Rick Ross Denies His Friendship & Beef With Drake Were Fake

BY Gabriel Bras Nevares
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Rick Ross Denies Friendship Beef Drake Fake
Rick Ross performs at FedExForum for the Legendz of the Streetz Tour on February 6, 2022, in Memphis. Jf1 1284. Justin Ford / For CommercialAppeal.com / USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
On "The Joe Budden Podcast," Rick Ross pushed back on Joe's claim that either his friendship or his feud with Drake was farcical.

Rick Ross recently joined The Joe Budden Podcast to talk about his new album Set In Stone and all the drama that's followed him around over the past two years. This is referring to his feud with Drake, which saw the former collaborators turn against each other as a result of the Kendrick Lamar battle. But when Budden suggested either Rozay's friendship or feud with Drizzy may be disingenuous, Ross pushed back.

The Maybach Music Group mogul scrutinized Budden's assessment that all the camaraderie was a "facade," as caught by DUB HERE on Twitter and YouTube. "No, no, don't get it f***ed up. Nothing about that was fake," Ross remarked.

"If a n***a f**k with you, a n***a f**k with you," he continued. "If it's something that go left, that's when it go left. It can go left right now on this podcast. It wasn't fake. Before that, n***as showing love."

Joe said the podcast can't go left because he's been with his crew for a long time, arguing there needs to be a bigger explanation or reason behind Ross turning his back on a longtime collaborator. But Ross said folks can't be looking for connections like that to make perfect sense, retorting Budden's point with the rapper and podcaster's own feud with his previous podcast mates, Rory and Mal.

"Some things are not to be looking for the connection," he explained. "That's like me looking for the connection between the last weird n***as you used to do the podcast with. You loved them n***as, didn't you? That's business. You moved on. That's what you got to do as a boss. You wish all them n***as the best if it ain't no real pressure. Continue to do you, keep winning. But once it go left, it go left."

Drake's Rick Ross Beef

Elsewhere during the JBP conversation, Rozay said he's not thinking about reconciliation right now, choosing to move onto other things. But Rick Ross remembered his bond with Drake fondly, arguing things just went left. He also emphasized the purely music and business-based dynamic in all of this, arguing people have parasocial assumptions about artists being closer as friends than they are as peers.

Ross also emphasized the value of loyalty, but also said he can't always base himself off of that value. Budden also asked him if he's beefing with Meek Mill, rumors which he denied.

For those unaware, Rick Ross' beef with Drake started when the former accused the latter of sending French Montana a cease and desist. This was amid the K.Dot battle, and disses followed rapidly. Since then, Ross has spoken a lot about the dynamic, and mostly seems to want to move on from the actual beef but still be cheeky, playful, but earnest with it in the public eye.

About The Author
Gabriel Bras Nevares is a staff writer for HotNewHipHop. He joined HNHH while completing his B.A. in Journalism & Mass Communication at The George Washington University in the summer of 2022. Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Gabriel treasures the crossover between his native reggaetón and hip-hop news coverage, such as his review for Bad Bunny’s hometown concert in 2024. But more specifically, he digs for the deeper side of hip-hop conversations, whether that’s the “death” of the genre in 2023, the lyrical and parasocial intricacies of the Kendrick Lamar and Drake battle, or the many moving parts of the Young Thug and YSL RICO case. Beyond engaging and breaking news coverage, Gabriel makes the most out of his concert obsessions, reviewing and recapping festivals like Rolling Loud Miami and Camp Flog Gnaw. He’s also developed a strong editorial voice through album reviews, think-pieces, and interviews with some of the genre’s brightest upstarts and most enduring obscured gems like Homeboy Sandman, Bktherula, Bas, and Devin Malik.

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