Earlier today, French Montana had a very special guest in the studio, and he had to share a couple of highlight moments via social media. For the first time since 2013's "Pop That," it seems that French and Drake are working on a collab. After sharing an Instagram video of Drake explaining his love for French's storied "Cocaine City" DVDs, French played a short snippet of his and Drake's new collab on Snapchat. After hearing the 10-second clip, some have taken a particular Drake line to be a sly shot at Joe Budden. Unsurprisingly, Budden has heard the lyric in question, and for now, he isn't taking the bait, though he has painful memories of the last time French and Drake got on a diss record together.
French's 10-second Snapchat clip includes a few back and forth bars from him and Drake, though the final line heard in the preview is the one that has received the most attention -- Drake rapping, "Pump, pump it up."
Those same lyrics appear on the hook of Budden's biggest hit -- 2003's "Pump It Up." Some rap fans think that Drake might now be taking shots at the New Jersey veteran because Budden recently offered some harsh criticism of Drizzy's new album, VIEWS, on his podcast.
"I think that that kid on that album that I heard sounds real fucking uninspired," said Budden with conviction. He also praised 40's production work on the album but maintained that Drake's efforts on VIEWS sounded like recycled ideas from past projects like Take Care.
Drake likely found Budden's words to be inflammatory, though the OVO boss is careful with whom he chooses to spar, and he makes sure to only respond to controversy when his brand can be helped by the situation. As of now, people who think Drake is dissing Budden based on three coincidental words might be "jumping to conclusions." At least that's how Joe Budden felt when he responded to a fan who asked him about the potential beef.
However, one of Budden's good friends feels like those who suspect a diss might be onto something. Earlier this evening, Budden was discussing the possibility of a Drake diss with his crew, and he decided to film parts of the conversation and share them to his Instagram. In the first video, his friend Mal can be heard saying, "It's 2016. There's no reason for any artist to start a verse with 'Pump, pump it up,' other than -- 'I got somethin' to say to you know who.'" "Thx A Lot Mal Pt. 1," Budden captioned the post.
The other Instagram video he shared starts with Mal speaking about the podcast on which Budden had mentioned VIEWS, implying that the timing of Drake's "Pump It Up" lyric is too suspicious to ignore. Budden played the cameraman, but his voice can be heard throughout the clip. While Mal was talking about the new "Drake record," Budden interrupted to say that the song in question is more likely to be a French Montana record. He then remembered that, in 2012, Drake and French had both appeared on Rick Ross' "Stay Schemin," a song on which Drake (unquestionably) took shots at a certain veteran.
"Last time we heard Drake and French on a song where they was dissin' somebody, that n*gga died," said Budden, as the whole room broke into laughter, "Common ran back to the fuckin' 'Selma' so fast!"
Mal then remarked how he prefers it when Budden isn't beefing with anyone. Budden himself seemed to agree, though ultimately, he suggested that he'll take it as a victory if Drake does end up dissing him: "If a verse do come, all that mean is I inspired him like my goal was anyway."