The Joe Budden Podcast - Episode 437 | "You Want It To Be One Way"

Episode Date: May 12, 2021

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We start here with, I'm owed money. I'm owed some money. I'm just waiting for somebody to ask me if I would like it in large bills or small bills like they do at the bank. But Savon, E-Rab, Alex Parks, I am owed money. Okay. Rory and Maul are not here. And while I was in L.A. on a beautiful balcony doing the things that I like to do, I called this. I called this one happening.

I predicted it. I predicted it. And you know what? I'm fucking tired of it. I'm good at this. I'm good at reading this shit, man. I'm good. I'm good.

So Corey and Ian might want to sit here and show resistance. No, it's Joe Stradamus in the flesh. He's here. See, look, they want to make fun of me. They want to make fun of me. That's what friends do. We were on that balcony, and I said, hey, man, listen, bottom line, you got to be prepared for all scenarios. Sure.

That's why I'm feeling good. I don't want to come off like I'm condescending and a sociopath and all the things they call me. When you're prepared for everything, you're prepared for everything. So it don't really matter what happens because you're prepared. So while we're on the balcony, I'm getting prepared. I'm getting prepared. And I'm saying, yo, how's this looking like when we get back in here? What's the vibes?

Maybe they don't come. Laughter everywhere. We made bets. I bet Corey. Let me keep it. There's a lot to say today, so I'm going to get to it. Some push-ups? What do they owe you? No, no, money, money, come. Laughter everywhere. We made bets. I bet Corey, let me keep it. It's a lot to say today, so I'm going to get to it. Some pushups?

What do they owe you? No, no, money, money, money. Big money. Hundreds of dollars. Hundreds of dollars. Hundreds of dollars. Corey, Ian, and Key. They all laughed at me

and they owe me some money. But, I mean, I feel like I want to know more about your vacation before I get into this mess. Okay, sure. Give it to me. I was in the Bahamas.

You went away? I was in the Bahamas. You went away? I was in the Bahamas. I was on Nassau. With your beautiful fiance? With my beautiful fiance. We had a blast. We did a resort, all-inclusive, which I don't think I'll ever do again, but it was nice and convenient in some ways.

I would have told you. Yeah, I didn't know. Spend the money. I didn't know. I never went to an island vacation. And this is the first vacation I've ever taken in my life where I didn't have a laptop with Pro Tools with me. Nice.

So that part alone was amazing. Nice. You deserve it. Yeah, all inclusive was cool because, I mean, you just go get what you want when you want, but they don't have what you want.

Yeah. Yeah, pretty much. So I didn't know that. Did y'all do all the stuff like zip lining and touring? No, we went snorkeling and we swam with the pigs. It's love.

And then Rem made friends with a bunch of girls. And, you know, we almost had a couple threesomes. Hey! The girls love Rem, man. I don't know, you know. I like that. I like that energy.

It was good. It was a good time. Doing what it was supposed to do out there. Good, good. How was L.A.? L.A. was beautiful. Yeah. L.A. was great, man man i went out there la is not uh

all the way open and i landed on a monday i left on a uh friday night so it was still giving kind of closed vibes but i went to clear my head and just to think like y'all know that that that vacation was planned right because there's been a lot of thinking a lot of last minute adjustment a lot of a lot of moving conversations that i would rather not have a lot of uncomfortable conversations being had um behind the scenes a lot of therapy yeah a lot of uncomfortable awkward visits lawyers watching docs managers well yeah yeah accounting so i went on vacation because all of you guys have worked really hard each and every one of you myself included yeah shit you went out there and worked motherfucker you did two podcasts i was gonna say that wasn't that was not a vacation

and i'm always i'm always going to work it's a workcation uh flew my baby out it was a vacation like it was so many different things but i'm here to be transparent today she didn't mind you uh like working while you were on vacation no not at all that's great isn't it no she didn't mind one bit that's great when they understand it was awesome it was awesome um but i'm here to be transparent today so when i say some of y'all know me some of y'all know that my level of transparency is a little deeper than most. Right? Y'all know that, right?

Yeah. At last pod, we did with it. Niggas kept saying transparency. Did you feel it was transparent? Not fully. It's modest. So I'm going to come clean. Okay.

Yes, the vacation was for you guys to get a break. for me to get a break that's true but it was too pronged the other side of it was i thought that during the vacation i would get some firm answers behind the scenes sure from emails that have been transpiring between attorneys and just different people. Oh. Right? And that came during the break. Okay. How did it go?

So we should talk about it. Okay, let's talk about it. How did the emails go? Well, forget about that for a second. No one else I did my whole uh work vacation pace around and smoke cigarettes yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah i did i did i also spent majority of my time just watching youtube just watching reaction vids okay come, okay. Come on, man. You know me. I heard it if you said it. You wrote it online and I read it.

Now match it, nigga, bet it. I'm reading, I'm looking at reaction vids. Contemplating whether I needed to do my own reaction vid. React to the reaction? Yeah. Or react to the pod? React to the pod. Okay.

Like, because you can't truly give a reaction. And that's what I mean when I say that joe is a maniac and a lunatic like unless you know me you'll never really understand how my brain works like i'm literally always watching it's functioning it's high action in there even if i don say. So in all the reaction vids, I mean, you can never really guess it, because even in me attempting to speak cryptically and in code, you might miss it. You know. You might miss it. Ack gave a pretty good breakdown, man. But why? Because Ack has seen me in action. that's what the bless you that's what

the best part about it was to me is that he knows what it's like doing business with you not only has he seen me in action he gave you the pros and the cons of working with joe he disagreed with my with me every step of the way and made his own decisions and landed wherever he landed yeah and great In a great spot. He was disrespectful to them, but, you know, they've had a beef. They did their own thing. Yeah, yeah. Listen, it's all about the timing of the universe.

Fortunately for Act, when I left Complex, that gave him more leverage. Right. And he knows that. Uh-huh. So that's stick-up. It's stick-up time. Right. I got the gun out now.

Give me everything I want. Everything Joe wanted, I want too. So now he's not leaving such a beautiful situation. But Ack has seen me when I was doubtful of information. Ack has seen me when it was me against the company. Ack has seen me when it was me against him. Right. Me against Nadeska.

He's seen it in action. And he expressed that in the video. It's easier for him. He's able toka me again he's seen it in action so he expressed that in the video it's easier for him he's able to read and he's an entrepreneur i was gonna say and he does this he does this so he's able to read the fucking tea leaves man and that's an important piece that's an important piece so when we get the transparency now wait before you get there uh did you feed act information because i think that's been an accusation no okay i have not spoken to academics i don't speak to act like that there's a mutual respect there sure because that's my man we work together they both helped each other out and deeper than that if i'm getting into the the psychology of it me in 2001 and what i stood for versus the industry in 2001 the result of that is academics

okay yeah being that you were uh early to the internet game and shit like that okay i can see that i was him uh-huh i was him in 01 right in 02 in 03 around the street niggas and the killers. Why is this guy on chat rooms? Why is this guy screaming, where's the social digital marketing team? Why is this guy, why is he dancing in the club even? Why is he blogging? Why is he this? Why is he this? It was a meeting of the, so 20 years later when you see ACK, when you you see adam 22 when you see all of these dudes

some of the young entrepreneurs that hey joe i see what you're doing and i'm not coming to sign with you because i'm doing the same thing you're doing that is the result of the work yeah i heard adam 22 said a lot in your conversation with him hey some people love that interview some people hate it listen it wasn't a normal interview it was two masterminds sitting there jousting. And it was a mutual respect between us both. So we're not even going to do, we're not even going to turn it up like we know how to turn it up. Because you my man. That exists.

That exists. Right? Where am I in the story here? Where am I here in the story? You read the emails? I have not spoken. Listen, I have not spoken to Rory or Maul since our last part.

Nor have I. And shout out to Flower. I said happy birthday to Rory actually. I want to say shout out to Flower Lotus Queen. I think I'm getting that page correct.

That was one of the reaction vids I saw that, oh man, someone almost started cutting onions. Someone almost started cutting onions when I was watching it.

What was she giving up? Not for me to say. I'm here to do my own. Okay. I'm here to do my own. Okay. I have not spoken to Rory or Maul since our last podcast. Our last podcast was important because I was given a six-week window to speak to the audience

that we've curated over the years. Right. to speak to the audience that we've curated over the years. Right. And I felt it was important to give these brothers the opportunity to come in here and say anything they wanted to say uninterrupted. Well, that was actually two pods ago. The last pod was a somewhat regular pod. Two pods ago.

Two pods ago. Two pods ago. Right? No, but I'm here to paint timelines and pictures. Yeah, yeah. Two pods ago. That's what happened. Right?

And that was important. And hopefully they got out everything they wanted to say and hopefully they felt better and it was respect and it was an apology it was a behind the scenes apology behind but there's been behind the scenes talks apologies therapy mad communication cory's been present for some of it right yeah like there has been a lot of work and energy invested into this. Yeah. And I think everybody in this room's part. Well, yeah. I know I've spent, I don't know how many hours pacing around the backyard

talking to everybody involved. Except for Maul. Me and Maul never really spoke on the phone that much. So I have not spoken to either one of them. We did that pod. Then we did. And after we did that pod, we hung out for a few hours. It was great.

It was great. We were in the backyard. You could still see some of that. You could still see some of that magic. Yeah. When everybody is playing their part and feeling good and just gets to being themselves. You could still see the magic that made this thing

become as huge as it is I thought we were right back after that honestly nah I didn't okay it felt good it felt good

the conversation in the backyard the hangout it was just a hangout it wasn't even a conversation it was a hangout to me it felt like a lot of posturing there's been a lot of posturing

behind the scenes there's been a lot of posturing there's been a lot of that that's what it felt like to me but weuring. There's been a lot of posturing behind the scenes. There's been a lot of posturing. There's been a lot of that. That's what it felt like to me. But we hung out and we had a good time. Yeah. And when you tug on the heartstrings, you can see,

you can see, you can see greatness. You can see it. Uh-huh. And then everybody left and then we came back and we did another pod and boy,

was that awkward. It was. Boy, was that nasty. It was. Boy, was that uncomfortable. It was.

Did it anyway. Did it. Clocked out a nasty. It was. Boy, was that uncomfortable. It was. Did it anyway. Did it. Clocked out a little earlier than we usually did, and that was not an accident. We was done at 47 minutes. Hey, at 47 minutes of that pod, we was done. Drawing at strings. Yeah. It's over, buddy.

It's over. We gave it a shot. We tried to push through. But guess what? There's a vacation coming let's everybody go on vacation everybody go reset that vacation wasn't for them

they just went on vacation right the vacation wasn't for them it was for the people that had worked hard it was already planned let's everybody go on vacation get the energy

get the mood right right and then we'll come back but Rory's birthday passed I didn't call him I didn't text him I wish him a happy birthday good for you in my life I didn't call him. I didn't text him. I wish him a happy birthday. Good for you.

In my life, I don't really care about birthdays. In the reaction vids, right, there's a lot you can't get because there was a lot that was unsaid. And today, those things will not be unsaid. 22 minutes left. I'm doing good on the timing of this thing. And today, those things just can no longer was unsaid and today those things will not be unsaid 22 minutes i'm doing good on the timing of this thing and today those things just can no longer go upset unsaid because i'm a little

more transparent than that number one and i love this shit i love it i'll be honest with you call me what you want you have always uh went head first at drama. It's not drama. I've seen him battle Prodigy, Game, Drake, 50. But it's not drama. It's uncomfortable situations. Discomfort. Discomfort, whatever.

However you want to call it. Tension. Sure. I love it. That has been your MO since as long as I've known you before. I like to lean into it sure because nothing is ever really wrong and especially today yeah especially today so today i'm here i had a whole

happy playlist way before i get there where was that just now um i don't recall i haven't spoken to either one of them i made a bet that they wouldn't get here. I was watching the reaction vids. When I watched the vid back, it was a few really important details left out that we'll uncover today. Ooh, the suspense. You're on the edge of your seat. Shout out to the day one listeners out there. We here today. The elephant

in the room is the magical A word, you guys. Come on. Asshole. Come on. No. No. No. Come on. Give it to me. You guessed it.

Accounting? Accounting. That's a shitty word. Accounting. That's a funny word that these brothers won't say there's no secret to keep i love transparency let's come in here and read all of the contracts Contracts. Yes. Accounting, you guys. Accounting. Let's crunch some numbers. All that's happening now, in my opinion, and I can only speak from my perspective,

nasty seeds that have been planted years ago are just starting to bloom. They're just starting to come to the surface. Some of the nasty seeds. They're flowering. I think they came to the surface. Some of the nasty seeds. They're flowering. I think they came to the surface before, but I think the accounting has been used on the podcast before. So we can't say that they weren't bearing some fruit previously. Well, that's the thing. But now they're flowering. Well, that's the thing.

The accounting thing has been an issue behind the scenes for so long. For years. For years. So you just year one of the podcast well actually prior prior to when you guys were doing uh uh ads and shit yeah so listen i'll tell a quick story just so we all have some context hmm this podcast went on for free outside of some bullshit 15, $2,500 ads here and there for three years for three whole years. And then the Spotify deal popped up,

but now that wasn't the first offer offer. You know, I've come in here and I've spoken about title deals offers. I've spoken about offers barstool i've spoken about offers but none that you would ever really consider a few just came and went but we've come in here and we've discussed those things but it wasn't until the spotify deal can i make a quick aside on that if you don't mind um because people see us or hear you talk about oh we turned down 30 million dollars and turned down

10 million dollars from Barcelona whatever the fuck the numbers were who gives a fuck to most people and maybe some people that were in the room

at the time might be thinking how and why but they don't necessarily have the experience in doing business to understand why you might not

take that that was well said okay carry on sorry and the bar studio wasn't nowhere near there well i don't remember what the fucking numbers were who gives a shit see but i remember things that i shouldn't remember and i should probably start back even further than that. We were in Detroit, me and Slaughterhouse told a story here too. And we were talking about, we were talking about a real top 50 list, like a real top 50 list. And Mike Harard, shout out to Mike, is the person that said, damn, man, this would be a great pod. And Joe said, what's a pod?

And the second that he told me what a podcast was, IP was birthed. I'm going to walk you all through this slowly. The second that Mike Harard, Savon, you and Alex listen to as podcasters. This is important stuff. The second that Mike Harard uttered the words of what a podcast was i think this was like 2012 for reference point people yeah somewhere around there yeah now maybe 11 now i had already been tinkering with what was a podcast we just didn't know that

that was a podcast it was called uh this is my fucking show it was me by myself it was me in total i lived with maul at the time. He knew what was going on. You know what's going on, right? But yeah, IP was birthed at that moment. Corey, who's sitting right there, was managing me at the time. And I went back home and my first call wasn't even Corey. It was Marissa. My first call wasn't even Corey.

It was Marissa. My very, very, very first call when I said to myself, I want to do a podcast, was Marissa Mendez. Because she worked at Hot 97. She worked at Hot 97. Shout out to Marissa. I didn't mean to interrupt that. It's an important shout out. We here to kick it today.

Yeah. She worked at Hot 97, right? Uh-huh. We lived together. Uh-huh. She was your assistant for a while. She was my assistant. Yeah.

It didn't work out in that role because she fell in love, but we remained tight. She had a personality. She was hurt. We was going to kick it off. I called Maddie. She was down. She called Peter Rosenberg. He was going to produce this thing, get a studio and so forth and so on.

Uh-huh. thing in the studio and so forth and so on. So episode one is Joe Budden, Marissa Mendez, Peter Rosenberg, and some engineer.

God is funny because the first person that I had to get rid of was the first person that I called. Think about it. I think you got rid of was the first person that I called. Think about it. Well, no,

I think he got rid of Pete before Marissa. Pete was never really there. See, and that's important to note too. Shout out, shout out to Pete. He today himself will admit that he didn't really have all the information back then. I've seen him tweet it.

Shout out to him. There's no, no bad feelings there. We love Pete. Shout out to him. Uh, but by episode eight, y'all know me see i'm in here with some people that know me truly anywhere i go i'm trying to figure out what how important is each cog in in here? I'm an artist. I work from the position of there's 100% of the pie.

And to give away some of the pie, you have to bring something to the pie. You're an artist. And not only that, pardon me to interrupt again, you're an independent artist for most of your career. Yeah. With a label, with a bunch of middlemen that take money. Everybody took money. The lawyers, the business accountants, the executives.

Rory's giving record exec that's what he's given it's a little but anyway yeah damn where was i at uh looking around the room seeing who's getting a piece of what oh yeah yeah yeah day one listen there was a studio there i come from rap so i mean I mean, we can go get a studio. Yeah. We used to go from the studio to the studio, in fact. Pete was there and I thought that maybe some guests would come and he would let me know what to do. But by episode four, five and six, I realized I was winging this and this is what I had already done.

Pete, you my man, but I don't need you here. Hey, some people would say that's nasty. I disagree. I disagree. And then that worked out have it worked out but then marissa was the first person that i had to lay off like get rid of the first person that i called and i told her i was gonna do it he didn't want it to happen yo man oh that's foul it's fucked up uh what was the context of you laying her off she had become marissa at the time there was some drake tension and at the time she was struggling with her on-air personality versus her off-air personality in terms of what she could divulge, what she was comfortable sharing,

some of the things that maybe she was hearing from people she looked up to and was inspired by. There's a lot that comes with that. I've seen that before because on Joe Budden TV, when I was running around with a camera and it blew up, people switched up. On Love & Hip Hop, the second they say action, people switch up. I have seen people switch up a lot

common so i mean marty was there we had to get rid of her we shot around with some other hoes but none of that's important i only bring it up to say at episode one joe button owned this these things have to be said we cannot keep skirting around certain things. So on these reaction vids, when you hear these two gentlemen speaking about day one, neither one of them were present day one. If you'd like to hear the rest of this episode,

the full audio and video is available on Patreon.