By now we’re all aware of the intended and unintended consequences of the diss record. We’ve written about it before. But what we’re witnessing from one of the game’s veterans is the complete whoring out the diss record.
On the June 12 edition of the HHSR Podcast, we referenced Joe Budden’s podcast, along with his forced attempt creating a beef with Drake after he emphatically stated Drizzy was not evolving as an artist. After several weeks and a few internet jabs here and there, Joe went on a full-fledged offensive when he released “Making of a Murderer” last week. The attempt to coax a response from the Canadian emcee fell on deaf ears, which resulted in Joey putting out yet another diss record, “Wake”, a few days ago.
Borrowing from Drake’s “Back To Back” diss of Meek Mill last summer — where Drake literally released back-to-back disses once the Philly rapper failed to respond to the initial attack, using a picture of former Toronto Blue Jay Joe Carter walking off on the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1993 World Series to seal back-to-back championships as cover art — Budden used a picture of current Blue Jay José Bautista catching a fade from Rougned Odor as the cover art for “Wake”.
Again, no response. No doubt frustrated, Budden decided to kick it up a notch on Saturday by further slandering Drake on Twitter.
The whole thing reeks of a washed emcee looking to bait the biggest star in the game into a tit for tat battle. Clearly, Drake has nothing to gain from engaging with Joe. Clearly Budden, who can actually rap, has everything to gain. 6 God has never been a stranger to sneak dissing— Budden decided to narcissistically claim Drake’s “4pm in Calabasas” as a diss largely aimed at him, which he subsequently used as fuel for his two records. This, after he foolishly analyzed how roughly every line of Calabasas was “about him”, for which he was mocked.
Here’s the deal: Could a line or two from “4pm in Calabasas” been a cleverly disguised shot a Joe? Sure. Could this clip of Drake & French Montana in the studio referencing “Pump It Up” soon after Budden’s podcast ripping Views dropped be a shot of sorts? Yeah, maybe. But it’s all speculation at this point. And for Joe Budden to throw himself this aggressively into a one-sided beef, it makes you recall why, despite his talent, his approval rating with most fans has always been in the commode.
Why would the most popular rapper in the world take the time to slander Budden that much (according to Joe), only to then not go directly at him when the opportunity presented itself? Probably because Drake never actually went at Joe. Drake already has all the material needed to continue to make veiled remarks about those praying on his downfall. He also has more attention than he could ever handle. Joey is the one starved for attention, which he’ll only receive if Drake takes the cap off the pen.
“Wake” is better than “Making A Murderer” in my opinion, but it’s unlikely either record will succeed at siphoning the spotlight away from the Drake machine. They have however succeeded in making Budden appear desperate, pathetic and washed, which is sad.