Joe Budden and DJ Akademiks used to be co-hosts on Complex's Everyday Struggle. For a year, Everyday Struggle was the network's flagship show. Eventually, Budden left the company over a pay dispute, while personalities like Star and Wayno were put in his chair.
Despite Budden's exit from Complex, the former rapper remained friendly with Akademiks. For years, the two supported each other and gave each other props whenever necessary. However, in recent weeks, Ak has been making slick comments about Joe. For instance, he floated the conspiracy that Budden was being paid by TDE to big up Kendrick Lamar during the Drake beef.
On Tuesday, Ak and Budden went head to head on Complex's hip-hop media power rankings list. Akademiks was at number one, and Budden was at number two. On his podcast, Budden was congratulatory of Akademiks. That said, he did have some questions pertaining to Ak's recent comments, and whether the two are truly on good terms.
Joe Budden Addresses Akademiks
“Ak I hear your lil streams n**** you want War? Like what’s up.. you tryna turn s*** up ? I gotta call my man to see what’s going on," Budden said.
He eventually went on to say that this is probably just a work with ICEMAN on the way. Following the Drake and Kendrick beef, Budden understands that the ICEMAN hype has led to some embellishment from Drake's camp.
For the most part, Budden was just joking about the "war" part. However, it would certainly be interesting to have Akademiks and Budden sit down to discuss ICEMAN when it officially drops later this month on May 15.
Akademiks has been hyping up this album for months, and everyone is curious to see if the album meets expectations. This could wind up being the biggest album of Drake's career, and the hip-hop media space is bustling with anticipation.
