Ari Lennox Shades Joe Budden Following J Cole Apology: Why Do The Singer & Podcast Host Have Beef?

Joe Budden has built a media career off of offending rappers, media personalities, and even other podcasters on his hit show The Joe Budden Podcast. This week, Ari Lennox got into it with the 43-year-old podcaster, after Joe Budden mentioned her in his discussion regarding the Big 3 beef. Lennox, who is signed to J. Cole's Dreamville record label, did not take kindly to Budden's comments and took to social media to fiercely clap back. This is not the first time this year that Ari Lennox and Joe Budden have engaged in a back-and-forth, though some fans wonder how deep this multi-platformed feud will go. Let's delve into the statements made by both parties and trace the origins of the conflict.

Read More: Ari Lennox Threatens Joe Budden With Lawsuit In Explosive New Rant

Ari Lennox seemingly first took issue with Joe Budden's comments after a 2022 episode of Budden's podcast, wherein the Mood Muzik rapper sided with radio host MacG in a disagreement with Lennox. It all began when Ari appeared on MacG's Podcast and Chill, when the South African media figure asked Lennox if anyone was currently "f***ing [her] good,” a reference to her 2019 track "Pop." On "Pop," Lennox croons, "If you really love me, I'll f*** you good/ F*** you good, f*** you good/ Treat you how you should."

Ari appeared visibly bothered by this question, which she considered invasive. Shortly thereafter, she took to Twitter to announce her decision to cease all interviews. Joe Budden made fun of Lennox on his show following the moment, arguing, "if I say it in a song, it’s in the world. It’s on board to be discussed from people... Once it’s documented, it lives. It exists. That was something I used to battle with as an introspective artist.” Ari Lennox didn't publicly respond to Joe Budden's comments at the time, though fans were quick to take to social media in her defense.

Ari Lennox and Joe Budden first exchanged words in January, when Ari departed her role as an opener on Rod Wave's nationwide tour. Lennox explained to her fans via social media that she felt Wave's crowd was fundamentally different than hers, prompting her to feel unhappy and unwelcome on stage with the Florida rapper. Budden, known for making jokes at the expense of trending artists in the news, ridiculed Lennox for airing her grievances publicly. On-air, he advised her to address these issues with her team behind the scenes rather than discussing them with her fans.

Ari Lennox took exception to these demands, and subsequently took to Instagram Live to respond, stating, "I don’t know what Joe Budden’s obsession is with me, but what I will say is that somebody needs to tell him to stop touching them dogs.” Lennox's comment calls back to a bizarre September 2020 story that saw Budden come under fire for allegedly touching his pet dogs inappropriately. Ari Lennox continued to say of Joe Budden, “He’s weird, and he’s gross. He has smoke mouth. He’s disgusting! And he’s a failure, like Drake said.”

Read More: Joe Budden Gets Dragged After Calling Ari Lennox "Insecure" For Her Reaction To Racist Troll

In a January 23 episode of The Joe Budden Podcast, Joe responded to Ari's comments with a mild apology, which many viewers found to be insincere. Before the episode even concluded, Budden fired back at the "Waste My Time" vocalist, using misogynist slurs and referring to her as "a bag of f***in' mixed nuts." Budden concluded, “This b**** is all the nuts combined and I think she’s done a great job of proving the exact point that I was trying to make in the last broadcast, and we shower her with love.” To Joe Budden's credit, he and his cohosts have highlighted Ari Lennox's music on numerous occasions before this spat, though that obviously doesn't make his language any more acceptable.

Things had gone fairly quiet between Ari Lennox and Joe Budden for a few months, prompting many fans to assume the beef had died out, not with a bang, but with a whimper. That is until J. Cole shocked the world by apologizing to Kendrick Lamar for dissing him on the record "7 Minute Drill." Joe Budden and his cohosts subsequently reacted to the apology like many other pundits, by clowning J. Cole and stripping him of his title as one of the Big 3 rappers.

During episode 715 of The Joe Budden Podcast, which aired on April 10, Budden stated, “I don’t want to hear no more about that record. It sounded like he didn’t mean it. His voice was trembling like he didn’t mean it. His choice of words as one of the greatest lyricists says he didn’t mean it." The former Slaughterhouse member continued to drag Ari Lennox back into the discussion, subsequently stating, “I don’t want to hear a f***ing peep out of Earthstone Twitter … Cole is on that — Y’all think I’d be playing with the Ari Lennox, Scottie… They do all that earthy college campus, grass root s***."

True to her nature, Ari Lennox fired back at Joe Budden via Instagram stories, sharing a clip of a violent 2013 confrontation between Joe and rapper Consequence. In the clip, Consequence runs up behind Budden and punches him in the back of the head, causing Budden's glasses to fly off of his face as other parties prevent the pair from throwing hands. Lennox spammed the brief video to her story a whopping 24 times in a row.

Lennox captioned the clip with some fiery words, stating “Knocked your little glasses off and everything. Keep my precious name out of your psychotic, animal-abusing, women-terrorizing, demonic trolling, nicotine-encased mouth. All this meth smoke for a woman but not for any man beating your ass in real life. Bald b*tch!” Clearly, neither party is ready to truly bury the hatchet. Joe Budden is likely to double down on his comments in the forthcoming episode of his show, meaning the feud will only continue to drag on.

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