KXNG Crooked Defends Joe Budden Against Drake’s “Failed” Rapper Claims

KXNG Crooked has defended Joe Budden following Drake’s tirade against the podcaster. The debacle stemmed from comments Joe made critiquing the new For All The Dogs album.

The 47-year-old spoke with TMZ about the matter, arguing that if his former Slaughterhouse groupmate’s remarks lacked validity, that Drake wouldn’t have responded in such a harsh manner. “Skills matter, respect from your peers matters, because if they didn’t, Drake wouldn’t have answered Joe Budden,” Crooked said. “If those things did not matter, [Drake] wouldn’t have [responded] because he has everything else… Him just responding to Joe just gives Joe the power that Joe probably wanted.”

The lyricist also expressed that he personally felt offended by Drake’s comments regarding “failed” rappers transitioning into the media world and giving their opinion on more commercially successful rap artists. “I feel like [Drake] threw me a stray, I caught a stray,” Crooked, who also discusses music and cultural events on his own YouTube channel, Crook’s Corner, added.

“Because I love talking about Hip-Hop. I think it’s a dope, natural progression and evolution of an MC’s career to jump behind the microphone and start speaking about the game as a commentator. I was like, ‘Ouch!’ I felt like he shot at me with that, even though he wasn’t. It was like, ‘Dang, dog. We can’t even do that?’ So, no I don’t think Joe is a failed rapper who turned into a podcaster.”

Budden and Drake became embroiled in a back-and-forth following the former’s review of the latter’s For All The Dogs album on the “8:45am in Fayetteville” episode of The Joe Budden Podcast. While the New Jersey rep spoke glowingly of the project at certain points, but also chided the Canadian hitmaker for the lack of maturation in his subject matter.

“[Drake’s] rapping for the children! I had to look up how old this ni**a was when I finished listening to the album,” he expressed. “You gonna be 37 years old. Get the f**k away from some of these younger ni**as, and stop f**king these 25-year-olds. Why are you still f**king the 25-year-olds? You’re a 37-year-old billionaire.”

In return, Drake took to Instagram to air his grievances with Budden, arguing that he shouldn’t have the right to appraise him or any other artist’s music given his own “failure” at sustaining a successful rap career. “You left [music] behind to do what you are doing in this clip because this is what actually pays your bills,” the perennial chart-topper wrote.

“You switched careers cause the things that pop into your brain had you broke living cheque to cheque and the raps you write had 450 men showing up to your shows in dusty Enyce jeans to screw up their face to Mood Muzik 29 and pretend you are the goat. Please, to any artist that’s doing what they feel is right don’t let these opinions affect your mindset after the fact… this guy is the poster child of frustration and surrendering.”

He continued, adding, “You retired and we never hung up your jersey. We don’t even remember your number,” he continued. “We know you for doing this…you withdrew from rap not cause you accomplished all you need to it’s cause it wasn’t working for you…I never want anybody [from this] generation to think that the whole ‘everybody’s entitled to their opinion’ is a real thing…this is a man projecting his own self hate and the fact I did and continue to do everything he wanted to do for himself. If you need it put in simpler terms I own a 767…he owns a modest house in the 973 and flies first class on special occasions.”

See Drake’s Instagram post below.

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