Budden has created his fair share of enemies, many of whom still have issues with him. From an uncomfortable dislike to pure hatred, the five rappers who hate Joe Budden are below.
The five rappers who hate Joe Budden most:
5. Eminem
Eminem and Joe Budden have had a tense relationship over the years. The uncomfortable feud they have had surrounds Budden’s failed collective Slaughterhouse. The group had a successful start. However, their album release date got pushed, and as artists repeatedly dipped in and out of solo work and other endeavours, the group collapsed. Budden has been harsh and critical of Eminem ever since he left Shady Records.
The rapper-turned-podcaster has made remarks about Eminem (real name Marshall Mathers), such as calling one of his songs “trash” and “disgraceful”. By doing this continuously, Budden caused Eminem to snap, and in 2018, on the track ‘Fall’, Mathers addressed Budden directly.
Taking shots at Budden, Mathers rapped, “I’m sorry, wait, what’s your talent? Oh, critiquin’ / My talent? Oh, bitch, I don’t know who the fuck y’all are.” He continued, “Somebody tell Budden before I snap, he better fasten it/Or have his body baggage zipped/The closest thing he’s had to hits is smacking bitches.” Eminem still has a fair amount of hatred for Budden, and the two aren’t very friendly.
4. Lil Yachty
In 2017, Lil Yachty came head to head with Joe Budden when he appeared on the Complex YouTube series Everyday Struggle. Budden expressed his hatred for the rapper’s debut album, Teenage Emotions, which had a controversial cover and, according to Budden, subpar music.
Lil Yachty told Budden that he was “happy every day” in his career, to which Budden insisted that he was lying and couldn’t be happy in hip-hop. He also intensely questioned the Atlanta emcee about why he was in hip-hop and if it was simply a means to an end, as he didn’t see a love for the craft. A heated exchange transpired as Budden tore into Yachty about his true feelings about rap. The ‘One Night’ rhymer simply told Budden to “Chill.” However, the two never crossed paths again, and it’s safe to say this is most likely intentional on Yachty’s part.
3. Migos
The Migos’ hatred for Joe Budden began in 2017 when he, alongside DJ Akademiks, interviewed the Atlanta trio on the BET Awards red carpet. Budden has since unveiled that he felt that the group had a false sense of entitlement as they answered questions nonchalantly and disrespectfully.
Following attempts to ask them questions, Budden got up, dropped his mic, and walked away, after which the Migos stood up and approached him. There was a brief altercation before security stepped in.
Then, in a preview of the song ‘Ice Tray’ on Instagram, Quavo captioned the post with a line directed at Budden, writing, “Ice tray, a n*gga flooded / If a n*gga hatin’ call him Joe Budden (pussy!),”
A Twitter spat began that saw Budden take to X/Twitter to write, “Quavo want smoke? Lol. N*gga called me pussy on the adlib track. Soon as it’s all peace, he decides to unleash this lyrical venom in my direction… that’s crazy. smh.” A slew of memes from the Migos of Budden began circulating the internet, and the spats got more vicious. The hatred between the Migos and Joe Budden hasn’t been put to bed yet.
2. Logic
Joe Budden has somewhat of a hatred for Logic, and he has expressed it on multiple occasions. Budden has previously revealed how uncomfortable it is when Logic raps about how black he is and isn’t. The Maryland rhymer speaks about his race on every project. Budden has concluded there is an element of self-hate and frequently puts his opinion out there.
However, Logic has responded to Budden on a number of occasions. During an appearance on the Rory & Mal podcase, the Vinyl Days artist spoke about Budden’s accusations, stating, “I’m being a man who’s honest and open. Joe Budden is a hurt person. I’m talking about Joe. It’s the first time in my career I have openly talked about Joe.”
Although Budden is relentless in his hounding of Logic and sends barrages of abuse his way via his podcast, Logic rarely speaks back but undoubtedly has a hatred for the New Jersey emcee.
1. Drake
Drake has poked fun at Budden online for many years, and the podcaster hasn’t responded shyly. The pair have developed a passive-aggressive yet somewhat humorous relationship with each other. However, Budden has recently ramped up his abuse of Drake.
Last year, he accused Drake of “rapping for children” as he ranted, “Yo dog, I had to look up how old this n*gaa was when I finished listening to the album. You are 36 [years old]. Your birthday is in 20 days. I Googled that, too. You’re going to be 37 years old. Get the fuck away from some of these younger n*ggas!”
However, Drake has recently responded to Budden telling him in Twitter/X, “@joebudden you have failed at music you left it behind to do what you are doing in this clip cause this is what actually pays your bills. For any artist watching this just remember you are watching a failure give their opinion on his idea of a recipe for success… a quitter give their opinion on how to achieve longevity.”
Drake concluded, “You switched careers cause the things that pop into your brain had you broke living cheque to cheque, and the raps you write had 450 men showing up to your shows in dusty Enyce jeans to screw up their face to Mood Muzik 29 and pretend you are the goat.”
The two artists truly hate each other and, although it can sometimes be humourous, there is no reconciliation on the horizon.
