Joe Budden Says Media Personalities Are Bigger Than Rappers

Joe Budden says that media personalities have become bigger than actual rappers nowadays. The podcast host discussed the state of the industry with Complex after being given the top spot in the outlet’s first-ever Hip-Hop Media Power Ranking.

“I learned that when I started working here,” Budden explained. “Because I was coming in every morning with Ak [Akademics] and all the young people in my life were familiar with him. I wasn’t. So it was like, ‘Oh shit, this guy’s got some following somewhere.’ Like, let me get hip.”

Budden added that media pundits have become so popular that rappers will ride their coattails to promote new music. “And then the rappers often will—let me find a nice way to say this—the rappers see the media people as an opportunity sometimes, and they will attach themselves or attempt to attach themselves to that person for rollout purposes,” Budden said. He also reflected on a growing trend for voices in hip-hop media to appear on each other's shows. “It is great. And it can be bad sometimes,” he said. “Like when I had Adam on, oh my God, that conversation lived for the next two months.”

Earlier in the interview, Budden also touched on whether he considers what he does to be entertainment or journalism. “It’s 100 percent entertainment,” he said. “It’s definitely entertainment. If it wasn’t entertainment, then I would be spending the night outside of NBC trying to get on their news channel. I’d be at Vice, ‘Hey, let me be your something.’ But it’s entertainment first. It’s probably journalism second [laughs]. For me. Where I saw this thing going a few years ago was news, much like music, was kind of taking the backseat to brands and personalities. So everybody’s delivering the same news. We all have access to the same shit. But how? How are you doing that? Like, what makes people connect to you? What are you doing to establish a relationship with that audience? That’s been my ‘escape the room’ math equation since 2001. How do I develop this connection with a fan through music, through TV? So that’s that same shit today.”

[Via]