Joe Budden got mixed reactions after announcing that he was departing from Spotify. The podcast host announced that The Joe Budden Podcast would not renew their 2-year deal with the streaming platform after signing an exclusive deal with them in 2018. Criticism and support flooded the timeline. Many co-signed the decision to take ownership of his podcast away from the corporate giants while others, like Charlamagne Tha God, believed Joe's stubbornness got in the way.
Charlamagne Tha God was among those who dished out some harsh criticism, suggesting Joe needed to get better at negotiations. Joe expressed his disappointment before saying that no one else is aware of the full details of the deal and what happened with Spotify. But beyond that, Joe suggested that there's some underlying competition between the two.
"I know that you have this healthy obsession with me. I know that you think that we are in a competition. You might also think that we are fighting the same fight. You would be mistaken with all three of those," Joe said, pointing out to Dame Dash's interview with the Breakfast Club. "Charlamagne, you not gonna get it because I own this. My most valuable, my most powerful, my most accomplished asset, I own it. Ownership. You see all these Black people running around preaching ownership, ownership, ownership? There's a reason for it," he continued.
Charlamagne's credentials speak for itself but Joe continued to point out that he still works for iHeartRadio, and has for the last decade. Stacking up the success of The Breakfast Club since it's inception, Joe explained that he would've never done a podcast under iHeart while serving as an on-air personality of their radio networks because it's a "conflict of interest."
As we've seen over the course of Joe's career, he's also been someone to emphasize ownership in his own way, be it through his vlogging days, rap career, or even Everyday Struggle. "I see people sayin', 'there go Joe burnin' a bridge again.' There's oppression on the bridge!" Joe said.
"I can not have someone with a voice as powerful as you just be misinformed on shit. 10 years, he y'all number one, how are you paid? I'm listening to your fuckin' ads. We not havin' the same fight behind the scenes. It looks the same but it's not the same," he said.
Check the episode out below.
