Joe Budden Criticizes Drake’s Handling of DeMar DeRozan Feud: ‘You a B*tch’
Joe Budden didn’t bite his tongue.
During Thursday’s episode of his eponymous podcast, Budden and his crew shared their honest thoughts about the Drake vs. DeMar DeRozan drama. They specifically addressed Saturday’s game between the Sacramento Kings and Toronto Raptors, where Drizzy was seen taunting DeRozan from the sidelines.
“It was the corniest shit that I’ve ever seen,” Marc Lamont Hill said about Drizzy’s actions. “Let me say this first: Drake’s not wrong for feeling a way. If I think we’re cool and the next thing I know you’re Crip walking in the video that calls me a pedophile, I have a right to feel a way about that. However, at the point that I’m gonna do something about it, I gotta actually do something about it.”
Budden agreed.
“I’m not mad at [Drake] for feeling — he should feel that way,” he explained. “It’s never the conflict. It’s the inability to navigate the conflict… But all that standing at the game… the mumbling under his breath… You a bitch. I’m not about to sit here and do a bunch of unpacking. You went to the game and cut his eyes.”
The friendship between Drake and DeRozan began more than a decade ago, while the NBA star was playing for Drake’s hometown team, the Toronto Raptors. The two remained friends even after DeRozan left Toronto in 2018; however, things took a turn this year when the 35-year-old Compton native appeared in Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” music video.
The song was widely considered the knockout blow in Kendrick and Drake’s lyrical war, with K Dot lobbing a slew of bars containing allegations against his longtime foe. Among the most damning claims was that Drake and his crew were “certified pedophiles.”
Joe said he understood why Drake was so upset by DeRozan’s involvement in the Kendrick video; however, he wasn’t sure if the Kings star meant any harm.
“I think that Drake takes ‘Not Like Us’ really, really serious, as he should,” Budden said. “I think a lot of West Coast people just took a West Coast pride in that song. I don’t think some people take that song as serious as him… Maybe [DeRozan] didn’t look at it as a crossing of the line.”
Shortly after the “Not Like Us” video premiered, DeRozan insisted his cameo was just “entertainment” and made it clear he still has love for Drake.
“Drake’s still my man, still my man, none of it changed,” he told the Sacramento Bee. “It’s so easy to get overlooked and look at it for what it looks like, but at the end of the day it’s music, entertainment. Two of the biggest rappers in the world went at it from a competitive standpoint, and they battled it out.”
