Though it’s been seldom publicized, it’s no secret that Drake and Joe Budden have had a relationship that dates back to before Drake became a mega-star. Though they’ve never collaborated, Budden said himself on his podcast that they’ve been friends for several years, and sometimes hit each other up just to talk shop.
So, Budden likely had no ill-intent when he used his podcast platform to dig into Drake a little bit for what Budden thought were “uninspired” raps on Drake’s recent Views album. It wasn’t a unique criticism either. Many publications, writers, bloggers and social media pundits had similar things to say about the album when they weighed in. The fervor that Drake displayed on earlier loosie tracks like “Charged Up” and “Back to Back” was largely missing from the project. Everyone pretty much agreed that the album was good, but Drake can do good in his sleep, right? There had to be something more to it.
That episode of Budden’s podcast aired about a month ago, but over the weekend, Drake unleashed his latest time+location freestyle, “4PM in Calabasas,” where he made a dizzying amount of Bad Boy references in what was presumed to be a jab-back at Puff Daddy for their Miami scuffle, and appeared to subliminally clap back at Joe Budden.
For clarification, Budden used his time on his most recent I’ll Name This Podcast Later episode to get down to the nitty gritty, and examine each time he believed Drake was talking about him, or calling him out. For example, a line like “You know me as the Cris bottle sender / check picker-upper,” might have flown over heads initially, but as Joe points out, there’s matter to be picked apart there.
The full episode is below, but you can skip straight to the “4PM” breakdown at roughly the 23:00 mark, and listen to Joe provide some serious context to Drake’s searing bars.