Joe Budden on Drake Beef: ‘I had to prove a point…he’s so huge, you don’t hit somebody like that one time’

Joe Budden and Drake had a well-documented rap beef over the summer that had no clear winner. On Monday’s episode of Rap Radar Report, Budden had the chance to reflect back on the feud with some perspective.

“It was a mistake,” he told host Elliott Wilson. “I didn’t think that Drake beef would do what it did. I didn’t think the eyeballs that it attracted, I didn’t think it would be so many, honestly. I didn’t. I thought it would be a cool thing on the side.”

The issues between the two rappers started when Budden took to his podcast to give a review of Drake’s latest album Views, calling it “uninspired” and saying Drake hasn’t progressed as an artist over the course of his career despite all his success. Drake responded by throwing shots on social media and then released the song 4PM in Calabasas, which Budden believed was aimed at him. Budden then dropped two diss tracks, while Drake’s featured verse on French Montana’s No Shopping included a few subliminal shots at the New Jersey rapper. Budden put out a third diss track before the beef seemingly ended.

Budden called the whole situation “horrible,” but acknowledged that Drake’s star power required him to attack the Canadian superstar the way he did.

“I had to prove a point,” Budden said. “Such a looming target, he’s so huge, you don’t hit somebody like that one time. Anytime I was fighting someone bigger than me, you don’t hit that person one time and the fight is over.”

Budden is now back to promoting his latest album Rage & The Machine, which was released on Oct. 21. No Shopping was not a commercial success and French Montana’s album ended up getting shelved.

“That’s vindication, that’s what it is,” Budden said. “That record, the Drake stimulus package did not work in that instance.”

Listen to Elliott Wilson’s Rap Radar Report on Mondays from 7 to 8 p.m. ET on VOLUME (Ch. 106). The show replays at 11 p.m. ET Mondays, 6 a.m. ET Wednesdays, 4 a.m. ET Saturdays, 12 p.m. and 8 p.m. Sundays.

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