Adin Ross' criticisms of Doechii have spiraled into a bit of a media toss-up between Joe Budden, DJ Akademiks, and a few other figures. But it's important to clarify things when relationships get contentious like this.
On the most recent episode of his podcast, Budden called Akademiks to confront him about not defending him to Ross when he was trashing Joe for his criticisms of his attacks against the Top Dawg star. If you can't tell, the game of telephone is long here. As caught by joebuddenclips/fanpage on Twitter, the former coworkers had an interesting conversation.
Ak said he wants to squash Budden and Ross' issues, whereas the former said he didn't care about that and only had concern with Akademiks' remarks about Joe. Ak understood where Budden is coming from, but also feels like he and Adin get "ganged up on" by folks outside of their audiences. Joe Budden responded by calling "his man" Akademiks and felt like Ak didn't defend him properly.
Then, DJ Akademiks said he understands the love that's there even in critical moments, and Budden just wants Ak to show that love more clearly and consistently. If he does that, then he's happy. Akademiks said he relates to Adin Ross' situation as a maligned younger content creator against "old heads" and said that threats of violence against Ross have exacerbated those rifts. Akademiks finished by throwing his support behind Joe and giving him his props, understanding his character and his best interests even when he's critical of Ak. "You'll never see a world where it's Akademiks versus Joe Budden," Akademiks remarked.
Joe Budden & DJ Akademiks' Relationship
For those somehow unaware, Joe Budden and DJ Akademiks were both hosts on Complex's "Everyday Struggle" show, one of the defining hip-hop media pieces of the 2010s whether you loved it or hated it. It was basically the representation of the old-head/new-head rift of the SoundCloud era and laid the foundation (for better or worse) for hip-hop media today.
As for Joe Budden's beef with Adin Ross, we'll see if that gets another update. Even with DJ Akademiks wanting to squash things, it's not looking promising.
